By Chris Schad -
The most notable rehab sports clinic in the Twin Cities may reside in Minneapolis, somewhere between Chicago Avenue and Eagan. But the Minnesota Wild are making their bid to become a haven for high draft picks after they traded for defenseman David Jiricek.
Jiricek did not come cheap. The Wild gave up defenseman Daemon Hunt, a fifth-round and a top-five protected first-round pick in 2025, a 2027 second-round pick, a 2026 third-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick to acquire the 21-year-old. But Minnesota has shown a knack for taking advantage of teams for giving up on their draft picks too early, and it’s a decision that could replay some of the most notable trades in Wild history.
The most relevant example for Guerin’s front office is the Kevin Fiala trade in 2022. Fiala was coming off a career year with 33 goals, 52 assists, and 85 points. However, the Wild couldn’t afford to sign him to an extension due to the buyout penalties attached to Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.
Needing younger impact players to side-step the penalties, the Wild sent Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for the 19th overall pick in the 2022 draft (Liam Ohgren) and Brock Faber, a player LA had selected with the 45th overall pick in the 2020 draft.
The Kings never soured on Faber. However, after recording only two goals in his first two seasons with the Gophers, Faber became better than the player people projected him to become after the Wild traded for him.
In his first full season in the NHL, Faber netted eight goals and 39 assists (47 points) and was the runner-up to Connor Bedard in voting for the Calder Trophy. Faber has still been a defensive force, logging a plus/minus rating of +9 through 24 games this season, but his offense has continued to flourish. He's on pace for double-digit goals and a career-high in points.
Faber’s rise was a little surprising nationally but not to Wild fans, who had watched him in their backyard. The interesting aspect of Faber’s acquisition as it came at the expense of another high-draft pick that was jettisoned by his initial team.
The 11th overall pick in the 2014 draft, former Wild GM Paul Fenton called Fiala a "game-breaker." Fiala had 45 goals and 97 points in his first five-plus seasons with the Nashville Predators. However, he broke his femur in 2016-17, derailing his breakout season. However, after posting 23 goals, 25 assists, and 48 points the following year, Nashville traded Fiala to the Wild for Mikael Granlund at the 2019 trade deadline.
Fiala picked up the pace in his first year in Minnesota, scoring 23 goals with 31 assists and 54 points during the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season. He also had 20 goals, 20 assists, and 40 points in an abbreviated 2020-21 season. However, his true breakout came the following year, when he put up 85 points and established the value that allowed Guerin to flip him for Faber.
Look at the full Fiala trade chain, and it's a massive victory for the Wild. While not all deals have much shelf life, Minnesota has also reaped short-term benefits from a team that soured on a high draft pick.
Following the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, the Wild were looking for offense, and general manager Chuck Fletcher wanted to build around Parise and Suter, his prized free-agent acquisitions. While not all of Fletcher’s trades were the greatest, he scored a victory when he flipped Cal Clutterbuck to the New York Islanders for Nino Niederreiter.
The fifth overall pick in the 2010 draft, Niederreiter played 64 games as a teenager, posting only two goals, an assist, and a -29 plus/minus rating. After spending the 2012-13 season in the AHL due to the lockout, the Islanders gave up on Niederreiter and acquired Clutterbuck, a fourth-line winger with a knack for hitting people.
Surrounded by an elevated supporting cast, Neiderreiter found the edge of his skates in Minnesota. Some fans may consider this a victory because of his game-winning goal in Game 7 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. Still, he posted three 20-goal seasons in his five years with the Wild before Fenton flipped him to the Carolina Hurricanes for Victor Rask without scouting him.
Rask’s story falls into the dark side of the failed prospect experiment. Rask was a second-round pick (41st overall) who wasn’t too far from where the Kings had selected Faber in the 2020 draft. But while Rask had an uneventful time in Minnesota, the Wild made a worse trade for Cam Barker in 2010.
The third overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Barker debuted as a 19-year-old with the Chicago Blackhawks and put up 40 points (six goals, 34 assists) during the 2008-09 season. The Wild pulled the trigger on a trade that sent Kim Johnsson and Nick Leddy to Chicago.
Johnsson wasn’t a major loss. He was a veteran who occasionally was a serviceable top-six defenseman. But Leddy became what Faber has become: a valuable prospect on a winning team.
Unlike the Kings’ return for Fiala, who has put up 70-point seasons in each of the past two years, Barker didn’t do much for the Wild. In his lone full season in Minnesota, Barker logged a goal, four assists, and a -10 rating in 52 games. The Wild non-tendered him in June 2012.
Meanwhile, Leddy became a 15-year NHL veteran, winning the Stanley Cup in 2013.
By this point, you’re probably tired of reading about history lessons. You want to know where Jiricek fits and if the Wild can rehab his career. That’s where we hit a fork in the road.
At 21 years old, Jiricek is a blue-chip prospect on the blue line. The Columbus Blue Jackets took Jiricek, 21, sixth overall in 2022. Jiricek showed offensive potential with six goals, 32 assists, and 38 points in 55 games with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters during his first American professional season in 2022-23.
Optimistic by nature, Wild fans see Jiricek as a perfect defensive partner for Faber, especially when Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon reach the end of their careers. However, based on how his career has played out, Jiricek may not reach his potential.
After his promising 2022-23 campaign, Jiricek spent last season and the first part of this season shuttling between the AHL and the NHL. While the Wild recalled Jiricek immediately, their defensive pairings have performed well. According to Money Puck, they rank third in the NHL with 40.45 expected goals per game.
An opening could come for Jiricek soon, especially if the play of Declan Chisholm or Zach Bogosian drops off. Still, there’s also a world where Jiricek is in the same world that disgruntled him in Columbus, taking trips up and down I-35 between Des Moines and St. Paul – especially with 2024 first-rounder Zeev Buium expected to enter the organization within the following year.
Columbus has also had plenty of turnover since Jiricek was drafted. Jarmo Kekalainen drafted Jiricek in 2022, but interim GM John Davidson and current GM Don Waddell didn’t allow Jiricek to be a consistent NHL player during their tenures.
There have also been three head coaches in Columbus during that time, with Brad Larson, Pascal Vincent, and Dean Evason all deciding not to play Jiricek. Evason’s refusal is especially noteworthy considering he was reluctant to play Calen Addison, another high prospect acquired in a trade involving Jason Zucker.
Minnesota's Jiricek trade could go either way. If Guerin whiffed, it’s a deal that could set the Wild back even if most of the picks in the trade are projected to be mid-to-late round selections. But if Jiricek hits, it could be another rescue for a franchise that has made the most of other team’s highly-drafted prospects.
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