COLUMBUS, Ohio — If all goes well during Wednesday’s practice, the Columbus Blue Jackets plan to activate playmaking winger Kent Johnson from injured reserve the following day when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning in Nationwide Arena. It’ll be his first game in over a month.
As exciting as that will be for the Blue Jackets — remember, Johnson was the Blue Jackets’ best player before he injured his shoulder on Oct. 17 — it’s the corresponding roster move that is most intriguing.
General manager Don Waddell could make any number of moves to fit Johnson on the 23-man roster, but all eyes are on defenseman David Jiricek, who has rarely cracked the Blue Jackets’ lineup so far this season and barely played on the six occasions that coach Dean Evason has written his name on the lineup card.
On Tuesday, Waddell declined to comment to The Athletic and Evason insisted that no roster decision had been made during what was a light day at the rink for most of the Blue Jackets players following a 5-1 win in Boston on Monday.
But Wednesday should be newsworthy.
The situation with Jiricek, who turns 21 in eight days, has been percolating (mostly) behind the scenes for a couple of seasons in Columbus, though it is not as deeply personal now — thanks to the hiring of a new GM (Waddell) and coach (Evason) over the summer — as it became last season under the Blue Jackets’ previous management.
That’s true so far, anyway.
We’ve got ourselves ANOTHER first NHL goal. 😳
Congratulations, David Jiricek! #NHLFaceOff pic.twitter.com/mtCk27h8yh
— NHL (@NHL) October 15, 2023
There are no easy answers here, even though both the Blue Jackets and Jiricek and his agent, Allan Walsh, have staked out pretty clear positions.
The Blue Jackets selected Jiricek with the No. 6 pick in the 2022 draft, so he’s a massively important player in what the organization hopes is a bright future. Of course, they want him to succeed, and developing him the correct way is of utmost importance.
Waddell has said that Jiricek, who has played 98 games in AHL Cleveland the past two seasons, has little to gain by playing more games in the AHL. But Waddell doesn’t infringe on Evason’s right to decide his lineup each game, any more than he tells the coach how much ice time each player gets.
Evason has acknowledged that there are on-ice trust issues between the coaching staff and Jiricek, and if you’ve watched him play during the preseason or in any of the six regular-season games, you’d understand. Jiricek looks wobbly on his skates. He looks indecisive, which is the kiss of death in Evason’s highly aggressive system.
From the moment Evason was hired in Columbus in late June, he’s been hammering home the point that a spot in the Blue Jackets lineup is earned, not given. He’s so enamored of the message he had it painted in large letters on a wall in the Blue Jackets dressing room.
There’s no way Evason can preach that message to the masses, but then not follow it within the walls of Nationwide Arena. And, put bluntly, he doesn’t feel as if Jiricek has earned the right to play every game. And in the last three games he has dressed, Jiricek has played 9:15 (vs. San Jose), 8:50 (vs. Los Angeles), and 8:14 (vs. Boston).
Yes, this is headed in the wrong direction. It’s been headed in the wrong direction, honestly, since the start of training camp, when Jiricek opened in the Blue Jackets’ top four — he played with Ivan Provorov on the second pair for much of the preseason — before it was clear that Jake Christiansen had jumped him on the depth chart.
When the Blue Jackets claimed veteran Dante Fabbro, who, like Jiricek, is a right-shot defender, Jiricek’s path to playing time became even more difficult. Monday’s win in Boston was the first time Jiricek has played since Fabbro was claimed.
The Blue Jackets would say they’ve given Jiricek every opportunity to claim a spot in the lineup, but he hasn’t grabbed it. They wouldn’t have claimed Fabbro off waivers or played Provorov out of place on the right side if Jiricek had stated his case.
The other side of the argument is compelling, too, though.
Jiricek spoke openly about his disappointment in being sent to AHL Cleveland last season, but he has declined to express any frustration or disappointment in his role this season. And he has not requested that the Blue Jackets trade him, according to a league source briefed on the matter who is not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Jiricek could argue that playing in only six of the Blue Jackets’ 18 games is no way to find a flow or build confidence, especially when you’re drawing three or four shifts per period. That’s true for even veteran players.
Jiricek has always played on the top pair and chewed up heavy minutes at every stop. When he had that role with AHL Cleveland, coach Trent Vogelhuber and his assistants raved about Jiricek’s play, especially last spring when AHL Cleveland made a run to the league’s conference finals. He was an AHL All-Star as a rookie in 2023.
Under Evason, Jiricek has barely played above the third pair, and not with any regularity. Under all three coaches he’s played for in Columbus — Brad Larsen, Pascal Vincent and now Evason — he has barely sniffed the power play. (Three coaches in three seasons doesn’t help, either, right?)
So where does this go from here? Something has to change, and quickly. Evason is right to set a standard and demand that all players meet it, but the organization can’t allow the development of one of its top prospects to stagnate.
Waddell believes that Jiricek has nothing further to prove from returning to the AHL, and that might be true. But, for a 20-year-old, playing heavy minutes in the world’s second-best league is much better than not playing — or barely playing — in the NHL.
If Jiricek accepts a demotion to Cleveland — he does not need to clear waivers to go to the AHL — he could pair with Denton Mateychuk to form one of the best pairs in the AHL. Mateychuk, who was drafted by Columbus just six spots after Jiricek in 2022, has been one of the league’s top players in the first month.
Waddell is getting trade calls on Jiricek, but has so far resisted all overtures. It’s hard for a GM to give up on a young, right-shot defenseman. Those are the types of moves you could spend the rest of your career regretting.
But a trade would be a better remedy than to continue on the current path much longer. Jiricek isn’t helping the Blue Jackets, and the Blue Jackets aren’t helping his development.
Last Friday, when the Blue Jackets hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nationwide Arema, Jiricek engaged in a friendly chat with two reporters about the best and worst press boxes across the NHL. That’s where most players watch the game when they’re healthy scratches.
It was an engaging chat, to be sure. But it’s not a good sign that Jiricek is somewhat of an expert on NHL press boxes.
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
