<p>On Saturday afternoon, news finally broke that the Columbus Blue Jackets had pulled the trigger on a deal to ship 21-year-old right shot defenceman David Jiricek to the Minnesota Wild for a package of picks along with 22-year-old Daemon Hunt.</p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">TRADE ALERT‼️</p>
<p>We&#39;ve acquired D Daemon Hunt and 4 draft picks, including a conditional 2025 first-round pick, from the <a href="https://twitter.com/mnwild?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mnwild</a> in exchange for D David Jiricek and a 2025 fifth-round pick.</p>
<p>📝 <a href="https://t.co/zx5iQQChlM">https://t.co/zx5iQQChlM</a><a href="https://twitter.com/RuoffMortgage?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RuoffMortgage</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBJ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CBJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/tBF3Y1oP2D">pic.twitter.com/tBF3Y1oP2D</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Colu❌bus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJacketsNHL/status/1862991447558861180?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>According to multiple reports, the Vancouver Canucks were involved in the Jiricek sweepstakes, although talks seem to have fallen through when the Canucks made it known they wouldn&#8217;t be parting with prospect Tom Willander in the deal. Then reports just days later suggested the Blue Jackets had lowered their asking price for Jiricek&#8217;s services.</p>
<p>So now that we can see the deal that got it done, I immediately had to ask: Could the Canucks have matched that trade package?</p>
<p>The short answer is: yes, they could have, one way or another. In fact, they likely wouldn&#8217;t have had to part with Willander to get a deal done in the end. It&#8217;s possible &#8212; and likely, really &#8212; that the Blue Jackets rate Daemon Hunt very high, but right now, the Canucks have a prospect defenceman putting up better numbers than Hunt did in his first AHL season: Elias Pettersson. Pettersson is younger, has more upside, and as mentioned, is putting up better numbers in the AHL than Hunt did in his first AHL season.</p>
<p>For our purposes, the Canucks&#8217; equivalent package is: Elias Pettersson, a first, and a third (or maybe a second instead) round pick. Could the Canucks have offered the Blue Jackets this package and gotten the deal done? Maybe.</p>
<p>Should they have? No, it doesn&#8217;t seem like it.</p>
<p>And the reason stems around the cost associated with giving up the draft picks &#8212; and that&#8217;s not because the Canucks should be holding onto those picks for the intention of drafting players with them. Rather, it&#8217;s because the Canucks&#8217; draft capital is going to be needed when they look to upgrade their blue line for this season.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s become painfully evident that the Canucks are at minimum a legitimate top four defenceman away from being a great team instead of a good one. The minutes when Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek aren&#8217;t on the ice have been an issue for the team all season long, as most of their <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-2024-25-nhl-season-quarter-mark-report-cards-defence-goaltending">bottom four defenceman have grossly underperformed</a>.</p>
<p>Could Jiricek have been an upgrade on Tyler Myers or Noah Juulsen? Sure. But you know who is better than David Jiricek right now? Rasmus Andersson. We&#8217;re not saying the Canucks <em>need </em>to go get Rasmus Andersson necessarily, but with what the Canucks are aiming to accomplish this season, their draft capital and trade assets that would have been used to acquire Jiricek will be better spent on a more proven defenceman <em>like </em>Andersson. And that&#8217;s not even mentioning the fact that a rental like Marcus Pettersson <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/what-vancouver-canucks-give-up-trade-top-four-defenceman">should cost considerably less</a> than the package outlined above.</p>
<p>The Wild are a good team right now, but with the stable of young players that are <em>already</em> leading the way for them, they could be a great team in just a few years, and adding Jiricek could certainly help them accomplish that. With players like Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy, and Brock Faber, who are presumably still a few years away from their NHL primes, already producing &#8212; not to mention 27-year-old Kirill Kaprizov, who appears to be near the top of early Hart Trophy conversations &#8212; the Wild are setting themselves up to be dangerous for years to come.</p>
<p>Now, that&#8217;s not to say that the Canucks&#8217; shouldn&#8217;t also be trying to keep an eye on the future, but their best players are all in or near their prime years, and the goal quite clearly is to win right now. It&#8217;s also clear the club believes highly in prospect Tom Willander (&#8220;we have David Jiricek at home&#8221;), so for this one, it seemed wise for the Canucks to say thanks, but no thanks, even if they could have matched the Wild&#8217;s offer.</p>
<p>I broke this down in video form in the latest edition of Quads&#8217; Instant Reaction over on the CanucksArmy YouTube channel. Watch it below and be sure to subscribe to the channel for even more Canucks content!</p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Could the Canucks have matched the Wild&#039;s trade package for David Jiricek?" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BasOUv6iiag?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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On Saturday afternoon, news finally broke that the Columbus Blue Jackets had pulled the trigger on a deal to ship 21-year-old right shot defenceman David Jiricek to the Minnesota Wild for a package of picks along with 22-year-old Daemon Hunt.
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&nbsp;

https://twitter.com/BlueJacketsNHL/status/1862991447558861180

According to multiple reports, the Vancouver Canucks were involved in the Jiricek sweepstakes, although talks seem to have fallen through when the Canucks made it known they wouldn't be parting with prospect Tom Willander in the deal. Then reports just days later suggested the Blue Jackets had lowered their asking price for Jiricek's services.

So now that we can see the deal that got it done, I immediately had to ask: Could the Canucks have matched that trade package?

The short answer is: yes, they could have, one way or another. In fact, they likely wouldn't have had to part with Willander to get a deal done in the end. It's possible -- and likely, really -- that the Blue Jackets rate Daemon Hunt very high, but right now, the Canucks have a prospect defenceman putting up better numbers than Hunt did in his first AHL season: Elias Pettersson. Pettersson is younger, has more upside, and as mentioned, is putting up better numbers in the AHL than Hunt did in his first AHL season.

For our purposes, the Canucks' equivalent package is: Elias Pettersson, a first, and a third (or maybe a second instead) round pick. Could the Canucks have offered the Blue Jackets this package and gotten the deal done? Maybe.

Should they have? No, it doesn't seem like it.

And the reason stems around the cost associated with giving up the draft picks -- and that's not because the Canucks should be holding onto those picks for the intention of drafting players with them. Rather, it's because the Canucks' draft capital is going to be needed when they look to upgrade their blue line for this season.

It's become painfully evident that the Canucks are at minimum a legitimate top four defenceman away from being a great team instead of a good one. The minutes when Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek aren't on the ice have been an issue for the team all season long, as most of their <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-2024-25-nhl-season-quarter-mark-report-cards-defence-goaltending">bottom four defenceman have grossly underperformed</a>.

Could Jiricek have been an upgrade on Tyler Myers or Noah Juulsen? Sure. But you know who is better than David Jiricek right now? Rasmus Andersson. We're not saying the Canucks <em>need </em>to go get Rasmus Andersson necessarily, but with what the Canucks are aiming to accomplish this season, their draft capital and trade assets that would have been used to acquire Jiricek will be better spent on a more proven defenceman <em>like </em>Andersson. And that's not even mentioning the fact that a rental like Marcus Pettersson <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/what-vancouver-canucks-give-up-trade-top-four-defenceman">should cost considerably less</a> than the package outlined above.

The Wild are a good team right now, but with the stable of young players that are <em>already</em> leading the way for them, they could be a great team in just a few years, and adding Jiricek could certainly help them accomplish that. With players like Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy, and Brock Faber, who are presumably still a few years away from their NHL primes, already producing -- not to mention 27-year-old Kirill Kaprizov, who appears to be near the top of early Hart Trophy conversations -- the Wild are setting themselves up to be dangerous for years to come.

Now, that's not to say that the Canucks' shouldn't also be trying to keep an eye on the future, but their best players are all in or near their prime years, and the goal quite clearly is to win right now. It's also clear the club believes highly in prospect Tom Willander ("we have David Jiricek at home"), so for this one, it seemed wise for the Canucks to say thanks, but no thanks, even if they could have matched the Wild's offer.

I broke this down in video form in the latest edition of Quads' Instant Reaction over on the CanucksArmy YouTube channel. Watch it below and be sure to subscribe to the channel for even more Canucks content!

https://youtu.be/BasOUv6iiag

<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
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