Blue Jackets' Top Prospect Not Happy With Situation, Could Lead To Trade

This season has gone very poorly for the Columbus Blue Jackets once again and it just continues to get worse. As the losses pile up, not top prospect David Jiricek isn't happy with the decision made with him and his situation.

Jiricek spoke with The Athletic and had this to say, "I played good hockey in the NHL. I'm an NHL player right now. That's my opinion, that I should be in the NHL right now. I see guys from the same draft, like Simon Nemec and Korchinski...they get a chance on the power play. They play a ton of minutes in the NHL. Those are different teams, so different situations, but I can compare with them. I just want a chance to play like that."

Since the Blue Jackets thought that they would be competing for a playoff spot this season, they brought in even more help on the back-end like Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson on top of the many defenseman the team already had under contract. This has only caused defensemen who should be playing in every game to be a healthy scratch or sit in the minors past the point they should be playing there, like Jiricek.

The young defenseman also said, "They told me last game was not good enough for me. I told them I don't think so, but that's your opinion...I was out of the lineup after that. A whole month now, it feels like I haven't played. The guys in Cleveland are awesome. The coaches are awesome. It's fun to be here now, because there's a lot of winning. There's a good energy. But still...this is now what I want, right?"

Aaron Portzline said that there was concern that Jiricek wouldn't report to the AHL. The Blue Jackets need to move defensemen out quickly since they are not competing this season and get Jiricek not only in the lineup every night, but time on the power play. He is the future on defense and the team is starting to let things get bad. This could lead to their top prospect wanting out if the opportunity isn't there on a bad team where there should be ample opportunities.