David Jiricek was at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, preparing for a game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, when Cleveland Monsters coach Trent Vogelhuber told him he wouldn’t be playing that night.
Jiricek instead needed to get on a plane to Columbus after being called up by the Blue Jackets for the first time. Defenseman Adam Boqvist was placed on injured reserve Wednesday afternoon with a broken foot, and the Jackets turned to Jiricek, an 18-year-old rookie and the No. 6 overall pick in this year’s draft, to fill his place.
On Thursday, after Jiricek’s first NHL practice since training camp, Jackets coach Brad Larsen made it clear that Jiricek had earned his call-up.
“We don’t just call him up because he was a first-round pick and a high pick,” Larsen said. “We called him up because he was the best defenseman (in Cleveland). That’s how we have to operate.”
Blue JacketsBlue Jackets rookie David Jiricek on fast track NHL debut: ‘There’s a lot to like’
In his first five games with the Monsters, Jiricek had four assists to lead Cleveland’s defensemen. Adjusting to the smaller ice in North America from the wider ice he played on with HC Plzen in Czechia was expected to take Jiricek a bit of time, but he made the transition look seamless.
And Friday, Jiricek will take the next step in that transition as he makes his NHL debut against the Boston Bruins. He’ll become the seventh 18-year-old to play for the Jackets, and just the second defenseman; Fellow Czech blue liner Rostislav Klesla, who debuted in the Jackets’ inaugural season in 2000, is the other.
Jiricek is also just the third pick from the 2022 draft to play in the NHL, joining No. 1 pick Juraj Slafkovsky and No. 4 pick Shane Wright.
“I’m feeling like the other days,” Jiricek said. “The next day, it’s work. I’m just preparing for the game like for other games. Not any more. … (Nerves) will come, I think, before the game. Before 7 pm, there will be some nerves, but that’s part of the game.”
Jiricek is expected to line up alongside Vladislav Gavrikov on the second pair and also practiced Thursday as the quarterback of the second power-play unit. Jiricek said he’ll lean on Gavrikov throughout the night.
“He’s an awesome player,” Jiricek said. “He has a lot of experience from Europe and from the NHL. That’s very important for me to have a guy on the pair like him.”
Larsen doesn’t like to set expectations for rookies in their debut game, and didn’t publicly set any for Jiricek, but his excitement to see how Jiricek performs was evident.
“He’s assertive all over the ice,” Larsen said. “Probably have to hold him back at times. He gets maybe too aggressive, but we can coach that out of him a little bit, in a positive way. He wants to be a difference-maker in all three zones, and that’s a great thing to see from a young man.”
It’s been a whirlwind 16 weeks since Jiricek stood on stage at the draft in Montreal as the sixth overall pick and donned a Blue Jackets jersey for the first time.
Friday, he’ll put the jersey on again, this time for his NHL debut — with his parents Libor and Lenka watching from the stands after arriving from Czechia late Thursday night.
“I played a few games in Cleveland, so that’s some experience,” Jiricek said. “Today is, I think, the most important game in my career. I need to prepare, get some sleep before the game. Some long nap, I hope. I will be ready at 7 pm.”
Joonas Korpisalo scheduled to make rehab start with Cleveland Monsters
After undergoing hip surgery in March, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo has been working his way back to game fitness. He wasn’t cleared for game action at the beginning of training camp, and the Jackets took a careful approach to his recovery.
He began the season on season-opening injured reserve but has been practicing with the full team in recent weeks, nearing a return. The next step in Korpisalo’s rehab process will come Saturday, as he plays his first game since surgery.
Korpisalo is expected to join the Monsters in Syracuse for a rehab start against the Crunch on Saturday night, then meet the Jackets in Newark, New Jersey, Sunday before the team travels to Finland for two Global Series games against the Colorado Avalanche next week.