Flyers Recall Oliver Bonk, David Jiricek
The Flyers have recalled defense prospects Oliver Bonk and David Jiricek from AHL Lehigh Valley, the team announced Monday. They will be on hand for the remainder of the postseason if needed after Lehigh Valley saw its season come to an end in its regular-season finale against Charlotte on Sunday, failing to qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Both are coming off recent stints on the NHL roster. The Flyers gave Bonk, their 22nd overall selection in the 2023 draft, his NHL debut in their final regular-season game against the Canadiens last week. Jiricek, while he’s gotten playing time in previous stints with the Blue Jackets and Wild, got the chance to make his Flyers debut the same night after being acquired from Minnesota for winger Bobby Brink at the trade deadline.
Bonk was particularly impressive in his first-ever showing. The 6’2″ righty shrugged off the growing pains of his first professional season in Lehigh Valley to rattle off a goal and an assist in the first period of the eventual 4-2 win, both at even strength. He logged 16:28 of ice time with two hits, although his possession impacts weren’t great. Philly lost the shot attempt battle 13-10 with Bonk on the ice at 5-on-5 despite him starting 80% of his shifts in the offensive end.
As mentioned, his run in Lehigh Valley this year was a mixed bag. After he was arguably the best shutdown defender in junior hockey last year en route to a Memorial Cup championship with the OHL’s London Knights, Bonk only managed 19 points and a -14 rating in 46 AHL games following a weeks-long stint on injured reserve to open the season. As Scott Wheeler of The Athletic opines, he’s still the Flyers’ #3 prospect and was relied upon heavily this season despite the lack of production and dominant results, so perhaps a more competitive AHL environment next season could facilitate a statistical breakout.
In all likelihood, though, Jiricek would find his way into the playoff lineup sooner if Philly needed someone to step in. Now 22, the 2022 sixth-overall pick still hasn’t locked down a full-time NHL job but does have 85 games of experience over the last four years compared to Bonk’s lone showing. His numbers aren’t great, limited to a 2-11–13 scoring line and a -8 rating while averaging a conservative 13:37 per night.
However, Jiricek has looked far more like the future top-pair challenger he was expected to be in Lehigh Valley over the last month. He had struggled to make an offensive impact in the minors in Minnesota’s system but rattled off a 2-11–13 scoring line in 15 games upon his arrival with the Phantoms, albeit with a -7 rating.
Jiricek will presumably be on the Flyers’ opening night roster in the fall. They signed him to a two-year, $3MM extension at the beginning of the month, and he loses his waiver-exempt status on July 1. They have a more experienced right-shot option in the press box in Noah Juulsen if need be, but if a top puck-mover ends up sustaining an injury, it stands to reason Jiricek could get the call as a better stylistic match.
Flyers Return Six Players To AHL
Wednesday: All five players recalled yesterday – Bonk (who had two points in his NHL debut), Gaucher, Richard, McDonald, and Kolosov – were returned to Lehigh Valley, per a team announcement. Also sent down was defenseman David Jiricek, who had been brought up on Sunday.
Tuesday: The Flyers will be resting some talent for tonight’s season finale against the Canadiens after locking up a playoff berth with last night’s win. As such, they announced they’ve called up several reinforcements from AHL Lehigh Valley – including 2023 first-round pick Oliver Bonk, who will be making his NHL debut tonight. Joining the hard-nosed defender are forwards Jacob Gaucher and Anthony Richard, defenseman Hunter McDonald and goaltender Aleksei Kolosov.
Philly likely hoped to get Bonk a look earlier in the season. The 22nd overall pick saw some notable offensive regression in his final season of junior hockey last year but otherwise capped up a successful pre-pro career with a second straight showing for Canada at the World Juniors and a Memorial Cup win with the London Knights. However, he sustained an upper-body injury shortly before training camp that ended up keeping him sidelined until Christmas.
He’s spent the months since getting used to the pro speed in the AHL. Early returns suggest Bonk may end up topping out as a higher-end second or third-pairing shutdown threat, not the top-pair complement they hoped he’d be. The 21-year-old righty has managed a 6-13–19 scoring line with a -10 rating through 44 games with Lehigh Valley, which currently sits two points out of the Calder Cup Playoff picture with three games remaining.
Still, he sits as the Flyers’ #3-ranked prospect and the second-highest name that’s currently playing in North America behind only budding star Porter Martone, who has eight points through his first eight games since turning pro out of Michigan State at the end of last month, per Scott Wheeler of Athletic. Still, his assessment is that of a #4-5 man on Philly’s depth chart long-term.
Everyone else joining the team today does so with NHL experience, save for McDonald. Gaucher, an undrafted free agent who’s worked his way up from being an ECHL mainstay just two years ago, is a pending restricted free agent, so tonight’s game could double as a sort of audition for a qualifying offer in June. The 6’3″, 185-lb center has been a 20-goal man in the AHL in back-to-back years now, but doesn’t have a ton of growth left in his game at age 25. Through seven career NHL outings over the last two seasons, he’s gone pointless with a -1 rating while averaging 7:57 of ice time per game.
Richard is also a pending free agent of the unrestricted variety, but it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest to see the Flyers extend or retain him. The 29-year-old was an efficient call-up option last year, although he’s yet to see NHL time this season. The former Predators fourth-rounder is now with his fourth NHL organization after making one-year stops with the Canadiens and Bruins in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. He’s been good for six goals and 14 points in 39 career NHL games in parts of five seasons. This year, he’s Lehigh Valley’s second-leading scorer with 18 goals and 44 points in 63 games.
McDonald, 23, was rostered for a few games back in January while Rasmus Ristolainen was sidelined but didn’t end up seeing any action. That should change tonight. The 6’4″, 238-lb lefty was a sixth-round pick in 2022 out of the USHL’s Chicago Steel. He proceeded to have a standout freshman season at Northeastern the following year that got him named to Hockey East’s All-Rookie Team while taking home Best Defensive Defenseman honors.
The New York native signed his entry-level contract, which expires this summer, back in 2024. Over parts of three seasons now in Lehigh Valley, he’s been a pure shutdown threat but a strong one. In 144 career outings, he’s amassed four goals and 27 points with 199 penalty minutes and a +22 rating. He’s much closer to being NHL-ready than his point production indicates and could very easily work his way into the conversation for a roster spot next fall.
Kolosov, after years of drama regarding whether he’d accept a consistent AHL assignment, has now firmly entrenched himself as the Flyers’ #3 netminder. Whether the Flyers will tender him a qualifying offer – or whether Kolosov will sign it – this summer is a different story. His numbers aren’t good. He hasn’t posted a save percentage above .900 at any level since arriving in North America in 2024, with a career .863 mark and a 3.64 GAA in 21 career NHL outings with a 5-11-1 record. As Lehigh Valley’s starter this season, he’s amassed a .898 SV%, 2.88 GAA, two shutouts, and a 15-20-2 record in 37 games.
Philadelphia Flyers Recall David Jiricek
The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled defenseman David Jiricek from their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The move puts the 2022 No. 6 overall pick in a position to potentially make his Flyers debut in one of the team’s final two regular-season games. He was acquired by the Flyers in March in exchange for forward Bobby Brink, but has yet to make his NHL debut.
PHLY Sports’ Charlie O’Connor wrote that he’d “be surprised” if Jiricek actually played on this recall, given the Flyers still need to clinch their playoff spot. The team is 7-3-0 in their last 10 games, so head coach Rick Tocchet might not have much of an appetite to make changes to a lineup that is firing on all cylinders.
But if the Flyers manage to clinch a playoff spot with a game remaining on their schedule, Jiricek could make his debut for the team in the final game of the regular season.
If Jiricek does play, the most likely spot in the lineup for him to take would be on the right side of the team’s third pairing. That’s a spot currently occupied by Emil Andrae, who is a lefty and has averaged 15:17 time on ice per game this season.
Jiricek, 22, has been stellar at the AHL level since joining the Flyers organization. He has 13 points in 13 games, and is playing a significant role in the lineup, soaking up significant minutes and appearing on both sides of special teams.
He could be a major part of the Flyers’ future if he can sort out some of the on-ice issues that helped pave the way for his exit from his last two NHL stops. Right now, though, the Flyers are singularly focused on the present and making the playoffs in these final two games on their schedule.
Flyers Sign David Jiricek To Two-Year Extension
5:15 p.m.: The team over at PuckPedia revealed the financial details of Jiricek’s new two-year extension:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing bonus | Potential performance bonuses | Minors salary |
| 2026-27 | $850K | $450K | NA | $1.3MM |
| 2027-28 | $1.7MM | NA | NA | $1.7MM |
3:43 p.m.: The Philadelphia Flyers will keep a Trade Deadline addition around for a few years longer. Defenseman David Jiricek has signed a two-year, $3MM extension with the club per his agent, Allan Walsh. Philadelphia has confirmed the extension. The deal will carry a $1.5MM annual-average-value. Philadelphia acquired Jiricek in exchange for winger Bobby Brink in early-March.
Jiricek hasn’t yet made his debut in the Flyers lineup, instead spending 10 games with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He has two goals and 10 points in those appearances, matching his scoring in 24 games with the Iowa Wild to start the season. He also appeared in 25 games with the Minnesota Wild this season but managed no scoring, 14 penalty minutes, and an even plus-minus.
Jiricek’s young career has been a story of expectations versus reality. He was a popular draft prospect in 2022, hype that culminated in the 6-foot-4 defender being selected sixth-overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He joined the Blue Jackets’ ranks in the following season, beginning the year with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters but receiving routine call-ups throughout the season. In total, Jiricek scored 38 points in 55 AHL games, and no points in four NHL games, in his first pro season in North America. That production, supported by seven points in seven games at the 2023 World Junior Championship, seemed to set Jiricek up for a breakout year in 2023-24.
Instead, the defender ran into a struggle to produce at the major or minor levels. He scored just 10 points in 43 NHL games, and 19 points in 29 AHL games, in his second season. He also had a negative plus-minus in both leagues. Quickly, the hype from Jiricek’s draft year seemed to be dwindling, as the puck-mover struggled to branch his game out against top-level competition.
As those struggles continued into his third season, Columbus made the decision to trade Jiricek to the Minnesota Wild in November 2024 in exchange for Daemon Hunt and one pick in each of the top-four rounds. Wild general manager Bill Guerin called the deal a “no-brainer” at the time and Jiricek was quickly pipelined into the NHL rotation. A move didn’t spark his scoring, though, and Jiricek was quickly assigned to the minor leagues. The struggling year hit a peak when his season was ended by a lacerated spleen in late-March.
Jiricek made a quiet return this season – but seems to finally be catching sparks in the Flyers organization. He has filled meaningful minutes in the minor leagues and could be primed for bigger minutes with a new extension under his belt. It is a one-way deal, which could ensure a trial run in the Philadelphia lineup next season, at the very least. With the Flyers, Jiricek will have a chance to learn from similar puck-movers like Rasmus Ristolainen and Jamie Drysdale. He’ll hope that mentorship can help him stick when he inevitably tries for a role with his third NHL club.
Wild Acquire Bobby Brink
The Wild are addressing their need for additional scoring depth by acquiring winger Bobby Brink from the Flyers, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic and Frank Seravalli of Victory+. Defenseman David Jiříček is the return headed to Philly, both add. There is no extension in place between the Wild and Brink, who’s a pending restricted free agent, Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reports. The trade has since been confirmed.
Brink is in the back half of a two-year, $3MM bridge deal he signed with Philly in 2024. He’ll be looking for a notable raise this summer. The 2019 second-rounder has grown into a stable top-nine piece during that time, and while he’s not the top-six center that Minnesota has been aiming for, it was clear the Wild were at least looking for a middle-six winger to augment their depth. They reportedly explored acquiring Nick Foligno from the Blackhawks, and while this doesn’t take them out of that race, it is a notable move to replenish some of the scoring upside they lost earlier this season by trading Liam Ohgren and Marco Rossi to the Canucks in the Quinn Hughes deal.
Since emerging as a full-time piece in the Flyers’ lineup back in 2023, Brink has averaged around a half a point per game. That hasn’t changed much this season with 26 in 55 games, but his finishing has taken a step forward, notching a career-high 13 tallies while shooting at 14.4% clip. He was averaging north of 15 minutes per game for Philly, playing mostly on their second line with Noah Cates and Matvei Michkov.
The inclusion of Brink, who’s still only 24, gives the Wild nine double-digit goal scorers on their roster up to this point in the season. They may still be looking for muscle near the bottom of the lineup. Brink certainly doesn’t provide that at just 5’8″ and 169 lbs, but he plays much larger than he is and is on pace for 100 hits.
For the Flyers, it’s a simple swap of young players from a position of excess to a position of need. The right-shot Jiříček now finds himself on his third team in four years since being drafted sixth overall by the Blue Jackets in 2022, but he’ll never have a clearer path to NHL minutes than he has now. The 22-year-old was on an assignment to AHL Iowa at the time of the trade, but with Rasmus Ristolainen likely on his way out of Philly today amid a rush of offers, the Flyers had a pressing organizational need for a righty who can challenge for top-four minutes.
That gives Jiříček a prime opportunity down the stretch to showcase himself in the extended ice time he’s so desperately desired to be effective. In 84 career NHL appearances over the last four years, he has a 2-11–13 scoring line and a -8 rating while averaging just 13:33 of ice time per game. Assuming Philly recalls him in short order, that number should jump closer to 20 with the potential for power-play opportunity, something Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports reports played a role in the move.
Wild Reassign David Jiricek, Cal Petersen, Tyler Pitlick
The Wild have reassigned defenseman David Jiříček, goaltender Calvin Petersen, and winger Tyler Pitlick to AHL Iowa, per a team announcement. Minnesota won its final game before the Olympic break yesterday, a 6-5 overtime thriller over the Predators, so those three will now be able to continue playing over the next few weeks in the minors.
Players can still be reassigned during the ongoing roster freeze if they’ve played fewer than 16 of the team’s 20 games before the freeze, or have been on the NHL roster for fewer than 80 league days before Jan. 21. All three of them meet that criteria.
Up-and-down movement has been a hallmark of Jiříček’s season. The once-highly touted prospect continues to struggle to lock down a full-time NHL role. Since being drafted sixth overall by the Blue Jackets in 2022, he’s scored 13 points in 84 career NHL games. None of them has come this season. He’s posted zeroes across the board in 25 outings for the Wild. He only has two career points in a Minnesota uniform, both of which came in a six-game stint last year after being acquired from Columbus.
Lack of ice time surely has something to do with the lack of output from the talented puck-mover. He’s only averaged 11:48 of ice time per game this year, although it’s hard to argue he’s earned more. His possession numbers are underwhelming, only controlling 46.1% of shot attempts at 5-on-5.
Things in the minors haven’t gone terribly well for Jiříček since last year’s move, either. He’s notched a goal and five points in 15 outings for Iowa this year after seven assists in 27 games in 2024-25. He’s only clicking at a 0.29 points per game rate with the club, with a -10 rating.
While Jiříček may be coming back up after the break, Petersen isn’t. He was only rostered for Minnesota’s last two games before the break to back up Filip Gustavsson while Jesper Wallstedt dealt with the flu. The Iowa native signed in free agency with the Wild last season to serve as a minor-league depth option in his home state. Now 31 years old, the former Kings hopeful has managed a .897 SV% with a 2.82 GAA in 17 AHL games, including two shutouts and a 4-13-0 record.
Pitlick, 34, also arrived with the Wild in last summer’s free agency period. After spending all of last year in the minors in the Bruins organization, he’s re-established himself as a fringe NHLer in Minnesota. He’s been up with the team for a good chunk of the year but cleared waivers last month, so he’s within the 30-day exempt period.
A second-round pick back in 2010, Pitlick doesn’t offer much more upside than being a physical fourth-line checker at this stage of his career. He has two goals and a -4 rating in 31 games for the Wild while averaging 7:48 of ice time per game. While his 41.3 CF% is among the team’s worst, he does rank fourth on the club with 76 hits and third on a per-game basis (2.45).
Wild Place Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy On IR
The Minnesota Wild are again dealing with multiple injuries. The Wild announced that they’ve placed forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy on the injured reserve.
Additionally, Minnesota has made multiple roster moves. In the same announcement, the team shared that they’ve recalled Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Hunter Haight, and David Jiříček to the NHL, while returning Carson Lambos to the AHL’s Iowa Wild.
Assuming the Wild makes Eriksson Ek’s placement retroactive to January 8th, he’s eligible to be activated as soon as he’s healthy. Still, since the team opted to place him on the injured reserve today, there’s little chance he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow against the Buffalo Sabres. He’s been dealing with a lower-body injury for the past week.
Already perusing the trade market for a second-line center, Eriksson Ek’s exit from the lineup has been a major detriment to the team. In the three games he has missed, Minnesota has lost all of them while collecting only one point. Typically in a top-six role, Eriksson Ek has scored 11 goals and 32 points in 45 games for the Wild this season while having a 49.7% success rate in the faceoff dot.
Meanwhile, arguably the larger concern is that Boldy will have to miss the next four games. Since Boldy seemingly suffered an undisclosed injury in Minnesota’s recent game against the Winnipeg Jets, he won’t be eligible to return until next Friday.
After skating in 203 consecutive games, the Wild will now move forward with one of their best offensive forces. Throughout 48 games this season, Boldy led the team in goal-scoring with 27 tallies and sat one point behind Kirill Kaprizov for the overall team lead.
Neither Aube-Kubel nor Haight will help Minnesota make up for the loss of offense. The two have combined for one assist across six games for the Wild this season. Still, in their defense, they’ve remained relatively productive with AHL Iowa this season, with the latter ranked third on the team in scoring with seven goals and 17 points in 31 games.
Wild Activate Daemon Hunt, Assign David Jiricek
The Minnesota Wild announced earlier today that Daemon Hunt has been activated from injured reserve, while David Jiříček has been re-assigned to AHL Iowa in a corresponding transaction. Hunt is expected to return to the lineup tonight on the third pair alongside Jacob Middleton.
The defenseman has been out since mid-December due to an undisclosed injury. Claimed off waivers from Columbus in October, today’s transaction proves to be a bit ironic as Hunt was traded by Minnesota to Columbus in exchange for Jiříček last year alongside several draft picks.
Unable to make his mark as a Blue Jacket after the trade, Hunt quickly found his way back to the team that chose him in the third round of the 2020 draft. With two points in 12 games on the season, Hunt has some puck moving ability, untapped so far at the NHL level, but at age 23, he figures to be a steady third pair defender, still with just 25 games under his belt.
Jiříček, thought to have elite upside coming out of the 2022 draft, where he was selected sixth overall by Columbus, has been scoreless in 18 games with the Wild this season. Taking a swing on the Czech righty seemed to be worth a gamble, especially as Minnesota promptly snatched back the player they’d given up for him, but at some point Jiříček will need to show something to warrant a future in the NHL. A restricted free agent at season’s end, Jiříček’s play with Iowa has not inspired much confidence either, with 10 points in 40 games across the last two seasons. With offense hard to come by, the 6’4″ Jiříček has also struggled in his own end, ineffective even in smaller sheltered roles on Minnesota, a team with high ambitions.
Still just 22, the Wild are not necessarily in any rush with him, but as a contender with limited spots on their back end going into the future, Jiříček may be a name worth monitoring this spring in another deal.
For now, Hunt will rejoin the high flying Wild against Seattle tonight, while Jiříček will try to help the bottom-ranked Iowa Wild get on track, vying for another shot in the NHL.
Minnesota Wild Recall David Jiricek
According to a team announcement, the Minnesota Wild have recalled defenseman David Jiříček from the AHL’s Iowa Wild. The Wild now have a full 23-man roster, with eight of them being defensemen.
Jiříček’s story in the NHL is well known at this point. The Wild acquired the former sixth overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft from the Columbus Blue Jackets last season for a 2025 first-round pick, 2027 second-round pick, 2026 third-round pick, 2026 fourth-round pick, and defenseman Daemon Hunt, who has since re-joined the Wild.
Still, Jiříček, 22, has yet to break out in any meaningful way with Minnesota. He looked promising in his first professional season with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, scoring six goals and 38 points in 55 games with a -11 rating. He hasn’t come close to achieving that level of performance again.
In fact, the way his tenure with the Wild has begun is similar to how his time with the Blue Jackets ended. Jiříček was frequently moved between the NHL and AHL lineup, failing to provide any continuity in the early stages of his development. He now finds himself in the same situation with the Wild.
During the 2025-26 season, Jiříček has played 18 games for Minnesota and 13 games for Iowa. He’s only scored with the latter, posting a goal and two assists with a -8 rating. His limited output in the NHL may be due to averaging just over 12 minutes of ice time per game when he plays.
There’s little indication he’s poised for an offensive breakout either. Throughout his tenure with the Wild, he’s only managed a 46.3% CorsiFor% at even strength, which is slightly worse than what he averaged with Columbus. However, his defensive play has improved, averaging a 94.3% on-ice SV% at even strength.
Regardless, given that the Wild are dealing with a few injuries on defense to Hunt and Zach Bogosian, Jiříček should find his way into the lineup for the time being. However, once one of them returns, he’s likely headed back for another extended stay with AHL Iowa.
West Notes: Jiricek, Morrissey, Pospisil
The Minnesota Wild have made a change to their defensive core ahead of tomorrow’s matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Wild announced that they’ve reassigned defenseman David Jiříček to the AHL’s Iowa Wild.
It’s the third time the former sixth overall pick has been demoted this season. Jiříček, 22, has played in 18 games for the Wild this season in a depth role, going scoreless while averaging 12:08 of ice time per game. He’s fared somewhat better with AHL Iowa, scoring one goal and three points in 10 games with a -6 rating.
Still, his demotion may come with some good news. Yesterday, Michael Russo of The Athletic suggested that defenseman Daemon Hunt, who’s been rehabbing an undisclosed injury for the last few weeks, is expected to rejoin the team at some point during their current road trip. Regardless, Minnesota still has seven healthy defensemen on the active roster.
Other notes from the Western Conference:
- The Winnipeg Jets are dealing with some injury concerns to a significant player from last night’s loss to the Wild. According to analyst Mitchell Clinton, defenseman Josh Morrissey is considered day-to-day after taking a high hit last night. The Jets’ next game is tomorrow against the Edmonton Oilers, and Morrissey’s status for that contest is very much in question.
- A recent 20-assist forward may return to the Calgary Flames relatively soon. Earlier today, Wes Gilberton of Postmedia reported that Martin Pospisil has resumed skating and is hoping to return shortly after the new year. Pospisil, who scored four goals and 25 points in 81 games for the Flames last season, has yet to play this year after suffering an undisclosed injury during preseason action.