The Philadelphia Flyers have made a bit of a surprising transaction with their playoff push coming to its final few games, recalling top defense prospect David Jiricek from the AHL on Sunday afternoon.
Jiricek, 22, was acquired by the Flyers from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for winger Bobby Brink on NHL trade deadline day back on March 6 and has since played exclusively for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, scoring two goals, 11 assists, and 13 points in 13 games.
The Flyers' decision to make this move now is surprising in the sense that they are on the precipice of a playoff berth, rather than having already been eliminated.
Management wouldn't call up Jiricek without a plan to get him into NHL action, with which he has 84 games of experience thus far.
In recent weeks, the Flyers have juggled their power play units and added burly right-shot Rasmus Ristolainen to one, but with Jiricek in the fold, the Flyers can preserve Ristolainen for more important defensive minutes instead.
The 2022 No. 6 overall pick has always been highly regarded for his offensive abilities which he's flexed plenty with the Phantoms, as evidenced by his gaudy stat line in just over a dozen games.
As for a spot in the lineup, the Flyers have been running a third defense pair of Emil Andrae and Nick Seeler--two lefties--with veteran Noah Juulsen as the understudy.
Andrae has yet to truly feature on the man advantage, and he's both a different handedness and smaller than Jiricek.
Seeler and Juulsen are what they are: defense-first, stay-at-home veterans who offer very little with the puck.
Although there's certainly some pressure with the timing of Jiricek's call-up, the Flyers have plenty of ways they can utilize their top defense prospect down the stretch.