Flyers trade Bobby Brink to Wild for David Jiricek on NHL trade deadline day
Bobby Brink is heading home, and the Flyers are acquiring the prospect drafted immediately after they picked Cutter Gauthier in 2022.
The Flyers traded the right winger to the Minnesota Wild for right-handed defenseman David Jiricek, who Philadelphia said will report to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
"The price was reasonable at this point since we have so many wingers," Flyers general manager Danny Briere said.
Brink, 24, is a Minnetonka, Minnesota, native who led Minnetonka High School to its first ice hockey state championship in 2018.
A 2019 second-round pick, Brink has 13 goals, including three on the power play, and 26 points in 55 games this season. He made his NHL debut in the 2021-22 season and scored 36 goals with 94 points in 201 career games in the orange and black.
"It was not an easy one. I was part of the developmental staff when Bobby came along," Briere said. "We had some long discussions about his future, his career. To have been part of that and to see him blossom into the player that he has become, there's, selfishly, a lot of pride in that. It wasn't an easy one to let go."
The Flyers had the opportunity to select Jiricek in the 2022 NHL draft but opted for Gauthier with the fifth overall pick. The Columbus Blue Jackets selected the Czech defenseman with the sixth pick.
Gauthier refused to sign with the Flyers, leading to a surprising January 2024 trade to the Anaheim Ducks.
Jiricek was also traded in 2024. Columbus traded the righty blueliner to the Wild for Daemon Hunt and four draft picks, including a 2025 first-round pick. The Blue Jackets drafted goalie Pyotr Andreyanov with the 2025 first-rounder from Minnesota.
The 6-foot-4 defenseman has yet to be able to consistently crack an NHL lineup, but he gives the Flyers a young right-handed defender with upside. He made his NHL debut in the 2024-25 season, registering a goal and an assist in six games. He has split time in the NHL and AHL this season, appearing in 25 games with the Wild and 24 games with their AHL affiliate, Iowa Wild.
"The talent is there. It's working with him. Defensemen, it seems, they need time. We saw it with Jamie [Drysdale]," Briere said. "To see him come into his own this year is really exciting, but we went through a learning curve with Jamie. I expect kind of the same thing with David. We're going to give him the chance to build his game. We're going to work with him."
By trading Brink, the Flyers are addressing a logjam at wing as they have two intriguing prospects lurking in the water — Porter Martone and Alex Bump. Martone, whom the Flyers drafted with the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NHL draft, is currently at Michigan State and could turn pro after the NCAA season concludes. Bump is with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL.
"At some point, we were going to have to make a change or trade some wingers for other positions," Briere said. "When that kind of came in yesterday, we started to think the chance to add a big, young, strong defenseman like David, we felt like that was a good opportunity for us to look toward the future and add another hopefully big piece down the road to our D core."
Flyers trade Nicolas Deslauriers to Hurricanes
The Flyers have made one more trade before Friday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.
Philadelphia traded Nicolas Deslauriers to the Carolina Hurricanes for a conditional 2027 seventh-round draft pick. The conditions of the pick were not announced.
Deslauriers, 35, has played just 24 games this season with the Flyers, recording one assist and 33 penalty minutes.
The fourth-line winger and enforcer is in the final year of a four-year contract he signed with the Flyers before the 2022-23 season.
After the trade, the Flyers now have nine draft picks in the 2027 NHL draft.
Flyers claim Luke Glendening off waivers
Philadelphia also claimed center and right winger Luke Glendening off waivers from the New Jersey Devils.
Glendening, 36, has four assists and has won 51.7% of his faceoffs in 52 games this season with the Devils.
Glendening has played 13 seasons in the NHL — eight with the Detroit Red Wings, two with the Tampa Bay Lightning, two with the Dallas Stars and part of this season with the Devils.
The Flyers said Glendening will be available for their game Saturday against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.
