The Columbus Blue Jackets have once again found themselves at the bottom of the standings. The team does have one of the best prospect pools in the league but the current team is clearly underperforming even modest expectations. Now one of their top prospects could be on his way out, making the team's outlook that much worse. <h2>Jiricek Unhappy With Deployment This Season From Columbus Blue Jackets</h2> Jiricek has played in 36 games for the Blue Jackets this season. In those games he's averaging less than 15 minutes of ice-time and he has seen virtually no powerplay time. This has lead to him questioning why he's not being given more of an opportunity given that he sees other young defensemen playing major roles for their teams. <q>I've played good hockey in the NHL. I am an NHL player right now. That's my opinion, I should be playing in the NHL right now. I see guys from the same draft, like Simon Nemec [in New Jersey] and [Kevin] Korchinski [in Chicago]. [...] They get their chance on the power play. They play a lot of minutes in the NHL. These are different teams, different situations, but I can compare myself to them. I just want the chance to play like them.</q> This has lead to much speculation that he could request a trade from the team. He has since been demoted to the American Hockey League where he is averaging more than 20 minutes per game and is playing in a top powerplay role. However, the demotion seems to have served the defenseman well. <h2>Jiricek Scores First Career Hat Trick</h2> Upon being sent to the AHL, Jiricek has proceeded to light the league on fire. He is scoring at a point-per-game pace and he even had his first career Hat Trick in professional hockey earlier this month. <q>DAVID JIRICEK HAT TRICK INCOMING📥 @monstershockey | #CHIvsCLE</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/1753948664077107420'> </a></blockquote></div> It is now being reported that Jiricek is unlikely to be traded. Still though, this is a situation to keep an eye on as the season progresses. Given the way he's playing, Jiricek already seems to deserve a promotion back to the NHL. Will it come? <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/TheHockeyNews/status/1755978787391422819'> </a></blockquote></div>