The Bobby Brink junior hockey connection that will fire up Wild fans

The era of forward Bobby Brink with the Philadelphia Flyers officially came to a close on Friday, as they traded him to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for defenseman David Jiricek.

The move to the Wild will reunite Brink with a former teammate of his, Matt Boldy, with whom he played while with Team USA at the 2019 IIHF World Under-18 Championship. Considering their history together, it could work well for the Wild.

“Not that they’ll necessarily play together, but John Wroblewski told me Bobby Brink and Matt Boldy had ‘unreal chemistry’ at the 2019 Under-18s and he’ll ‘thrive under [head coach John Hynes],'” reported The Athletic’s Michael Russo.

Brink will soon join Boldy and the rest of his new teammates as the Wild look to climb the ladder in the NHL’s Central Division.

Bobby Brink is now a member of the Wild

Brink was originally selected in the second round (34th overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2019 NHL Draft. But before making it to the NHL, he made a name for himself at the high school level by helping lead Minnetonka High School to its first ice hockey championship in 2018, and later being named named the United States Hockey League (USHL) Forward of the Year with an impressive 68 points.

Eventually playing collegiately for the Denver Pioneers, Brink captured the NCHC Player of the Year award in 2022, and later made his NHL debut with the Flyers during the 2021-22 NHL season while also playing in 41 games with the AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Playing in 79 games last season, Brink scored 12 goals while adding 29 assists.

He’ll have the chance to become a restricted free-agent when this current season ends; his current salary cap hit is a modest $1.5 million.

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