Now that their respective junior seasons are concluded, forward Justin Caronneau (2025 draft,1st round 19th overall) and d-man Adam Jirek (2024 draft, 1st round 16th overall) will join the Springfield Blues today for the remainder of its Calder Cup playoff run. Currently, Springfield leads Providence 2 games to 1 in a best-of-five division semi-final series.
Both Carbonneau’s QMJHl Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Jiricek’s OHL Brantford Bulldogs lost in game 7 of their respective Conference Finals, paving the way for them to move to Springfield. This move promises to provide a boost to the AHL Blues’ already impressive playoff run. Carbonneau had 20 points on 9 goals, good for fifth and fourth in the QMJHL playoffs, respectively. Jiricek recorded 22 points (7G 15A) to lead all OHL d-men in playoff scoring, and earlier this season the Czech was named the World Junior Championship’s Best Defender.
Carbonneau and Jiricek figure to be the Blues’s top two prospects to begin the 2026-27 season, as the three players ranked ahead of them (Snuggerud, Dvorsky & Mailloux) are now established NHL’ers.