I still think he's a guy you heavily investigate and pursue to see how feasible it is. Regardless of the team's situation, if you can sensibly add a former 6th OA pick two years from his draft year it could be a worthwhile gamble. Especially since the blue line is largely 30+
Personally I don't think the Leafs would part with Columbus would want .. but it's feasible.
The other aspect is the fit - not just on the roster itself but the optics. You have a Leafs teams playing really well through injuries, gelling nicely. How can you fit Jiricek in? There blue line has depth:
Rielly-Tanev
OEL-McCabe
Benoit-Timmins
Hakanpaa-Myers
The only avenue I see is in sheltered bottom pairing minutes (he needs regular playing time but in lower leverage situations at the NHL level to start with) .. who do you take out and rotate? Maybe it's sensible to move Timmins in another deal and put Jiricek there?
It's tough to have a hard pass on, but it is tricky to make it work with the Leafs even if they could afford the price.
While yes, getting a guy like David Jiricek should be "exciting"; the reality is, just like we weren't in a position to develop Sandin, and just like we weren't in a position to develop Liljegren, we need to accept that we're not in a position to develop Jiricek.
The Leafs are in a win-now mode, and this year were able to spend a reasonable amount on mid-tier defencemen (OEL). Jiricek isn't going to give the Leafs a better chance to win on a given night than Connor Timmins or Jani Hakanpaa is.
He needs to go to another bad team that can live with the mistakes for the long term upside.