Filip Hronek, a former Red Wings defenseman traded at the 2023 deadline, signed an eight year, $58 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks
Filip Hronek, a former Red Wings defenseman traded at the 2023 deadline, signed an eight year, $58 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks
The Detroit Red Wings just saved a whole lot of money.
Former Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek signed an eight year, $58 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. The contract has an average annual value of $7,250,000 against the cap, and it includes a no movement clause for certain years of the contract. Detroit previously traded the restricted free agent to Vancouver at the 2023 trade deadline in a controversial move.
Hronek's extension comes after he logged a career year playing alongside Norris Trophy favorite Quinn Hughes. The 26-year-old Hronek scored a career-best 48 points last season, albeit the majority came in the first half of the season. When asked about that dichotomy at the end of the season, Hronek gave an icy response that garnered lots of attention.
Regardless of the whens and hows of Hronek's scoring, it's probably a good thing that the Red Wings sold him at the deadline because his new contract extension would have put them in a bind. With star defenseman Moritz Seider and forward Lucas Raymond restricted free agents set to sign big extensions of their own, Detroit probably wouldn't have the cap space to sign Hronek in addition to its other stars.
And even outside of avoiding sticker shock, the futures that the Red Wings received for for Hronek could be big ones. The primary asset in the trade was a first round pick in the 2023 draft, which Detroit used to select dynamic Swedish blue liner Axel Sandin Pellikka. He just finished a season in which he won an SHL championship with Skelleftea, as well as the Börje Salming Trophy for the best Swedish-born defenseman in the league. Detroit also received a second round pick in the trade, which it flipped to Nashville for a later second rounder and an extra fifth rounder. Those picks landed hard-nosed defenseman Brady Cleveland and German forward Kevin Bicker.
When the Hronek trade first happened, the move sparked curiosity from fans and pundits about the direction of the Red Wings' ongoing rebuild. With Hronek blossoming into a talented power play quarterback and second pairing defenseman, selling off such an established player set the rebuild back just when the Red Wings had inched closer and closer to the playoffs. The move was especially surprising because Hronek had another year on his contract, and his departure was not remotely imminent.
Paired with the trade of pugnacious winger Tyler Bertuzzi — a pending unrestricted free agent at the time — the move told observers that Detroit's rebuild wasn't quite over. And general manager Steve Yzerman said as much at the time.
“If I thought that this group had a chance to … not just make (the playoffs) but really go on a run, maybe you keep your team together,” Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said in March 2023. “If I thought we were a Stanley Cup contender, I would not have traded our unrestricted free agents. I would have continued to play it out and say, ‘We’re making a run and whatever happens, happens.’ But we’re not at that point yet.”
With a big Hronek contract on the books, it would have been harder for Yzerman to build depth around the stars of his current roster, especially with Raymond and Seider set for big raises in the coming months. And if Sandin Pellikka lives up to his current projections, the Red Wings could wind up with their long term power play quarterback and second pairing defenseman anyway.
So while Vancouver got the better player now — and one that will be a Canuck for a long time — Detroit's payoff will come a lot later. But beyond just the raw value of the assets exchanged, the Hronek trade is an example of the Red Wings maximizing their assets during the rebuild.
At the very least, the trade spared Detroit's checkbook.
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