The Vancouver Canucks have decisions to make with defenceman Filip Hronek out for approximately eight weeks.
The Vancouver Canucks have decisions to make with defenceman Filip Hronek out for approximately eight weeks.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without defenceman Filip Hronek well into the New Year after the team announced upper and lower body injuries will keep him sidelined for approximately eight weeks.
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In his first full campaign with the organization, Hronek skated in 81 of 82 regular season games, scoring a career-high 48 points while averaging 23:26 of ice time. He's averaged 23:36 minutes of ice time through 21 games this season while posting nine points — a clip slightly below last season.
Now, the Vancouver Canucks have no choice but to absorb the loss internally or look for options externally to make up for Hronek's absence until he's healthy.
Looking Internally
Defence by committee was the name of the game for the Canucks in their game against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday night.
The contest against the Wild saw Quinn Hughes play Tyler Myers on the top pair, with the duo Noah Juulsen and Carson Soucy rounding out the top four.
The Canucks right-handed trio of Myers, Juulsen and Vincent Desharnais had a time-on-ice (TOI) of 21:55, 18:15, and 17:38, respectively. Desharnais' 17:38 TOI is the second-most he's played in a game in 2024-25, while Tuesday was the fourth time Juulsen eclipsed the 18-minute mark this season.
In their elevated roles, Desharnais used his size to block shots and clobber Wild forecheckers, and Juulsen performed well in the top four alongside Soucy.
While Myers and Soucy aren't playing as well as they did in previous seasons, their veteran presence and 6-foot-5 — 6-foot-8 in Myers' case—size makes them more than capable of stepping up in the interim.
The Canucks have a pair of overtime wins and a loss through three games without Hronek. Despite the loss, snagging a point against the Wild and earning nine of a possible 12 over the last six contests on their recent road trip has left head coach Rick Tocchet happy with his team.
"The guy's played really hard tonight," Tocchet said following Tuesday's game. "It's a helluva road trip. Could have easily won the game, so guys should feel good about themselves."
A knee-jerk move is avoidable if the wins keep coming and the defence looks alright.
Potential Moves to Make
Looking around the NHL, quality right-handed options are sparse among teams ready to sell just two months into the season.
As for assets, the Canucks are already without their third-round draft picks in the upcoming two drafts and sent their 2027 second-round selection to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Ilya Mikheyev's trade.
Unless the acquisition cost is cheap, the Canucks will likely have to move on from a premium draft pick, a decent prospect or make a hockey trade.
Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins is an option. While left-handed, he fits the bill of a top-four minute-muching defenceman. He's less fleet-of-foot than Hronek but is a decent enough skater with experience playing with offensive-minded defenders.
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He's spent most of his time this season playing alongside Erik Karlsson. The duo is the only Penguins pair to play over 300 minutes together this season and has a 57.66 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) at five-on-five. Individually, Pettersson has 11 points and a 54.93 xGF% through 27 games this season.
On Monday, Elliotte Friedman said it makes sense for the Penguins to be interested in forward Nils Hoglander on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. This comes after it came out the Canucks have some interest in Pettersson, as reported by Josh Yohe of The Athletic.
The framework of a trade is there. However, it's easy to think the Penguins' four-game winning streak — which kicked off with a victory over the Canucks — could muddy Pittsburgh's willingness to part with impact players at this time.
Elsewhere, Chris Johnston of The Athletic has multiple defenders on his NHL trade board. The Columbus Blue Jackets' Ivan Provorov headlines the group, but his expected high acquisition cost, coupled with being an unrestricted free agent at season's end, makes him a high-risk add.
Should general manager Patrik Allvin seek a trade, names lower on Johnston's list, such as Cody Ceci or Rasmus Ristolainen, pop out. But their services fit best on the third pair, meaning they'd join the bunch of third-pairing quality defencemen already in the Canucks system.
British Columbia-born Dante Fabbro is a smooth-skating right-handed option out of Columbus. The Columbus Blue Jackets claimed the 26-year-old defender on waivers in November. He has six points in 10 games with the organization and has a remarkable plus/minus of +14.
His contract expires at the end of this season and carries a $2.5 million cap hit.
The Canucks are 2-0-1 in the three games since Hronek went down with injury. A well-structured Canucks defence can sustain the loss of their second-best defenceman in the short term. But if Allvin can make an affordable move in the meantime, it should lead to an improved defence once Hronek is back.
Stats per Natural Stat Trick.
