Confirmed with Link: Canucks Re-Sign Filip Hronek to 8y/7.25m Contract

[MarkusNaslund19]

just going on record to say i hate this deal

too much term and too much money for a guy who has two decent half seasons in six years in the league. would have rather have spent it on theodore next season

i hope someone is able to rub my face in this post in the future but this is the worst transaction of the rutherford/allvin era so far imo

You presented yourself as an authority on the player when we acquired him and compared him to Tyler Myers.

I think you either have a blind hatred for the player, or else struggle to evaluate his player archetype.
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I find the hair pulling and teeth gnashing a bit much.

Like, the first half of the year he wasn't playing like a 7.25 million dollar player, he was playing like an 11 million dollar player, and we know he isn't that.

The 2nd half, he was clearly injured and a shell of himself and yet he was still a competent top pairing D who didn't really hurt us. He just wasn't contributing remotely as much as he was in the first 50 games.

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He has a couple of serious flaws, but they are fixable.

1. He is atrocious on 2-on-1s. He and Myers both have to be like bottom 15 percentile at knowing when to force the puck carrier to make a move, and getting the stick and body in the way of passes. He absolutely has to improve at this.

2. He gets a bit complacent around his own self-preservation. Like he passes a puck sometimes and then let's his guard down and gets smashed by a hit that's an 8th of a second late as if he thinks forecheckers will always follow the letter of the law. Has to improve at self preservation or more injuries will occur.

Otherwise? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills reading half the responses on here.

1. He comes from a complete tirefire of a team. He has had zero guidance. Hell, he literally lead that team in scoring as like a 22 year old, mostly unheralded, defence man. So playing with structure, playing under Foote and Gonchar, playing with a good team that can utilize him more optimally. All of these things are going to lead him to improve.

The recency bias on these boards is hilarious. We dealt a 1st and a 2nd for him, and a 3rd for Zadorov within the last 15 months.

But an injury for him and a good 13 games for Zadorov and suddenly people think he sucks and Zadorov is Chara. It's a bit mindboggling.

2. The salary cap is going up. So even if he doesn't improve, his contract will. In 3 years number 2 D will probably be signing for like 8.5 million per.

So to me there's almost no risk of this not being a good contract that becomes a great contract unless he gets like concussion issues or something.

He will continue to improve, he's already more than worth the money, and the cap hit will become less and less significant.

He makes a lot less than Karlsson, less than Werenski, less than Jones, less than Nurse, less than Burns, less than Carlson, less than Chabot, less than Trouba, less than Weber (lol), less than Orlov, less than Spurgeon, and a quarter of a million dollars more than M.E. Vlasic (lol). And he signed his contract after all of them did.

Like I seriously see zero risk here. We have our top 2 centers and top 2 D tied up for the next three years (next 6 if you don't include Hughes) for like 34 million. That's an unreal foundation that will only get better and better.

Let yourself be happy about something Canucks fans, it's good for you.

 

[Diamonddog01]

In his presser, he mentioned getting stronger as the biggest factor in him keeping up his performance for the full season. The trend of fading in the second half was noted by Detroit fans last fall when he was doing well. If that is the situation, getting stronger is pretty feasible, although tough to do in one offseason. Be interesting to see how he looks brand new again next fall.

I'm not sure if I read it here or elsewhere but reportedly he struggles maintaining weight throughout the full season so perhaps that's an issue? His play faded during the stretch in Detroit at times as well, if it continues to happen I will be less than enthused with this contract.

 

[HockeyWooot]

A little bit long on term but otherwise good deal.

 

[tantalum]

Plus taxes. Every agent looks at it.

Actually in this case Walsh has very publicly talked about how tax discussions are hyperbolic (including Canada vs US). He detailed this on Spittin' Chicklets some time ago I believe (not that they've listened). And on twitter:

"I’m shocked at how uninformed this take is-Players in Canada can set up a Retirement Compensation Agreement (RCA) and limit their tax liability to a flat 20%. With sound tax advisors, a NHL player can actually pay the same or less tax in Canada than he will Florida or Vegas."

 

[credulous]

Actually in this case Walsh has very publicly talked about how tax discussions are hyperbolic (including Canada vs US). He detailed this on Spittin' Chicklets some time ago I believe (not that they've listened). And on twitter:

"I’m shocked at how uninformed this take is-Players in Canada can set up a Retirement Compensation Agreement (RCA) and limit their tax liability to a flat 20%. With sound tax advisors, a NHL player can actually pay the same or less tax in Canada than he will Florida or Vegas."

i had an rca and it's not nearly as beneficial as walsh portrays. in my case i lowered my marginal tax burden from 53% to the flat 20% on the deferred portion but i had to wait four years to collect and i was taxed 37% on the untaxed 80% when i "retired"

for someone like hronek it means paying 10m on tax on (a theoretical -- i have no idea if hronek deferred or how much) 50m deferred portion, waiting 10+ years until retirement to collect the remaining 40m and then paying local taxes on that 40m (which means the 37% federal amount if he retires to nevada like me or possibly zero if he retires to monaco or something)

in my case if i hadn't been able to collect in four years i would have done better taking the money up front, paying the full taxes and investing

rcas are for athletes who are on their last contract who can move to a very low tax jurisdiction on retirement. they're not really a thing for 26 year olds signing 8 year deals

 

[arttk]

i had an rca and it's not nearly as beneficial as walsh portrays. in my case i lowered my marginal tax burden from 53% to the flat 20% on the deferred portion but i had to wait four years to collect and i was taxed 37% on the untaxed 80% when i "retired"

for someone like hronek it means paying 10m on tax on (a theoretical -- i have no idea if hronek deferred or how much) 50m deferred portion, waiting 10+ years until retirement to collect the remaining 40m and then paying local taxes on that 40m (which means the 37% federal amount if he retires to nevada like me or possibly zero if he retires to monaco or something)

in my case if i hadn't been able to collect in four years i would have done better taking the money up front, paying the full taxes and investing

rcas are for athletes who are on their last contract who can move to a very low tax jurisdiction on retirement. they're not really a thing for 26 year olds signing 8 year deals

i assume when you have over 10M+ sitting in those accounts, the player can borrow against it and the investment gains should make up for the interest rates of borrowing.

 

[credulous]

i assume when you have over 10M+ sitting in those accounts, the player can borrow against it and the investment gains should make up for the interest rates of borrowing.

maybe athletes have better access than me but they go into a trust. you can't do anything with them. you can't even invest them

 

[arttk]

maybe athletes have better access than me but they go into a trust. you can't do anything with them. you can't even invest them

yeah but if you have millions sitting somewhere, you can just borrow against it.. like if you have 10M sitting somewhere that cannot be touched, you can just ask the bank to borrow like 2M and the interest rate for that is going to be pretty favorable. i assume agents these days are better with advising clients on how to invest their money or provide that service to them.

 

[Lindgren]

i had an rca and it's not nearly as beneficial as walsh portrays. in my case i lowered my marginal tax burden from 53% to the flat 20% on the deferred portion but i had to wait four years to collect and i was taxed 37% on the untaxed 80% when i "retired"

for someone like hronek it means paying 10m on tax on (a theoretical -- i have no idea if hronek deferred or how much) 50m deferred portion, waiting 10+ years until retirement to collect the remaining 40m and then paying local taxes on that 40m (which means the 37% federal amount if he retires to nevada like me or possibly zero if he retires to monaco or something)

in my case if i hadn't been able to collect in four years i would have done better taking the money up front, paying the full taxes and investing

rcas are for athletes who are on their last contract who can move to a very low tax jurisdiction on retirement. they're not really a thing for 26 year olds signing 8 year deals

The one thing that's clear from all this is that Credulous should be, y'know, doing right by all his friends on the board. Buying blocks of Canucks tickets for us. Trips to Vegas. Pocket change for him!

C'mon, Credulous, buddy! We all like you!

 

[StreetHawk]

yeah but if you have millions sitting somewhere, you can just borrow against it.. like if you have 10M sitting somewhere that cannot be touched, you can just ask the bank to borrow like 2M and the interest rate for that is going to be pretty favorable. i assume agents these days are better with advising clients on how to invest their money or provide that service to them.

Or they connect the player with a Financial Advisor. Better to use a specialist that a "jack of all trades" Player Agent.
That's what the super wealthy do, borrow against their net worth.

 

[credulous]

The one thing that's clear from all this is that Credulous should be, y'know, doing right by all his friends on the board. Buying blocks of Canucks tickets for us. Trips to Vegas. Pocket change for him!

C'mon, Credulous, buddy! We all like you!

if you're ever in vegas pm me. i'm only like 'own an ahl team' rich tho, not 'own an nhl team' rich

 

[Vector]

if you're ever in vegas pm me. i'm only like 'own an ahl team' rich tho, not 'own an nhl team' rich

Was almost in Vegas for the Craft Brewers Conference a few months ago but...well I'm not allowed out of the office due to being too important.

 

[Lindgren]

if you're ever in vegas pm me. i'm only like 'own an ahl team' rich tho, not 'own an nhl team' rich

My wife's reply: "We're going to Vegas!"

 

[archangel2]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1803182436685324723

that looks like a biology exam I once took

 

[Baby Pettersson]

if you're ever in vegas pm me. i'm only like 'own an ahl team' rich tho, not 'own an nhl team' rich

See you soon then. I fly out next Friday!

 

[orcatown]

Deal was fair. Given the anticipated increase in the cap this deal should age well and if Hronek can reach the potential he has shown through substantial parts of his NHL career it could be excellent.

Far as the trade goes, it looks, at this point, very acceptable. Pallikka was redundant with Hughes around and Felix Nilsson is certainly not an immediate prospect or much more than a moderate one. Canucks might have chosen otherwise but that's what the draft choices ended up being.

At this point, all the immediate angst about the team not going the full rebuild and keeping those draft choices looks misplaced.

 

[lawrence]

I'm very happy we got this done. For all his flaws, he is still the best RHD we have since since Tanev, and the best offensive RHD, heck he's outscored every dman of the 2011 team and no dman has as many points as him (with the exception of Hughes) in the past 25 years.

he's got some flaws, but he's needed. At 26 I think his defensive game can progress like Forsling did. Also I remember clearly, guys like Bieska also struggled badly in his first couple playoffs only to improve by the time he is 30. So i'm happy. Quite relieved. I do hope next year, we can maybe split him from quinn. have 2 offensive dmans on seperate pairings.

 

[sting101]

Was hoping for shorter term and the AAV is a little higher than i wanted also but he still has room for growth in his game.

i don't consider Hronek a high IQ player and i wonder how his body will hold up at his size so this type of commitment is a little presumptuous given his repeated 2nd half drains and playoffs.

Will defer to the scouts and hope that we get what we paid for or more. Not gonna lie both this and EP40's deals are a little off putting for players who were so poor to end last season. And both players mentioned need to be better at least excepting their place in the media

On the positive he's in the top20-30 RD in the NHL and him and Hughes caving teams was huge for the teams regular season success. Also think he will be better going forward now that he's tasted playoff hockey. It's also good to have cost certainty and be able to manage our off season now rather than tension a pending arbitration case and or a trade scenario.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Heads up

Fil jist did a podcast with his agent Allan Walsh and host Adam Wylde on the SDPN network

Look them up on YouTube or any podcast platform, it should drop on this weekend

 

[ForecheckBackcheck]

I'm very happy we got this done. For all his flaws, he is still the best RHD we have since since Tanev, and the best offensive RHD, heck he's outscored every dman of the 2011 team and no dman has as many points as him (with the exception of Hughes) in the past 25 years.

he's got some flaws, but he's needed. At 26 I think his defensive game can progress like Forsling did. Also I remember clearly, guys like Bieska also struggled badly in his first couple playoffs only to improve by the time he is 30. So i'm happy. Quite relieved. I do hope next year, we can maybe split him from quinn. have 2 offensive dmans on seperate pairings.

Christian Ehrhoff, c. April 2011: " Am I a joke to you?"

Alex Edler, c. April 2012: "Am I a joke to you too?"

 

[RobertKron]

Christian Ehrhoff, c. April 2011: " Am I a joke to you?"

Alex Edler, c. April 2012: "Am I a joke to you too?"

Jovo also had 48 in the early 00s.

 

[lawrence]

i don't consider Hronek a high IQ player and i wonder how his body will hold up at his size so this type of commitment is a little presumptuous given his repeated 2nd half drains and playoffs.

this why we still need to build our dman, and have more reinforcements after quinn and fil. Quinn 5'10 and Fil at 6'0, teams kinda exploited the size of our top pairing dman.

 

[elitepete]

thats a lot of years for a guy that no showed the playoffs

He was playing thru an injury.

This is a good contract. I was bracing for 8x8 but hoping for 7.5x8.

 

[ziploc]

yeah but if you have millions sitting somewhere, you can just borrow against it.. like if you have 10M sitting somewhere that cannot be touched, you can just ask the bank to borrow like 2M and the interest rate for that is going to be pretty favorable. i assume agents these days are better with advising clients on how to invest their money or provide that service to them.

I zoned out as soon as the conversation got here:

 

[arttk]

I zoned out as soon as the conversation got here:

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TLDR: if you have money, there are ways to cheat the tax system