Confirmed with Link: [VAN/DET] Canucks acquire D Filip Hronek, 4th in ‘23 for NYI 1st (condt’l), 2023 2nd

[Fren]

Seems like an overpayment on the surface, but I think people are largely missing the point of this deal.

You have to remember where Rutherford and Allvin came from. These guys were not brought in for a rebuild. They were brought in to shake up the roster and try to assemble a team resembling the play style of the cup winning Justin Schultz era Penguins. That's who Hronek is in their eyes; the Justin Schultz to Kris Letang (Quinn Hughes).

He's a guy who is an excellent transition d-man, fit for Tocchet's system where you will have defensively responsible forwards tracking back. The hope from the front office is that Hronek buys into this system like Schultz, who had similar defensive defects, did.

People were analyzing the Penguins' defense as looking sub par on paper, but guess what? They were the perfect fits for the system Rutherford wanted his coach to employ.

Obviously, the difference here is the Canucks don't have Crosby and Malkin, but I think they have at least one of the two in Pettersson. I think their method is to surround Pettersson with as much skill on the wings as possible to make up for it.

Another difference is, this team hasn't proven it can win shit, whereas Crosby + Malkin + Letang and company did.

This is a ballsy move. A really ballsy move. But I'm not going to step up to the ledge yet. We need to see how Tocchet's system comes together, along with the vision of the former Penguins executives in this front office.

Exciting times ahead. It's either going to turn into a total disaster or a lot better than it looks on the surface right now. We'll see.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

He’s improved..it’s not because this is an outlier of a season lol. He’s 25

So we hope. We're paying top dollar on that assumption when he doesn't fill our biggest need: stability on the blueline. I have no real issue with Hronek as a player but we're yet again buying high and without any cost certainty. This would be a lot easier to swallow if were locked up for another 3-4 years but his qualifying offer will is 5M.

We basically didn't get any perks here.

 

[JohnHodgson]

There are going to be A LOT of bad takes in this thread.

I understand the anger but this is a fair deal. It's the cost of business of acquiring a young #3 RD.

I'm neutral on the deal... definitely not earth is falling.

 

[me2]

Media guys poured water on any OEL buyout discussion when it came to fitting Horvat the last 6 months.

Now I actually do not see any other option. There has to be some more out-of-left-field nonsense incoming.

Has to happen. Management he's committed to competing and they are selling the future, at least it's a direction. Hronek has 1 year of contract and one year of RFA. They have to be competitive those years or they just paid a lot of someone on UFA money.

OEL buyout. Pay Arizona or Chicago what it takes to move Myers. Retain $2-3m on Boeser use him as bait for a solid 4D/3C on a decent contact. Frees up $18m. For 2 more top D, 3C. Then hope Demko gets good again. That's a playoff team not a bubble team.

 

[ahmon]

It really depends who else they bring in to form the top 4.

It can't be Bear and Hronek on the top 2 RHD slots.

 

[bossram]

Seems like an overpayment on the surface, but I think people are largely missing the point of this deal.

You have to remember where Rutherford and Allvin came from. These guys were not brought in for a rebuild. They were brought in to shake up the roster and try to assemble a team resembling the play style of the cup winning Justin Schultz era Penguins. That's who Hronek is in their eyes; the Justin Schultz to Kris Letang (Quinn Hughes).

He's a guy who is an excellent transition d-man, fit for Tocchet's system where you will have defensively responsible forwards tracking back. The hope from the front office is that Hronek buys into this system like Schultz, who had similar defensive defects, did.

People were analyzing the Penguins' defense as looking sub par on paper, but guess what? They were the perfect fits for the system Rutherford wanted his coach to employ.

Obviously, the difference here is the Canucks don't have Crosby and Malkin, but I think they have at least one of the two in Pettersson. I think their method is to surround Pettersson with as much skill on the wings as possible to make up for it.

Another difference is, this team hasn't proven it can win shit, whereas Crosby + Malkin + Letang and company did.

This is a ballsy move. A really ballsy move. But I'm not going to step up to the ledge yet. We need to see how Tocchet's system comes together, along with the vision of the former Penguins executives in this front office.

Exciting times ahead. It's either going to turn into a total disaster or a lot better than it looks on the surface right now. We'll see.

Hronek isn't an excellent transition defenseman. His microstat profile shows he's actually not good at exiting the zone with possession. He's poor in transition/rush defense. He's basically an offensive/PP specialist whose value has been pumped up with PP time this season...and won't be getting those prime minutes in Vancouver.

 

[Svencouver]

Sure - but they built up capital over a number of years (and with lottery picks) to get some of those assets and depth, too (Byram, Jost, Newhook, Girard).

Like, we can add Kuzmenko to our core, and he was a great find - but can they keep adding players like him for free every single offseason?

Hard to say; I do think Allvin is competent, but I don't think he can carry Sakic or Yzerman's jock. He's mostly just made a number of small, good moves, and a few bigger frustrating ones. He'd have to really prove me wrong for me to give him more credit than I am, and I'm already giving him more credit than most people.

 

[Siludin]

i'm not even sure hronek is as good as bear and i don't think bear is very good

I wasn't a big fan of this trade but let's not make outlandish statements

 

[m9]

Remember last year when Allvin “stole” a 3rd in the Hamonic trade and then turned around and traded it for an age gap bottom pairing defenseman in Travis Dermott? This feels like that times 10.

It's happened enough now so that it's a concerning pattern in terms of process. Every time some cap space/assets become available he needs to spend them almost immediately. There was absolutely no reason for this team to be buying at the last deadline, signing a high-priced winger the 1st day of free agency, or buying again at this trade deadline. I'd even argue that trading for Studnicka when someone got hurt instead of just calling up PDG or someone is the same thing.

 

[drax0s]

Same here

<sigh>

 

[credulous]

people have completely the wrong idea about what they are getting in hronek

he's a top 4 defender but he's way, way closer to myers than fans here are prepared for

 

[Nucker101]

Hronek isn't an excellent transition defenseman. His microstat profile shows he's actually not good at exiting the zone with possession. He's poor in transition/rush defense. He's basically an offensive/PP specialist whose value has been pumped up with PP time this season...and won't be getting those prime minutes in Vancouver.

While the PK performance is nice, it's great to know that two of his biggest "war" contrubtions are powerplay and finishing.

He's not getting PP1 time here and defensemen "finishing" ability is pretty inconsistent year to year unless you're one of the elite point shooters in the league.

 

[EverTheCynic]

So we hope. We're paying top dollar on that assumption when he doesn't fill our biggest need: stability on the blueline. I have no real issue with Hronek as a player but we're yet again buying high and without any cost certainty. This would be a lot easier to swallow if were locked up for another 3-4 years but his qualifying offer will is 5M.

We basically didn't get any perks here.

Top 4D take years to draft and develop. Years. That's even if you hit one, we've had some big misses like Juolevi. The Pettersson window is the next 6-8 years. We can't exactly spend 4-5 years waiting to draft and develop top 4D.

So we did a hockey trade, in a roundabout sorta way. Which really isn't the end of the world now that my rage has subsided and rationale is slowly returning.

The time to commit to a rebuild was last season, with moving Miller and making a run at Bedard. We chose to not do that, so this is what it is. Petey is a player worth building around imo.

The more time passes the more it's growing on me. I don't think I hate this trade.

 

[NYVanfan]

Lots of excess negativity here, imo. Yes, i wouldve liked the price to be lower, but this is not a disaster, i think fans are going to like this guy. If you want to come in off the ledge, have a look at the Wings board — the response is pretty mixed.

 

[credulous]

I wasn't a big fan of this trade but let's not make outlandish statements

i don't think it's outlandish. bear's underlying numbers are much better than hronek going back to the start of their careers. hronek benefitted from being the only talented defender on detroit since the earliest days of his career up until seider showed up

fans think they're getting some elite offensive weapon who is steady in his own end but he's a small, soft defender who can skate his way out of trouble and has an above average shot. he's a step up on myers but not much of one

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Lots of excess negativity here, imo. Yes, i wouldve liked the price to be lower, but this is not a disaster, i think fans are going to like this guy. If you want to come in off the ledge, have a look at the Wings board — the response is pretty mixed.
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Chychrun would have been far more palatable

 

[Knight53]

This is the most soul hurting Canucks trade I’ve felt. All the excitement for the draft gone.

There was only 2 things to look forward too, the Horvat trade and the Draft, they botched both with this move.

Im done.

 

[Zippgunn]

I am loving the panic stricken freak out responses here, certainly any play that this guy does that isn't brilliant will be scrutinized and criticized to death by the naysayers. Me, I just remembered that there's still 36 hours till the trade deadline so I will withhold comment until after it. A LOT of weird things could happen in the interim...

 

[Hodgy]

people have completely the wrong idea about what they are getting in hronek

he's a top 4 defender but he's way, way closer to myers than fans here are prepared for

It will be interesting to see what he actually turns out to be, and that's going to largely depend on our pro-scouting. To me though that is kind of secondary because this trade just emphasizes that they are doubling down on their plan to compete now! ignoring an entire additional year's worth of data. Like, I can see it happening, but it has to be even more farfetched than last year. So they are basically trying to pull a rabbit out of a habit to make this trade successful as it will also require them hitting multiple other homeruns.

And like, sure, if you want to defend this approach last season, then fine. I would have preferred the rebuild, and advocated that, but I understand where posters are coming from who defended the compete now! approach last off season. But after an entire extra year's data, where the team has been absolute garbage (and your franchise goaltender looks like garbage after what might have been offseason surgery), and where they were forced to trade their captain (and arguably their second best performing player), they then double back down on the compete now! Its just so hard to buy at this point especially considering that we have massive issues at centre ice, and even with Hronek, we still need two extra top four defensemen next season (and they will have to both be good defensively).

 

[Gstank]

Im sure there are a lot of people mad because draft picks are so highly valued by this forum but getting a good RHD Top 3 Dman is non to sneeze at.

Maybe the 2023 2nd should ahve been a 3rd but at this point Hronek is better then the top 5 Dman in the 2023 draft and will probably be better then 4 out of 5 of them when they finish developing

 

[NYVanfan]

Chychrun would have been far more palatable

We desperately needed a rightie

Bleuger to VGK …clearing cap …hang on

 

[Tak7]

From 3 picks in the top 40, to just 1 in the top 70.

For a guy who is never going to be an elite player.

And the extra 2nd rounder that was the difference between the Hronek & Chychrun deals, was traded to Chicago for Riley Stillman.

Woof.

 

[Nucker101]

Lots of excess negativity here, imo. Yes, i wouldve liked the price to be lower, but this is not a disaster, i think fans are going to like this guy. If you want to come in off the ledge, have a look at the Wings board — the response is pretty mixed.
View attachment 660437

The fact that the response is mixed when a team trades away a 24 year old top 4 RHD is kinda worrisome.

Some Canuck fans still long for Troy Stecher

 

[Breakers]

Should have just traded Horvat for Dobson and spared my emotions

 

[Fren]

Hronek isn't an excellent transition defenseman. His microstat profile shows he's actually not good at exiting the zone with possession. He's poor in transition/rush defense. He's basically an offensive/PP specialist whose value has been pumped up with PP time this season...and won't be getting those prime minutes in Vancouver.

I don’t really care what the ‘charts’ say. This is how the front office identified him. Whether they’re right or wrong will be determined how he plays within Tocchet’s system.

If he was just a PP specialist who was bad defensively do you think the FO would have spent such a high price on him?

They obviously see him as a guy who moulds well with Hughes in transition.