The trade
Get canucks: Defender Filip Hronek, fourth-round pick 2023
Get Red Wings: 2023 conditional first-round pick (originally by the Islanders), 2023 second-round pick
Shayna Goldman: Dear Patrik Allvin, maybe you won’t pick up the phone the next time Steve Yzerman calls? Or do because we could all use a laugh every now and then.
While much is confusing for Vancouver, it seems they have some kind of vision: younger defenders in their mid-20s. There’s nothing wrong with Hronek; He’s having a really strong season, especially before being saddled alongside Ben Chiarot. And the Canucks need capable defenders, that was clear before the puck even dropped this season.
But there is a cap aspect of this trade that doesn’t make sense for the Canucks. As it stands, they’re dealing with the cap for next season, which gives them little flexibility – unless another step follows. While Hronek isn’t on loan and has a reasonable cap hit of $4.4 million he’s currently playing above, his strong season opens the door to a raise that this team shouldn’t be so willing to dish out — or maybe not even capable of giving.
What also doesn’t make sense? The return! A first and a second! In a depth! It’s not that the Canucks shouldn’t flip those picks. With they having their own firsts in the next three years, dropping out of the Islanders pick isn’t a deal-breaker. It’s just that it should be for a player who guarantees such a high return – in this case, first plus second place throws the trade too far off balance.
From the Red Wings perspective, Yzerman sold up a player and the Canucks sold up some. It came out with a great return, and now the question is what’s next. Will these draft picks become trade capital to replace Hronek on defense? While that’s not the plan, this deal alone is a win.
Canucks: D
Red Wings: A
Sean Gentille: First of all, I should say that I like Hronek as a player. I think he’s good. He’s good at a lot of things—and, hey, it’s the fun stuff. He scores points and hits people, and he does it all from the right. I’m not worried that he’s got a career year, and I’m not worried that his output has dropped lately. He plays alongside Chiarot. You will have something of it.
Adding him to a blue line means boosting it right away, especially if you don’t basically have right-footed defenders like Vancouver does. In that sense it makes sense. The Canucks defense stunk this morning, and now it stinks less.
But that’s the only way it makes sense; the Canucks are still bad. You will still be bad. While Hronek is good, it’s not good enough to make them good – not in any meaningful sense and not for the price they paid.
Think about it like this; They simply took the best capital they had from the Islanders for Bo Horvat (who will likely be an unprotected first-rounder in 2024), picked their own second-round pick and swapped it out for a 25-year-old. Second-pair guy who has one season left with a $4.4 million AAV before being eligible for arbitration.
This is a move you make when you’re close, not 27th in the league. It would be shocking if it weren’t so typically Canucks. They don’t rebuild. Always. At least not on purpose. They’ve paid the price for it before, and they’re about to do it again. Whatever improvements Hronek brings, they won’t be enough to justify the price. Sure, they needed a proper D. However, they need a lot more. Actually too much to add about trading.
And the Red Wings? There seems to be an impulse among a certain sect of Red Wings fans to treat Steve Yzerman’s moves as self-evident strokes of genius, even when there is evidence to the contrary. Not every transaction is intelligent or part of a grand plan. That said… this one is smart. And it certainly appears to be part of a grand plan. The Red Wings had a blast last month and then dropped enough in the standings to justify the move. They will be better off, whether in the short or long term.
Canucks: D+
Red Wings: A
(Photo: Derek Cain / Icon Sportswire)