- Filip Hronek says he is staying put in Vancouver through the rebuild
- The 28-year-old led the Canucks in ice time last season and was voted team MVP
- Read below for what Hronek said about Manny Malhotra and the new front office
Filip Hronek is not asking out of Vancouver.
The Canucks defenseman was asked at the NHL’s European Player Media Tour in Munich why he would stick around for a teardown. He pointed straight at the contract he signed two summers ago, telling David Alter of The Hockey News that the city and the building sold him on it.
“We like the city, and obviously the fans are great in Vancouver. They were supporting us even though we didn’t have a good year last year, and they still are showing up to the games, and it was sold out. Just like it overall in Vancouver, and that’s why I signed there for eight years.”
Alter followed up by asking whether the appeal was mentoring the next wave, the way Luke Schenn does in his third stint with the club. Hronek allowed that it plays a part, then cut to the real reason.
“I think it’s part of it, but it’s more about the commitment to the deal.”
That answer closes a door plenty of people wanted open. Hronek is the most obvious trade chip left on the roster after Vancouver limped to a .354 points percentage, tied with the 1998-99 club for the third-worst mark in franchise history.
Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller, Tyler Myers and Conor Garland are all gone. Brock Boeser has been floated as the next one out the door, and Hronek would bring back more than any of them.
His season says as much. Hronek put up 49 points in 82 games, second on the team behind Elias Pettersson, and averaged exactly 25 minutes a night. Teammates voted him MVP after Hughes was traded in December.
Watch what the room said about him last season:
The deal runs eight years and $58 million at a $7.25 million cap hit, with a full no-move clause through 2028. Any trade before then needs Hronek to sign off on it.
Almost everything else in the organization turned over this summer. Vancouver fired GM Patrik Allvin and head coach Adam Foote, moved Jim Rutherford into an advisory role, promoted Ryan Johnson to GM and hired Manny Malhotra behind the bench. Daniel and Henrik Sedin are now co-presidents.
Hronek was honest about how little he knows his new coach.
“I don’t know much, I’m not gonna lie. I met him at a couple training camps, and I’d been skating in Abby for like a week when I was injured, so it was fun practices there, and I think it’s really detailed.”
Schenn, Brendan Gallagher, Jamie Oleksiak and Paul Cotter arrived to help bring along Zeev Buium, Tom Willander and the rest of the kids. Pettersson, Boeser and Thatcher Demko are still around, and the group sat together at year-end media back in April:
The summer left him optimistic. He hopes the Canucks are going the right way, and he expects them to be “way better than last year.”
Year three of eight starts at training camp, and Hronek is not looking for the exit.
