Canucks trade 1st and 2nd round pick for defenceman Filip Hronek

The Vancouver Canucks have just traded a defence partner for Quinn Hughes.

General manager Patrik Allvin announced early Wednesday afternoon that the club has traded the conditional 1st round pick acquired in the Bo Horvat trade, along with the club’s 2023 second round pick, in exchange for Filip Hronek and a 2023 4th-round pick.

Hronek, 25, has nine goals and 29 assists through 60 games with the Detroit Red Wings this season. Detroit drafted Hronek in the second round at 53rd overall of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-foot right-shot defenceman is enjoying a career-year with Detroit, and instantly becomes the Canucks’ second-best defenceman.

Hronek is a smooth-skating two-way defenceman, and will certainly help the Canucks at cleanly exiting their own zone, something they’ve struggled with mightily with for the past decade.

“We are excited to add a 25-year-old right-shot defenceman who handles the puck well and possesses a strong two-way game,” said Allvin. “He has steadily progressed throughout his time in Detroit to show that he is a top pairing defenceman in this league. We are happy to continue to add younger pieces to build out the core of this team.”

The Red Wings aren’t expected to retain any of Hronek’s $4.4 million cap hit, which goes through next season. Hronek will be a restricted free agent at the end of the 2023-24 season.

We were told the Canucks were planning something big ahead of Friday’s trade deadline, and this may very well be it. The Canucks were rumoured to have been working on a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins that many believe would have brought a right shot defenceman back in return, and it’ll be interesting to see if those talks continue or now fall apart following the Canucks’ acquisition of Hronek.

We’ll have plenty of analysis on this trade dropping shortly.

Join us on March 3rd for the Daily Faceoff Live: Trade Deadline edition as Frank Seravalli and the panel break down all of the latest rumours, news, and rumblings from around the NHL. The show will be live on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter from 9 AM-1 PM PT to keep you up to date on all things trade deadline no matter where you’re watching from.