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Vancouver Canucks shutting down defenceman Filip Hronek for remainder of the season

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Photo credit:© Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
David Quadrelli
11 months ago
The Vancouver Canucks are shutting down newly-acquired right-shot defenceman Filip Hronek. Head coach Rick Tocchet made the announcement at today’s morning skate ahead of the club’s matchup with the Calgary Flames.
“We’re not concerned about anything,” said Tocchet. “There’s just a couple of weeks left, I’m not sure we’re gonna even play him the rest of year. I want him to get his shoulder stronger, so we’ve kind of made that decision [to shut him down]. There’s really no reason for him to come back. If this were a playoff game, he’d be in the game, but it’s not a playoff game. Every game is important to us obviously, but not at the expense of… he’s going to have a long time to get his shoulder perfect.”
Hronek was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings ahead of the March 3rd trade deadline, with the Canucks sending a second round pick and the first round pick acquired in the Bo Horvat trade back to the Red Wings. When the Canucks traded for him, Hronek was day-to-day with a shoulder injury, and didn’t appear in his first game as a Canuck until March 23rd.
“He’s fine with it,” said Tocchet when asked how Hronek felt about the decision. “Listen, he just got traded. He wants to show he can play and I thought — we know what he can do, especially his first two games. And I don’t want him to go out there thinking about stuff like that. So it’s just important that he knows he has four months to get ready for next year.”
Upon stepping into the Canucks’ lineup, Hronek immediately took some weight off of Quinn Hughes’ shoulders, as the two young defencemen’s ice time totals have looked fairly similar on most nights when they’ve both been in the lineup.
In the four games he’s played for the Canucks, Hronek has averaged 24:07 of ice time. He has looked right at home in the Canucks’ lineup, and appears to be capable of providing a major boost to the Canucks’ weak back end. For now, fans will only have that four game sample to remember Hronek by until he suits up next year and is ready to go right out of the gate from training camp.
Tocchet confirmed Hronek will not require surgery.

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