By now, you know the story.

The Vancouver Canucks‘ 2025-26 season — dubbed the “win for Quinn” season as the team made a last-ditch attempt to convince their captain to stick around — quickly went off the rails, and in December, the Canucks traded Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild. The fallout of the Hughes trade has been covered exhaustively, so don’t worry, that’s not what we’re doing today.

Instead, we’re diving into Filip Hronek’s 2025-26 season as we continue along in our Year in Review series here at CanucksArmy. 

Naturally though, a big part of the story that was Hronek’s season is how much he stepped up both on and off the ice following the Hughes trade.

Ever since he arrived in Vancouver, the ceiling for Hronek has been “great partner for Quinn Hughes.” Make no mistake about it, Hronek certainly got his flowers for being the exact partner Hughes needed to put together a historic 2023-24 campaign and capture the first Norris Trophy in Canucks franchise history. But everyone would rather be the bride than the bridesmaid, no matter how many flowers you get for being a great bridesmaid.

Hronek more than seized the opportunity to step into the spotlight after Hughes was dealt to Minnesota. Amidst a chaotic defensive zone system that saw just about every Canucks defenceman take a demonstrable step back under first-year head coach Adam Foote, Hronek was playing some of the best hockey of his career even before the Hughes trade. He was reliable on the penalty kill, was efficient at 5v5,

In the 31 games Hronek played while Hughes was still a Canuck, he put up two goals and 14 assists. The production wasn’t stellar by any means, but Hronek’s defensive play and penalty killing ability are where his value was felt the most all season long. In the 51 games Hronek played without his All-Star defence partner, he still managed to tally six goals and add 27 assists in the process. Again, not stellar production, but with the context that he was playing in all situations and saw his average ice time increase following the trade, Hronek’s on-ice impact was certainly a big positive for the Canucks.

And somehow, the area where Hronek stepped up the most post-Hughes was probably off the ice.

Down the stretch of the season, we heard countless stories from the Canucks youngsters — particularly the defencemen — about how great of a resource Hronek was for them, and how good he was at setting a high standard.

“You can’t get through a day not being at your best because you’re going to hear about it from Fil,” Zeev Buium told Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet. “That’s a good thing. He’s trying to push everyone to be their best.”

When speaking to our own Tyson Cole about how he and other Canucks youngsters want to change the culture of this team, Buium said:

“You see what a team that’s first or second in the league compared to dead last. You see the difference; the fight, the compete. To me, it was how connected they were. Everybody on that ice sheet knew where everyone was at all times. I think I had an experience like that in Minnesota, where I joined them in the playoffs. I was telling my brother ‘I don’t even have to look to pass. Like, I get the puck, and I’ve got [Marcus] Foligno screaming ‘hey, hey, hey’, and I throw it there. I trust him.

“I think that’s something that our team, like Fil Hronek, he’s unbelievable at communication. When you play with him, he’s always talking, so loud. Even if what he’s trying to explain to us is that it’s not the perfect play, if I’m telling him, ‘reverse, reverse,’ at least I know it’s going there; he knows it’s going there. So even if it bobbles or whatever happens, at least we know where it’s going to go.

“I think that’s a big piece of something we need to learn as a team. It’s something that’s hard; you go down 3-0 or 4-1, and you don’t want to talk. You want to feel sorry for yourself. You may want to do it yourself. But it’s about staying connected, staying positive. It sounds cliché, but you just have to be basic and simple in these moments.”

And it wasn’t just young Canucks defencemen singing Hronek’s praises.

“He’s one of those guys that really wants everyone to get better,” fellow veteran D-Man Marcus Pettersson said of Hronek. “He wants everyone to be focused. He wants to hold the group accountable. He’s a guy that takes the job seriously every day. He expects a lot of everyone.”

And of course, Jim Rutherford made it more than clear how much he appreciates what Hronek brought in 2025-26, declaring that Hronek would be part of a “very short list” to be the Canucks’ next captain. Now, we’ve made our thoughts clear in that the Canucks probably shouldn’t rush to name a captain for next season, but there’s no denying that Hronek has emerged as an important voice in the rebuilding Canucks’ locker room.

And while a case could certainly be made for the Canucks to try to trade Hronek to maximize his value and acquire assets to assist them in their rebuild, there’s also a strong case for keeping Hronek to help set a high standard for the next wave of Canucks to try to live up to.

There aren’t many positives from the 2025-26 Canucks season, but Filip Hronek emerging as a veteran keen on being part of the solution in Vancouver is certainly one of them.