Filip Hronek’s Ice Time Continues To Rise and He’s Earned It

In the last few games, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek has seen an increase in his time on ice, but I predict that he’ll continue to see even more playing time.

Prior to February 24th, Hronek hadn’t totaled a TOI of 20 minutes plus since the Red Wings took on the Nashville Predators on January 4th. But, since February 24th, Hronek has played at least 22 minutes per night for the Red Wings.

Red Wings fans shouldn’t question the spike in his TOI. Aside from Nick Jensen, who was recently dealt to the Washington Capitals, Hronek has been the best Red Wings defenseman. The Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic native owns a corsi-for percentage (CF%) of 53.6. No other Red Wings defenseman has come close to beating Hronek’s CF%. The closest Red Wing defenseman is Niklas Kronwall, who owns a 50.2 CF%.

Aside from his CF%, Hronek is a magician when it comes to break-ups. If you look at the diagram that Sean Tierney of Hockey Graphs and The Athletic made, you’ll see that Hronek leads the Red Wings in break-up percentage. Not only does he lead the Red Wings in break-up percentage, but he’s one of the best defenseman in the NHL when it comes to causing break-ups. In addition, he’s pretty solid when it comes to possession exit percentage. Sure, Dennis Cholowski is much more efficient at possession zone exits, but Hronek’s possession exit percentage is still impressive for a 21 year old.

In addition to Hronek’s zone exit and break-up efficiency, he’s been impressive in other areas across the ice as well. Most notably, he’s looked quite impressive in shot contributions. In the below diagram that CJ Turtoro created, you’ll see that Hronek, who is currently on the second defensive line pairing, has been stronger when it comes to shot contributions than Trevor Daley. Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill has been utilizing Daley on his top defensive pairing alongside Niklas Kronwall, but it’s clear that Daley shouldn’t be given first line minutes for the foreseeable future. In the below diagram, you’ll see that Hronek has been blowing Daley out of the water in shot contributions. Hronek’s ShotContr60, ShotAssists60 and Shots60 are all much higher than Daley’s. Plus, all-around, Hronek has been a better defenseman than Daley. His entry possession, exit possession and entry defense numbers far surpass Daley’s.

Based on Hronek’s performance this season, I can see Blashill moving Hronek to his top defensive pairing at some point soon. It’s evident that Hronek has been the more reliable and trust worthy right-handed defenseman. Plus, he’s young and has a tremendous amount of upside. So, I believe that you might see Hronek logging 24-25 minutes of ice time per night before the season is done.