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New Wings: Filip Hronek

Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

By Cameron Kuom

Oct 4, 2018, 17:22 EDT

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His spot on the roster may not be a guarantee, but Filip Hronek has pushed management hard after a successful first pro season last year. So much so, that he’ll make his NHL debut Thursday night, and the hope is he’ll remain a regular with his smooth skating and ability to quarterback a powerplay.

Much of the attention going into camp was centered around the Czech defensemen with many expecting him to grab the 7th spot on the Red Wings blue-line. Now he is somewhat the underdog after Dennis Cholowski and Libor Sulak made a name for themselves during the preseason.

A little competition isn’t a bad thing. Hronek will have the most pressure to secure his spot on the big club, or its back to the AHL for a second season. But for now, he is a Detroit Red Wing.

From the Scouts

From Corey Pronman of The Athletic in August 2018:

Hronek had a successful first pro season, being one of the top rookie scoring defensemen in the league and one of the better 20-year-old players overall. He moves the puck with skill and confidence and shows great overall offensive instincts. For most of the season he quarterbacked the top power play unit in Grand Rapids. His skill/IQ drive his value but he moves well and showed he could skate at the pro level. The main issue for Hronek as a pro was dealing with the defensive side of the puck in terms of his reads and turnovers. He works hard enough that I think he can improve his battles with added strength but he’ll need to work on the risk in his game.

From Ryan Martin, Grand Rapids Griffins general manager, in September 2018:

To start the year in Grand Rapids, we had Fil and and Vili Saarijarvi down there as first-year defensemen and we wanted to give them opportunity in terms of the power play but at the same time, we didn’t want to hand them jobs. Todd Nelson had decisions to make, too, coming back from the Calder Cup championship. He had all his defensemen back but I think to Filip’s credit, he was able to lock down a full-time, everyday job probably five or six games in. He beat one of our veteran defensemen to run the power play and that’s how Fil got his opportunity, when he beat out Robbie Russo and Ryan Sproul, who we ended up trading to New York. When that spot opened up for somebody to be on the power play, that’s a real credit to Fil, he obviously had a really good year down there. In the short term it does look like Fil – our expectation and I think Fil’s expectation, too – is that he’s coming in here to compete for a job in Detroit and certainly his ability to run the power play adds a dimension to his game.

Highlights

Here is a montage of all his eleven goals from the 2017-18 season. One thing you’ll notice is he gets his shots through. Something the Red Wings D-core has lacked for the last few years.

Hronek has some pretty dazzling hands and he shows it here with this shootout winner against the Charlotte Checkers. The goaltender still has nightmares.

Past Stats

Via eliteprospects.com

Hronek’s 39 points in 67 games last season was good enough to land him on the AHL all-rookie team. As the year went on he continued to improve.

Back in March, Wings Nation’s own Thomas Williams went much more in-depth on his impressive resume and why he has already made a strong case to make the Red Wings.

Filip Hronek’s Historic Season Is Why He Needs To Be In the NHL Next Season

Role in the Lineup

It is still a mystery if he will even be in the lineup. As of right now, however, he was able to beat out Nick Jensen for the opening game. This could be an indicator the team is really committed to a youth movement, and at some point this season, will make the necessary moves to make him a mainstay.

What we can expect his role to end up being is most likely on the 3rd pair and around 15 minutes per game. Powerplay time may be hard to come by, as Dennis Cholowski and eventually Mike Green, upon return, will run the man-advantage. Niklas Kronwall was also utilized on the powerplay in the preseason.