Wings Trade Hronek to Canucks

In advance of Friday’s NHL trade deadline, the Detroit Red Wings traded defenseman Filip Hronek to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.

UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today acquired a 1st round pick (NYI) and a 2nd round pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for defenseman Filip Hronek and a 2023 4th round pick. pic.twitter.com/hKVavLT9uW

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 1, 2023

I’ve got to say, this move surprised me. I was not expecting Hronek to get moved at this deadline, especially given that he has a year left on his contract.

That said, a first and a second is an incredible haul for him and the deal absolutely makes sense from the Detroit side of things. Vancouver essentially flipping their picks from the Bo Horvat trade for Hronek, meanwhile, is… Questionable.

This raises some questions for Detroit, though. Have they entered “seller” mode?  If so, we should expect to see a lot more players moved in the next couple days as every player of value is dumped.

If not, we should expect another move coming to fill the gap in the lineup left by Hronek’s departure.

I lean towards the latter option.  Detroit didn’t load up on free agents last summer just to sell everything off this year.  They clearly think they have a core to build around and now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning.

It was hard not to think that the Wings might look to flip these picks in a deal for Arizona’s Jakub Chychrun, but he was dealt to the Ottawa Senators just over an hour after the Hronek deal was completed.