As the Detroit Red Wings get ready to welcome a new face on defense this fall — 2019 first-round pick Moritz Seider — they didn’t forget to lock up a familiar face, either.
The team announced a three-year contract with veteran defenseman Filip Hronek, a restricted free agent, on Friday. Terms were not disclosed, though TSN’s Elliotte Freidman reported an average annual value of $4.4 million, for a total contract of $13.2 million.
The 23-year-old Hronek, a second-round pick in 2016 (No. 53 overall), is entering his fourth season in the NHL. He played in all 56 games for the Wings last season and led the team with 26 points (two goals, 24 assists) and an average of 23 minutes, 23 seconds of ice time. That was nearly three minutes more than the Wings’ next highest position player, Dylan Larkin (20:24).
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Hronek had a minus-18 plus/minus rating, worst on the roster, though that was a massive improvement from his 2019-20 mark of minus-38.
Still, the unseemly plus/minus was largely the result of an increased workload due to injuries to several Wings blue-liners. Larkin, the Wings’ captain, was complimentary to Hronek throughout the 2019-20 season.
“He’s been thrown in there playing big minutes, a lot of responsibility and he’s done a great job,” Larkin told the Free Press’ Helene St. James in January 2020. “Every part of his game has matured — he’s got a great shot, he’s got a great first pass. When he is out there he is a guy that will get the puck on your stick and if you find him for his big one-timer, it’s always a dangerous place. He’s been a big plus for us back there.
“I can’t say enough good things about him. I can’t say how important he is to this hockey team. He’s a warrior and he’s someone we need on the ice.”
For his career, the Czech Republic native has 16 goals and 64 assists with a minus-66 plus/minus rating over 167 games.
Hronek figures to be part of the Wings’ top defensive paring this season, along with new addition Nick Leddy (acquired via trade from the New York Islanders). Their second pairing is likely to feature Seider playing with veteran Marc Staal, whom the Wings brought back on a one-year deal in July.
The $4.4 million cap hit for Hronek will be the fifth-highest for the Wings next season, behind Larkin ($6.1 million), Leddy ($5.5 million), forward Jakub Vrana ($5.25 million), DeKeyser ($5 million) and forward Tyler Bertuzzi ($4.75 million).
Hronek spent the end of the 2020 calendar year playing with HK Hradec Kralove in his native Czech Republic while waiting for the pandemic-delayed NHL season to begin in 2021. While in Europe, he posted 10 goals and 13 assists in 22 games, with a plus-15 rating. After the Wings’ season was over, Hronek joined the Czech team at the 2021 IIHF worlds in Latvia, where he had a goal and three assists.
Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford.