Welcome Matt: Two Canucks players will try to prove Steve Yzerman wrong
One thing that has emerged this week is that the Vancouver Canucks are placing bets on two former Detroit Red Wings with chips on their shoulders.
And that’s a good thing. Let them be motivated to prove Steve Yzerman wrong.
Free-agent centre Pius Suter said in his introductory press availability that it had been a “long six weeks” since the start of free agency. He was hoping to sign sooner, is taking a $2 million pay cut, and was hoping to extend with the Red Wings who weren’t willing to commit more than one year of term. He got two from the Canucks.
Then there’s defenceman Filip Hronek. Hall-of-Fame writer Kevin Allen told us Hronek pouted when minutes and offensive opportunity were given to prodigious ex-teammate Moritz Seider. Hronek was healthy-scratched after the pout, and the Wings ultimately decided he was going to be too difficult to re-sign after his contract expires at the end of this season.
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Yzerman, Detroit’s GM, then went out and signed Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl in free agency, before acquiring Jeff Petry in a trade this week, making it clear that the Wings didn’t have surplus defensive on the right-side, they simply chose to move on from Hronek.
His contract extension now falls to the Canucks, but in the meantime, they get Hronek in a contract year. He’s hoping to strike it rich, and needs another good season to meet his financial goals. Again, that’s a good thing for the Canucks.
What remains to be seen is how these players will adjust to the pressure of playing in Vancouver. Keith Ballard, Jason Dickinson, Conor Garland… it’s a daunting list of credentialed players who have come here and had trouble.
But if the activity this week among Red Wings fans, dissecting our interview with Allen and his comments on Hronek, are any indication, Hockeytown isn’t too far off Vancouver when it comes to scrutiny.
Both should be coming in, eyes wide open.