Hanifin contract sets pricey precedent for Canucks in Hronek negotiations
While the playoffs are top of mind for the Vancouver Canucks, a busy summer lies ahead. The team has several pending free agents including defenceman Filip Hronek, who is enjoying a career season.
The defenceman has fit in perfectly on the Canucks. He’s making just $4.4 million this season yet has the most points by a Canucks defenceman not named Quinn Hughes in more than a decade.
Hronek has provided a huge boost to the blue line and the Canucks will want to get this pending restricted free agent signed long-term at an approachable cap number.
With Noah Hanifin signing a long-term deal with the Vegas Golden Knights yesterday, we have a new comparable that can be used in the Hronek negotiations. The bad news for the Canucks is that the Czech defenceman likely deserves a massive raise this summer.
Hanifin’s new contract is worth $7.35 million per season for eight years. When comparing the two players, it becomes clear that Hronek likely deserves more than his newly signed counterpart.
To start, the Golden Knights play in Nevada, where the tax situation is much different than in British Columbia. Hanifin will be able to take home a larger portion of the contract value and that is reflected in the deal signed.
In addition, Hronek is a right-handed shot while Hanifin is a left-handed shot. Right-handed defencemen are one of the most valuable positions in hockey. It’s extremely difficult to find strong right-handed defencemen on the trade market or in free agency.
Those are two reasons why Hronek deserves more before we even get to the on-ice production.
This season, the two players have very similar offensive counting stats and should finish within just a few points of each other. Hronek’s goal share and Corsi numbers look slightly better but Hanifin did switch teams midseason.
All of this means that it’s not inconceivable Hronek could get up to $8 million per season on a long-term contract. It’s a message that some hockey insiders have been peddling for months.
“He’s a half-point-per-game right-shot defenceman who is the best fit that we’ve seen to this point in the Quinn Hughes experience in Vancouver,” Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli explained on an episode of the Sekeres & Price podcast earlier this year.
“Why you’d want to try and go out and replace that when you already have something that works… you probably don’t love the fact that it could be eight times eight but the fact of that is what the market bares. To me, I just wouldn’t want to have to go out and find out the hard way what it’s like to not have that.”
It’s already been reported that the Canucks offered Hronek a contract but it’s believed that the two sides are still a ways off. If they want to lock up the blueliner long-term, they may need to consider even surpassing the $7.85 million per season their captain Hughes currently makes.