As The Canuck Way's Jonathan Bailey reported on Wednesday night, Filip Hronek suffered an apparent injury against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now there's been an update, which doesn't sound particularly good for the defenceman or the Vancouver Canucks.
As per Sportsnet, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman provided the update on Thursday, during an appearance onThe Fan Hockey Show. Friedman said that Hronek could be out for a while, which clearly isn't want the Canucks or their fans want to hear.
It was bad enough that the Cancucks saw their record breaking start on the road this season ruined, with a loss to a Penguins team which is one of the poorest in the NHL. However, this is secondary to Hronek being set to miss a significant amount of playing time.
Less than a minute away from avoiding disaster
Making it even worse, is that the injury happened with less than a minute remaining in the game on Wednesday night. Hronek was hit by Penguins blue-liner Jack St. Ivany, which sent him crashing shoulder-first into the end boards.
The Canucks have had more than their fair share of defensive struggles so far in 2024-25, with them tied-20th for the fewest average goals allowed per game. However, they've at least been able to rely on Quinn Hughes and Hronek, as one of the very best pairings in the entire NHL.
That will change now, albeit the actual length of Hronek's absence has not been confirmed at the time of writing. Irrespective, he's a big loss for the Canucks.
An excellent encore developing after a career year
Hronek was magnificent last season as he set a whole host of career bests for assists, total points, +/- rating, blocks and takeaways. As a result, he was rewarded with an eight-year, $58 million contract extension to remain in Vancouver.
The 27-year-old was off to another excellent start this season, in the process proving he was worthy of his big pay day. For the foreseeable future though the Canucks will now have to do without him, which means they will have to step up a search which is already underway, for help on the blue line.
In the meantime, the Canucks will have to make a decision about who joins Hughes on the first pairing as right-shot defenceman. Tyler Myers is one option, although he has struggled as it is, in his position as part of the second pairing.