In this trade, Allvin moved the first-round pick they had acquired from the Islanders along with the Canucks' second-round pick in the 2023 Draft to Detroit. Hronek, a 25-year-old, right-handed up-and-coming two-way defenseman will surely be a great addition to the Canucks blue line.
Though what may be in play here is the fact that Hronek currently plays on a really efficient contract, since he brings a lot of value to the table while having a cap hit of only $4.4M for the remainder of the calendar and next year. He will be a restricted free agent as soon as July 1st, 2024. Blake Price actually opened up on the subject and what the Canucks may have to pay is set up to have a lot of money on the blue line:
Hronek is currently putting in a career-high season of 38 points after 60 games. The rarity of the right-handed shot defenseman really increases the price the Canucks will have to pay for his services in the long term. Amongst active right-handed defensemen making an average of $7M/year, we can find players like Aaron Ekblad, Alex Pietrangelo, Dougie Hamilton, Cale Makar, Jacob Trouba, and Charlie McAvoy just to name those.
