Rebuilding teams always run into this kind of problem: the safest option is often the one that keeps you from learning much at all. For the Canucks, Filip Hronek is almost certain to be that player.
He’s 28, he’s proven, and he’s clearly ahead of most of the defensemen Vancouver can dress. When the pressure rises, the instinct will be to send him over the boards again and again.
Need a defensive-zone faceoff? Hronek.
Need to hold a lead? Hronek.
Need 25 minutes from somebody steady? Hronek.
That’s the trap. Before long, a team trying to build for the future ends up leaning on its best defender as if every night were Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
There’s no mystery about why the Canucks will trust him. They may not have another choice.
Marcus Pettersson is gone, and there isn’t another established defender on the roster who can just absorb Hronek’s workload and do it the same way. Zeev Buium might make a jump.
Tom Willander might, too. Somebody else could surprise.
That’s part of the point of a season like this.
Buium and Willander have the potential, and the whole idea is to find out what they can handle. That means giving them tough assignments and seeing how they respond.
If Vancouver keeps sheltering everybody and asking Hronek to cover every problem, the team may pick up a few extra wins. It may even make the younger defensemen look cleaner because they’re insulated by a veteran.
But the bigger question remains unanswered.
A rebuilding club can’t spend a full season hiding its flaws. Eventually, those flaws have to show. That’s how you learn which young players can survive in the NHL and which ones still need more time.
That puts new head coach Manny Malhotra in a difficult spot. The easiest move for any coach is to ride the player he trusts most.
Coaches are hired to win games, after all. If Hronek can handle 25 minutes, there will absolutely be nights when giving him those minutes feels like the right call (from Thomas Drance, “Zeev Buium, Filip Hronek and 3 other key Canucks questions for 2026-27,” The Athletic, August 27, 2026).
And plenty of the time, it probably will be. But there’s a difference between the best decision for one game and the best decision for the organization. Vancouver needs to learn what it actually has on defense.
That means Buium and Willander need real chances. Other young defensemen need shifts that stretch them.
Somebody has to find out whether these players can become part of the next good Canucks team. Hronek can’t answer those questions, and he shouldn’t be the one forced to.
In a strange way, the Canucks’ best move might be to use their best defenseman a little less. Not because Hronek can’t take on heavy minutes - he can - but because Vancouver has too much tied up in him to treat every regular-season night like a must-win emergency. He’s under contract through 2027-28, has a no-move clause and is going to matter to whatever this team turns into.
There’s no trophy for winning the November minutes battle. The real payoff is figuring out what this blue line could look like two or three years from now.
That’s where Malhotra’s discipline comes in. He can’t keep reaching for Hronek every time the game gets messy and assume that solves the bigger problem.
Sometimes a young defenseman has to live through the mistake. Sometimes the game tilts against you.
Sometimes the veteran plays 20 minutes instead of 26. That isn’t wasting Hronek.
It’s protecting him.
And that’s one of the toughest truths of a rebuild: your best player does not always need to do more. Sometimes the smartest thing a team can do is ask him to do a little less.
In Other News...
Kings Prospect Now Has A Clearer Development Path After Latest Move
Brock Boesers latest season gave the Canucks another reminder of what they have in a veteran scorer who still produces, even as the club moves deeper into a rebuilding phase. He finished with 22 goals and 26 assists in 75 games, a step down from his previous peak, but still the kind of offense that keeps him on the radar for teams trying to add proven finishing.
For Vancouver, the harder question is less about what Boeser can still provide and more about when the front office decides to align its roster with the longer-term reset. Travis Yost has pointed out that moving Boeser could make sense given the Canucks outlook and his steady scoring track record, though a deal before the upcoming season still does not sound likely. That leaves him in an awkward but familiar spot: productive enough to matter, expensive enough to force a conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Have A Few Early Contract Wins Fans Should Notice
With the 2026-27 NHL season in view, there are already a few Canucks contracts that look like they could help shape the roster in a meaningful way. Marco Rossis $5 million annual deal stands out as a useful value piece because of what he has already shown as a producer at a young age, while Jamie Oleksiaks two-year, $10 million agreement gives Vancouver a chance to add some steadiness on the back end without committing long term.
Filip Hroneks situation is the one that really jumps out, though, because his $7.25 million annual salary looks modest relative to the level he has been performing at. For a team that needs to squeeze value out of every part of the lineup, those kinds of deals matter, and the early returns suggest Vancouver has at least a few contracts on the books that could age well if the underlying play holds up. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Suddenly Have A Penalty Kill Problem To Solve
Edmontons penalty kill took an early hit before training camp even opened, with forwards Matthew Savoie and Mattias Janmark set to miss the start of camp and leave the Oilers looking for answers in a key area. The issue matters because the penalty kill has been a staple that teams lean on when the games tighten up, and Edmonton now has some flexibility to look around with salary cap space still available.
One possible path is a free-agent addition with penalty-killing experience, which would give the Oilers a way to steady the group if the absences linger. For a Vancouver team watching the Western Conference landscape, it is another reminder that roster decisions across the division can ripple quickly, especially as other clubs sift through trade interest and rebuild talks of their own. [Read more 🡒]