West Notes: Hronek, Johansson, Firstov, Blackhawks
12/03/2024 04:00
With Elias Pettersson's extension now in place, Canucks GM Patrik Allvin can shift his focus to signing his other key pending restricted free agent. Speaking with Sportsnet 650 (audio link), Allvin confirmed that the team has offered an extension to defenseman Filip Hronek. His first full season with Vancouver has been a successful one as the 26-year-old has already set career highs in assists (40) and points (45) while averaging a little under 24 minutes a night. Hronek is owed a qualifying offer of $5.28MM but stands to earn considerably more than that on a long-term deal this summer with arbitration rights. Hronek is only one year away from UFA eligibility so if these discussions don't go well, he could simply elect to file for arbitration, take the award, and look to test the open market in 2025.
More from the West:
- Wild forward Marcus Johansson skated at practice today as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, relays John Shipley of the Pioneer Press. The issue has held him out of the lineup for the last three games and it's not yet known if that stretch will be extended as head coach John Hynes was unsure of Johansson's availability for tomorrow. The 33-year-old has 27 points in 61 games so far this season.
- Still with the Wild, The Athletic's Michael Russo notes (Twitter link) that prospect Vladislav Firstov's KHL season has ended, suggesting that he could now return to AHL Iowa. The 22-year-old is in the second season of his entry-level deal but has spent pretty much that entire time at the KHL level with Torpedo. This season, Firstov had 17 goals and 18 assists in 67 regular season games and while he's unlikely to join Minnesota (unlike Marat Khusnutdinov whose NHL debut is likely to come this week), he could benefit from simply getting in some AHL contests.
- The Blackhawks were quiet at the trade deadline as expected. However, they weren't involved as a third-party salary retainer, a move that caught some by surprise. GM Kyle Davidson told reporters including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that while he received some inquiries from teams about playing that role, he felt the late-round picks on the table weren't worth losing the flexibility. While those slots likely would have reset in July when free agency came around, the Blackhawks now will have the ability to retain on a pair of trades at draft time if that helps to bring in an extra asset or two.
