from Ansar Khan of Mlive,
The Detroit Red Wings didn’t intend for Filip Hronek, with 40 games of NHL experience, to be a workhorse on defense as a rookie.
But injuries to others caused his minutes to accumulate. More ice time results in more chances for mistakes, which can crush a young defenseman’s confidence. But in Hronek’s case, it has aided his development.
He is better defensively than he was at the start of the season.
“We’ve had to play Fil Hronek tons of minutes, and tons of tough (minutes),” coach Jeff Blashill said.
“Filip wasn’t killing many penalties in (Grand Rapids), now he was first off our bench killing penalties for a bit. He was up against the other teams’ best lines lots of times and I think some of that he’s going to be capable of, but that’s a hard league to be a young defenseman in. There’s a lot of young forwards that can help teams win. There are very few young defensemen that are having big impacts and helping a team win.”
Hronek is averaging 23:12 over the past 14 games – he played more than 24 minutes in six – and plays on the power play and kills penalties.