from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

It’s only a matter of time before the Wings are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, and so, like the last two years, the last stretch of the season offers a chance to put some prospects in bigger roles – last season it was Tyler Bertuzzi, two years ago it was moving Dylan Larkin to center.

“When we traded Jensen, we knew some of those minutes were going to go Fil Hronek,” Blashill said. “So a little bit of this is learning on the fly. We think he’s had pretty good preparation over the full year last year and half a year this year, and we think he’s ready for it similar to what we thought Tyler was.

“That doesn’t mean it goes without growing pains. There will be growing pains, especially on the back end – it’s a harder position. When you make mistakes they are more glaring than up front. But we think that ultimately Filip is grow into a top-four defenseman on a winning team. He can help you win. In the meantime, we just need to make sure there’s more steps forward than backwards.”

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