2016 NHL Draft: Red Wings select Filip Hronek in the 2nd round at 53rd overall

With their second pick in the 2nd round of the 2016 NHL Entry draft, a pick acquired from Arizona in Friday night’s trade that sent the Datsyuk cap hit to the Coyotes, the Red Wings selected Filip Hronek, a defenseman from Hradec Kralove (Czech).

Hronek is a puck-moving defenseman, who has experience running a power play. His passing game is one of his strengths, although he needs to add size to his frame to be able to compete at the NHL level. He is said to be an intellectual player, which was also said about the Red Wings first round pick Dennis Cholowski.

Vitals:

Size: 6’0″ / 163 Lbs

Birthday: November 02, 1997

Hometown: Hradec Kralove, CZE

Team/League: Hradec Kralove (Czech)

Shoots: Right

Scouting Details from Future Considerations

Hronek is a solid two-way defender who has a high understanding of the play around him
and what his role is on the ice. He dishes some very smooth passes on the tape, but struggles
to handle heavy passes himself at times. He is a speedy defender with a fluid stride, though he
is lanky and there’s not much strength in his lower body to help his stride. Hronek looks very
good handling the puck, especially on the power play, until he gets pressured and tends to get
flustered. We would like to see him slow the play down, make his reads quicker and set up a bit
better as a puck distributor. Hronek gets muscled off the puck at the half wall too easily, but continues
to show confdence in skating with the puck up ice and taking it into the offensive zone.
He has soft hands and can make a move to get around a defender when needed. He needs to
shoot the puck more often as his play has become somewhat telegraphed; he is a 100% pass-first
player. Defensively, he needs to add strength so he can separate his man from the puck and
not get outmuscled in the crease by attacking forwards. Hronek utilizes his stick and positioning
to defend the rush. He’s not physical as his size is a detriment to playing that type of game. He
had some very impressive moments this season, like dominating the U19, but he has a lot of
work to do to round out his game and add much needed muscle.

NHL Potential: Middle-Pairing Two-Way Defenseman

Stats

Information from Elite Prospects

Detroit takes Filip Hronek a skilled puck moving defender who skates fine. I expect him to cross the pond this upcoming season.

— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) June 25, 2016

From the NHL Network Coverage:

He loves to get himself moving in the play. He didn’t put all the offense into his stats because he played in the Czech men’s league. It’s not one of the top men’s leagues in the world compared to Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, but he still as an 18 year old playing against men. His skating and his puck moving ability, surprise, surprise for the Detroit Red Wings, they take a skating, puck moving defenseman.

He’s at 6 feet, 163 pounds, that’s something that he will have to build on, and he will until he gets into the National Hockey League. But a fantastic prospect, a smart offensive minded [defenseman], he runs power plays, and at his age, he is at the top of his game when he has the puck on his stick, and that is Detroit Red Wings, they puck up those defensemen, and the thinking defensemen, That’s what they’ve got in Filip Hronek.

What do you think of the pick?