2024-03-23 18:24:54
Filip Hronek is expecting a significant salary increase. So significant that he should become the highest-paid Czech defenseman in NHL hockey history, at least at first glance.
The 26-year-old Hronek did not maintain an average point per game in the current regular season of the NHL, but with an ice time of 23:40, he is still one of the mainstays of the Vancouver Canucks.
After 70 games, he has 45 points (5+40) and could break the fifty-point mark for the first time in his career. Only three Czech defenders – Roman Hamrlík, Marko Židlické and Tomáš Kaberle – have managed to do this in the history of the competition. He even managed it three times and thanks to 67 points in the 2005/06 half-year season, he set the Czech maximum among backs.
Hronek couldn’t have timed the season of his life, which follows the aforementioned legends, better, as his three-year contract with an average annual salary of $4.4 million expires in the summer.
It is clear that the next contract will be much more lucrative, monstrous by Czech standards.
Negotiations have already begun. Vancouver general manager Patrik Allvin announced two weeks ago that he wanted to keep Hronek, a potential protected free agent, and that he had already gone to work. “We’ve made him a contract offer that we think is fair,” he told the station Sportsnet.
He did not want to reveal the details, however, according to journalist Irfaan Gaffar, it was supposed to be an eight-year contract for 52 to 54 million dollars, which makes an annual salary of 6.5 to 6.75 million.
“I think the player and his agent (Allan Walsh – pozn. red.) they didn’t take it very well,” the journalist added on the Sekeres and Price podcast.
It’s unclear how much Hronka’s side is asking for, but overseas media speculate more than eight million a year.
Nevertheless, insider Elliotte Friedman expects a deal to be reached eventually.
“I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be,” he said on the Donnie and Dhali podcast. “A fundamental problem can arise only if Hronek wants too much at any price. I think the maximum amount that will come in handy for both parties is around $7.5 million a year.”
Overseas journalists generally agree that Hronek should not take up more than 7.85 million under the salary cap.
That’s exactly how much another Vancouver defender Quinn Hughes takes on average, who with more than a point per game and overall fantastic statistics is aiming for the Norris Trophy for the league’s best defender.
Hronek has been starting alongside captain Hughes for a long time, they got along well at the beginning of the season. However, there are objections that in a different constellation, the 26-year-old Czech would fade away.
“Obviously, Hronek is a great full-back, but I’m not entirely sure if he could lead his own defensive pairing,” noted journalist Gaffar.
As for the contract for the Czech defender, he considers the 7.5 million annual salary to be “more than fair”.
Even with a lower amount, however, Hronek will become the highest-paid Czech defenseman in NHL history. The current number one is Hamrlík, who occupied $5.5 million under Montreal’s salary cap between 2007 and 2011.
It is only necessary to add that after accounting for inflation, from today’s point of view, Hamrlík earned more than eight million in the first year of the contract, i.e. the amount that Hronek is now allegedly demanding.