September 16th, 2023
Alex Rickman
It’s no secret that the Canucks defence hasn’t been up to snuff these past couple of seasons. Efforts to improve the defence have been made on the trade and free agent markets, but of yet, they are yet to lead to a playoff calibre defence in Vancouver. However, with the recent additions of Filip Hronek, Ian Cole, and Carson Soucy, along with young players like Akito Hirose and Cole McWard, the Canucks do look as if they’re serious about turning the tides of their blue line and icing a unit that may be able to sustain the level of play needed to finally return to the promised land. Among these additions, the most intriguing certainly appear to be Soucy and Hronek, who, for their own unique reasons, will be crucial to the Canucks efforts. Let’s dive into why these two in particular need to perform this year, and what the Canucks defence could be if they can and can’t perform at the levels expected of them.
Carson Soucy
The former Seattle Kraken defenceman was signed by the Canucks on July 1st to a three-year, $9.75M contract, carrying with it the expectation that Soucy will be playing top-four minutes in Vancouver. Additionally, due to the Canucks lack of a natural partner for Quinn Hughes on the right side, there is a chance that it’s Soucy called upon to play top pair minutes on his weak side. While Soucy may instead play on the Canucks second pairing, likely partnered with Filip Hronek where he can play on his natural side, no matter what happens the Canucks will be asking Soucy to play a role he is yet to fill at the NHL level.
During his time in the NHL, split between the Minnesota Wild and the Kraken, Soucy has not played regular top-four minutes for any extended period of time. While Soucy was asked to step into the top four with the Kraken at a few points last season and did look comfortable during his time there, it’s unclear if he will be able to sustain this level of play over a whole gruelling regular season or if his play may crater when asked to be one of the Canucks top blueliners night in and night out. Soucy has also had some issues staying out of the penalty box, which to a certain extent can be expected with his physical play style, but could become an issue for a Canucks team that has struggled to kill penalties these past few seasons.
Overall, while there may be some concerns with Soucy, there is a definite reason to be optimistic that he can play consistently in a top role with the Canucks. Soucy’s stints in the Kraken top four often came in high-pressure situations down the stretch and into the postseason, indicating that the pressures of being leaned on heavily and playing in a notoriously tough market like Vancouver shouldn’t weigh on him too much. In addition, while there were still shaky moments, the Canucks defence did seem to improve when the new coaching staff took over in January. Head Coach Rick Tocchet preaches smart hockey and assistant coaches Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar have been praised for their leadership and defensive teachings, which leads me to believe that their work with Soucy will help him find and keep a good rhythm and potentially even help him cut down on unnecessary penalties.
If all the pieces fall into place, Soucy’s hardnosed defensive game can be an important part of a new-look Canucks defence and he can be an important piece in shoring up the Canucks defence while providing some much-needed grit. However, if Soucy struggles to find his place in Vancouver and continues racking up penalty minutes, he could become something of an anchor on a team still looking to improve their back end. However, as it stands, there is little to no reason to doubt that Soucy can become the player that the Canucks need him to be.
Filip Hronek
While many in the Canucks faithful are still questioning the reasons behind the Hronek trade, the reality is that he’s a Canuck now and no matter what you may think of the deal, the best thing the team can do now is to do whatever they can to help the player succeed. The Czech blueliner only played a handful of games in Vancouver after the trade before the Canucks shut him down for the remainder of the season to allow for him to recover from an ongoing upper-body injury, but Hronek impressed in his short stint, playing an effective two-way game and providing an assist on a Brock Boeser goal March 25th against the Stars. However, despite his good play in his time as a Canuck as well as his time in Detroit before the trade, there are still many Canucks fans concerned about the Hronek deal. Why is that?
Hronek’s injury record may be one of the factors concerning Canucks fans. Hronek has suffered his fair share of upper body injuries since arriving in the NHL, including the shoulder injury that cut his 2022-23 season short, so the fear that these injuries could keep Hronek off the ice for the Canucks does persist. Additionally, last season was something of a breakout year for Hronek, so there have been some questions asked about whether or not the Canucks bought at the peak of the player's value and could end up seeing his play come back down to earth, far below the level of player the Canucks paid for. It’s hard to imagine a world where Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin would give up what they did if they weren’t entirely sure that Hronek’s level of play would be sustainable or if they weren’t confident that he would be able to remain healthy in Vancouver, but it’s hard to not have at least some concern as a Canucks fan that some of these issues may rear their ugly heads and cause Filip Hronek some trouble as a Canuck.
Still, Hronek does give the Canucks fanbase a lot of reason to be hopeful. Hronek is the best right-handed defenceman the Canucks have had on their roster since losing Chris Tanev in 2020, and while stylistically he and Tanev are very different, with Tanny being more of a stay-at-home defenceman rather than Hronek’s two-way style of play, finally having a player of Hronek’s calibre on the right side could be huge for the team for years to come. If Hronek can form a good partnership with a more defensively-oriented left-handed partner, which will likely be one of Carson Soucy or Ian Cole this upcoming season, Vancouver may have a legitimately solid top four.
Vancouver’s hopes of being a playoff calibre will most likely come down to the teams' blue line, and more than anyone, Carson Soucy and Filip Hronek will be the pieces that decide if the defence sinks or swims. Young defencemen like Tom Willander and Elias Pettersson (the other one) are still several years off of being NHL-ready, and the trade and free-agent markets for defencemen can be difficult to navigate. With the Canucks current cap crunch adding to the already difficult task of adding to the roster, the gambles the Canucks have taken on Soucy and Hronek need to work now, or else the Canucks may find themselves still unable to add to the roster due to continued issues with the cap. However, as it stands, there’s little reason to doubt that Soucy and Hronek should be able to give the Canucks the level of performance needed from them. While they alone may not improve the roster to the point where the Canucks will be a guaranteed playoff team, they should help to start the process of rebuilding the Canucks blue line into a unit that will help deliver this team to the promised land.