Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen wonders aloud why Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill chose to bench Filip Hronek for this past weekend’s pair of games:
Defenseman Filip Hronek played 25.09 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on opening night. He played 23:23 against the Vancouver Canucks two nights later. In the Red Wings’ third and fourth games this season, he played 23:13 and 20:26, respectively, against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames.
In the Red Wings’ fifth game in Montreal, he played zero minutes. He was a healthy scratch. Coach’s decision. Same story in their sixth game in Chicago Sunday.
“Any message that I share with Fil will be kept between me and the player,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “I don’t feel any reason to have public comment or any of that stuff.”
Hronek was leading the team in minutes played when he was benched.
“Ultimately we have a lot of good players, and too many in terms of a depth situation, to play every night,” Blashill said. “So different guys are going to end up out of the lineup. That’s just a reality of life. ”
Allen continues, and my best guess is that Hronek is being given the, “Put up or shut up” message that Anthony Mantha received last season…
