Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Red Wings’ bonus defenseman from last weekend's draft will develop close to home.

Filip Hronek was selected at 14th overall by the Saginaw Spirit in Tuesday's CHL Import Draft, three days after the Wings picked him at 53rd overall during the NHL entry draft. That’s good news on many levels. Hronek last played in his native Czech league.

“To get him over on a North American rink, on the smaller ice surface, will be very beneficial,” Wings assistant general manager Ryan Martin told the Free Press. “He's a good skater and he moves the puck well, but on a smaller ice surface, the timing is different. So this will be really beneficial for his development as he prepares to turn pro.”

It will be good for Hronek linguistically as he doesn't speak English, and for him physically as he needs to grow his 6-foot, 160-odd-pound frame.

“He needs to get stronger, and being right up the road, he'll get visits from our director of player development,” Martin said, referring to Jiri Fischer, who conveniently is Czech.

“We have a good relationship with the people in Saginaw, so that's a positive, too,” Martin said.

The Wings ended up being able to draft Hronek because they got an extra second-round pick out of the deal with Arizona to move the contract of Pavel Datsyuk.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

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