Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Petr Mrazek

More Interest In Petr Mrazek; Detroit Could Retain Salary

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After hearing that there were at least some passing glances out of Edmonton for Detroit Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek, Craig Custance of The Athletic reports that there are still teams with “lukewarm” interest in pending RFA goaltender. Bob McKenzie of TSN adds that Detroit could be willing to retain salary in any Mrazek trade, in order to get the best deal.

Peter MrazekAs we discussed when hearing about the initial interest in Mrazek, his $4MM cap hit is an expensive add for any team, and essentially makes him an unrestricted free agent unless he shows something spectacular down the stretch. The $4.15MM qualifying offer that he’d need to remain under team control doesn’t look like it will be extended, regardless of which team he ends up on.

Custance has been told the likely price is either a third-round pick, or a second if the Red Wings were to retain a full 50% of Mrazek’s salary this season. That seems like a reasonable asset to spend on a goaltender that was once seen as an up-and-comer, but they’d need to see him “showcased” as Custance puts it. Mrazek has just an .888 save percentage this season, and hasn’t won a game for the Red Wings in more than a month.

Still, as we discussed in the linked article above, the goaltending market isn’t overflowing with talent at the moment and Mrazek still does have that intriguing past. In 2015-16 he posted a .921 save percentage in 54 appearances, a number most teams would take for their starter let alone a backup.

Remember that Detroit is right up against the cap, so retaining any salary is a tricky proposition. While moving Mrazek out of town would clear some room, they wouldn’t really be able to take any bodies back unless they made near the league minimum. Remember that they’ll need to pay someone to back up Jimmy Howard, even if that is Jared Coreau’s $612K cap hit.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Petr Mrazek & The Goaltending Conundrum

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

In Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, the venerable hockey insider reports that the Edmonton Oilers at one point had some interest in Detroit Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek. Friedman writes that Edmonton may have backed off after watching the 25-year old goaltender struggle recently, something that seems to be a common thread all around the league.

Peter MrazekSeveral other teams are looking for goaltending help—Friedman himself mentions Florida and Pittsburgh—but there isn’t a shining option on the market at the moment. Mrazek could have been that star, if the aforementioned struggles hadn’t crept up on him again. Though he was once heralded as the goaltender of the future for Detroit, Mrazek has clashed with the front office in contract negotiations, and been generally outplayed by a resurgent Jimmy Howard over the past two seasons.

This year, Howard has taken the lion’s share of the work in the Detroit net, starting 22 of the team’s 29 games. He’s recorded a .905 save percentage in those games which, while not even league-average, is quite a bit better than his counterpart. Mrazek’s .888 mark is tied for fourth-worst in the league among goaltenders who’ve made at least 10 appearances. Only Maxime Lagace, Laurent Brossoit, Chad Johnson have been worse, while James Reimer clocks in at the same number.

Mrazek is young enough to improve, but his contract status as a pending restricted free agent that is already making $4.15MM is likely off-putting to many teams. A qualifying offer is likely too expensive for any team as a backup, and there is no guarantee he’d accept a lower number on a longer-term deal.

So, where else can you look around the league for goaltending help? Michael Hutchinson has been in the rumor mill lately, as the Winnipeg Jets get Steve Mason back healthy tonight. Unfortunately, Hutchinson injured himself in a minor league game this weekend (though the injury seems minor) and has been underwhelming at best during his NHL career.

Jonathan Bernier was signed by the Colorado Avalanche as potential trade deadline bait, but has been nearly as bad as Mrazek so far this year. His .891 save percentage doesn’t inspire much confidence, as consistency continues to be Bernier’s downfall.

Even a goaltender like Philipp Grubauer, who has been a potential trade target for some time due to a combination of outstanding play and clear role as the backup to Braden Holtby, hasn’t played well enough to trust this season. He, like Scott Darling and Antti Raanta this offseason, was seen as a future starting goaltender in the league just waiting for the right opportunity.

There’s not an easy answer here to the goaltending problems around the league. For teams like Edmonton and Florida, who already find themselves struggling to stay relevant in the playoff race, dealing assets for anything but a sure thing isn’t very appealing.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Options In Net For The Edmonton Oilers

at CDT | by 6 Comments

Things went from bad to worse for the Edmonton Oilers’ 2017-18 season when dependable starting goaltender Cam Talbot went down with and upper body injury and landed on IR and could remain out through December. His replacement, Laurent Brossoit, is struggling and that’s putting it gently. In 8 appearances, Brossoit has one win, an .872 save percentage, and a 3.80 GAA. Neither of the backup options, Nick Ellis or Eddie Pasquale, has any NHL experience, nor has either been given a chance to gain any just yet, nor has either played remarkably well in the AHL as well. It’s a dire situation for a team that is desperate for wins, or else the face a familiar possibility of finishing as one of the league’s worst teams this season.

So what are the options? TSN’s Frank Servalli believes that Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli is scouring the trade market for help in net. Servalli lists Buffalo’s Chad Johnson, Winnipeg’s Michael Hutchinson, Philadelphia’s Michal Neuvirth, Toronto’s Calvin Pickard, and Detroit’s Petr Mrazek as the top targets for Edmonton.

Johnson, of course, is known to be on the trade block courtesy of the Sabres’ own struggles and seems to be the best fit of these options as a reliable veteran on a one-year deal. Servalli even states that Johnson, along with Neuvirth, were among the Chiarelli’s free agency targets to be Talbot’s backup. However, as Servalli points out, there could be other suitors for Johnson, which could drive the price up.

More affordable assets to acquire could be Hutchinson or Pickard, due to their teams’ depth in goal. The Maple Leafs acquired Pickard from the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this year, but with Frederik Andersen playing well, a veteran backup in Curtis McElhinney, and other promising young goalies in Garret Sparks and Kasimir Kaskisuo in line, Pickard is expendable. So too could be McElhinney or Sparks as well, if Chiarelli favors those Toronto alternatives. In Winnipeg, the thriving Jets are doing just fine with Connor Hellebuyck, rookie Eric Comrie, and expensive free agent acquistion Steve Mason as their net rotation. A solid goaltender with ties to Chiarelli from the Boston Bruins, fourth-string Hutchinson seems like a likely target.

Mrazek and Neuvirth less so. Mrazek is still young, is making $4MM, and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. It is likely that he would be costly to acquire and costly to re-sign, when the Oilers really just need a stopgap. Neuvirth, who has a year remaining at $2.5MM, could replace Brossoit as the long-term backup to Talbot if Chiarelli so chooses, but also seems like an unlikely acquisition. AHL goaltenders from both the Red Wings and Flyers – Jared Coreau and Alex Lyon – might actually make more sense.

Other options: Eddie Lack or David Rittich from the rival Calgary Flames, Colorado’s Andrew Hammond, Anaheim’s Reto Berra, L.A.’s Jack Campbell or Jeff Zatkoff, and several more. The options are there, so the pressure is on Chiarelli to find a fair deal and to do it soon. Edmonton may simply lose upcoming games regardless of who is in net, but if the team continues forward with only Brossoit, the blame will fall on the front office for not doing something to at least increase their chances.

Mrazek Ready To Bounce Back For Red Wings

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

One goaltender who has a lot to prove this season is Detroit’s Petr Mrazek. After struggling for the past year and a half to eventually losing his job to Jimmy Howard to being left exposed for the expansion draft (due to attitude issues) and then not even taken, the 25-year-old once franchise goaltender finds himself at a crossroad. Either Mrazek rediscovers his game or he will slowly disappear into a permanent backup role.

However, according to MLive’s Ansar Khan, the goaltender has been working hard all offseason to return to form. Now with just one year remaining on his $4MM deal, Khan writes that Mrazek has been humbled by recent events and has come into camp hungry to perform. His numbers must be improved on. While his 2015-16 numbers are respectable (2.33 GAA, .921 save percentage), his second half was not that good, while his 3.04 GAA last year and .901 save percentage were both the worst percentages of any in his career at any level.

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said that Mrazek struggled through the boredom of working on his basic skills, comparing it to basketball players who get bored just constantly throwing free throws — however, those skills are critical to success. Blashill says that Mrazek has begun to get back to the basics and worked hard to fix his game, especially when it comes to his moving around in the crease. The goaltender struggled to stay calm in the net and has often made simple saves look challenging. He has spent hours watching video every day in hopes to make changes to his current play.

“Not to be flying in the net, just stay calm and stop as many pucks as I can,” Mrazek said Saturday, following the second day of training camp at Centre I.C.E.

However, according to Blashill, it’s his work ethic that has changed as well as his attitude. Since being exposed in the expansion draft in favor of 33-year-old Jimmy Howard, who Vegas would never have had any interest in, Mrazek has seen the light. While he must win back the starting job from Howard this season, he is also playing for his future. A poor season will not only limit his potential earnings next season, but will likely force him to accept a backup position, while a big year could net his a long-term deal with Detroit or another franchise.

“The season wasn’t the season I wanted to have, so I’m happy I’m back,” Mrazek said. “I have lots to give back to Detroit. We all know they gave me a chance to play my first NHL game and gave me a chance to play (144) games. So, I have lots to prove and give them back.”

Red Wings Notes: Playoff Push, Mrazek, Sproul, McIlrath

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Whether for good or bad, the Detroit Red Wings have continued on their pursuit for reaching the playoffs despite having one of the highest payrolls with the least production. After not reaching the playoffs, many believed it was time to rebuild the “great franchise,” but that is not the course it took as it made few moves to fix their aging, yet expensive roster and only added more veterans to it with the hopes that many of their veterans would bounce back this year.

MLive’s Ansar Khan took questions regarding the team path, pointing out that the Red Wings brass have no interest in a team rebuild and are going all-out to reach the playoffs again. His belief is the team has no confidence that their youth can outperform the veterans that are already on the team. The team may have little choice as they are even now over the cap and have very few tradeable contracts at present, but things may change if the Red Wings put up a second disappointing season next year.

  • Petr Mrazek should be especially motivated this season as he enters his contract year. Once considered to be their starting goaltender of the future, the 24-year-old has struggled over the last year and a half, according to Khan. He finished last year with a 3.04 GAA and a .901 save percentage, losing his job to veteran Jimmy Howard. He then was exposed to the expansion draft and not selected by Vegas. Khan believes if he doesn’t step up this year, the Red Wings will not make him a $4MM qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent in 2018.
  • The Red Wings, which have nine defensemen currently under contract, are likely to shed 24-year-old Ryan Sproul before the seasons begin, assuming there are no injuries. That should get them down to eight defenders and the general belief is that Luke Witkowski will be moved to play the forward position as a fourth-line wing or the 13th man. He would only play defense in emergencies.
  • Khan also writes that minor league defenseman Dylan McIlrath, acquired in March from the Florida Panthers, is not a likely candidate to make the Detroit roster. The former 2010 first-round pick has struggled to stay on an NHL roster long-term and while he brings a physical presence the team desperately needs, it’s more likely the team brought Witkowski in to play that same role. McIlrath has only played in 43 NHL games in his career.

Detroit’s Contract Pitfalls

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Detroit is currently dealing with one of the more contentious RFA negotiations in recent memory, as Tomas Tatar has refused a multi-year deal and is not happy with the franchise’s perception of him. The team also needs to negotiate a new contract for Andreas Athanasiou, a speedy center with flashy hands and a lot of upside. The major problem, however, is the cap space with which GM Ken Holland has to operate.

Detroit’s perilous situation is bizarre primarily because it has been largely self-inflicted, and unnecessarily so. The team already has an under-performing and vastly overpaid defensive group, but decided to bring in declining veteran Trevor Daley to a $3.17 MM, three-year deal. This places the team with $2.28 MM left in cap space while still needing to lock up Athanasiou and Tatar. It should be noted that 37 year-old Johan Franzen has been on long-term injured reserve since 2015, so they should be able to allocate his $3.95 MM salary to that reserve upon resumption of the season. Considering the apparently lax interpretation of the off-season rules, this effectively allows Holland $6.23 MM left to sign his two players. Theoretically, it could be enough, but in reality money will need to move out.

Tatar turned down a 5-year deal worth $5 MM per season, according to Michigan Live’s Ansar Khan. If that AAV isn’t enough, which it appears not to be, Holland is in a bit of a bind. Tatar was their only player to break 20 goals (25), and finished third on the team in points behind only Henrik Zetterberg and Gustav Nyquist. His offensive capabilities are pretty essential to a team hurting so badly for consistent production. Tatar wants his $6 MM, and there’s a good chance he’ll get it. Holland could try to deal Tatar before his arbitration date, but the return might not be as productive as Holland would like. If the parties do go to arbitration, Tatar will only need to sign for one season, which would almost assure his eventual departure.

Athanasiou will come cheaper and likely on a shorter term. If Holland can secure the player for under $2 MM, it would be a boon. The wiser move would be to try to extend the player on a longer deal in hopes that he becomes a bargain in the near future. Unfortunately, with the Tatar situation taking precedence, it seems an unlikely scenario. Even still, his measly $2 MM would put the Wings over the cap ceiling, even with Franzen on LTIR. So who would be on the outs?

Petr Mrazek was almost lost to the Vegas Golden Knights through the expansion draft, and with Jared Coreau playing stellar in the Grand Rapids, he seems the most likely candidate to move. He only costs $4 MM and after his down season, Holland would like to give Jimmy Howard the reigns back. Unfortunately, the Mrazek “attitude” rumors may have lessened his trade value. Perhaps even more importantly, the goaltending carousel has ground to a halt, with essentially every team securing a starter for the coming year.

Justin Abdelkader is on a really poor contract, complete with a no-trade clause, worth $4.25 MM AAV for the next six seasons. After a seven goal season, however, there won’t be many teams chomping at the bit for his services. Darren Helm didn’t fare much better offensively, but with a $3.85 MM contract and only four years on his deal, he’s not entirely unmovable. Again, he has a no-trade clause to complicate matters. There are the defensemen, such as Jonathan Ericsson, but with three years left and already declining at 33, he would also net little in return. Luke Glendening is an interesting option, as he is the cheapest of this group. Despite his two-way prowess, a forward with 3 goals in a season, even at a mere $1.8 MM, will still be a tough sell.

Ultimately, the Wings have overpaid a number of players and the contracts are for far too long. The amount of no-trade clauses handed out is an absurd hindrance when a team is trying to rebuild or retool. With 8 players on the roster with some sort of movement-limiting clause, Holland has few options to give himself relief. The worst case scenario would be to lose Tatar, but the team has truly painted itself into a corner regardless of who is shipped out. With an aging defense and an uninspiring offense, the Wings’ return to relevance will only be delayed from here on in.

Snapshots: Kostin, Toninato, Mrazek

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The drama that is Dynamo Moscow continued today, with the team releasing most of their players due to unpaid wages going back almost a year. The new owners would not honor those debts, and instead have given freedom to the vast majority of their players. One of those players is Klim Kostin, the 31st overall pick at the draft and St. Louis Blues prospect.

Kostin is now free to sign an entry-level deal with the Blues, and already attended their development camp last week. At camp, Kostin turned many heads and has an outside shot of even playing in the NHL this season. More likely, he’ll head to the AHL next season after expressing that he will not suit up for Kootenay of the CHL. Interestingly, St. Louis doesn’t have a primary AHL affiliate this season, meaning Kostin would either go to the Chicago Wolves (Vegas Golden Knights) or somewhere else around the league.

  • According to Zach Schneider of KBJR 6 in Minnesota, Toronto Maple Leafs’ draft pick Dominic Toninato will not sign with the team and instead become a free agent in August. Toninato finished his senior season at the University of the Minnesota-Duluth and needs to sign somewhere, but the Maple Leafs are close to their contract limit and couldn’t fit him in. Should he not be able to find an ELC somewhere around the league, there is always the possibility the Maple Leafs could circle back and sign him to an AHL contract.
  • There has been much speculation about the Detroit Red Wings’ goaltending situation, as they once again have an expensive duo of Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek heading into the season. While the team doesn’t really need both in a rebuilding season, Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press tells us they currently plan on heading into the year with both in tow. That means you’ll likely hear their names bandied about near the trade deadline once again, if any teams find themselves needing goaltending.

Vegas Will Not Select Capitals’ Philipp Grubauer

at CDT | by 4 Comments

For all the talk of the Vegas Golden Knights potentially loading up on goaltenders, news continues to come out that makes it seem as if they have instead decided to do the opposite. After reports that GM George McPhee passed up on both the Red Wings’ Petr Mrazek and the Rangers’ Antti Raanta, Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post has confirmed that they have also decided not to select Washington Capitals goalie Philipp Grubauer. Grubauer was heavily rumored to be a target of the Knights, especially given that McPhee was the general manager in Washington when Grubauer was drafted. Instead, it will be another one of his teammates who gets the call.

Grubauer, still just 25 years old, has been putting up excellent numbers in the shadow of Vezina-candidate Braden Holtby for years now. This past season, Grubauer made a career-high 24 appearances and posted a .926 save percentage and 2.04 goals against average. Due in part to Grubauer’s efforts – though he did not play enough to get actual credit – the Capitals allowed the fewest goals in the regular season this year and Holtby was named the recipient of the William M. Jennings Trophy. Many feel that the young German keeper has outgrown his role as backup and there was a feeling among those same people that he might fit in nicely as the 1B to Marc-Andre Fleury’s 1A in Las Vegas. Instead, he will stay in Washington, as the Knights have passed on his services. The Capitals still have the option of trading the restricted free agent, but will probably be relieved to have him back and will look to retain their talented backup instead.

So who might be the pick now? Khurshudyan suggests that, if not Gruabauer, it must be promising young defenseman Nate Schmidt, who Capitals fans were equally nervous about losing. However, assuming that many of the leaked names hold true, Vegas has not exactly chosen their team according to what most thought they would do and with many defenseman already confirmed, perhaps Schmidt won’t be the pick. We’ll know one way or another in a matter of hours.

Should Vegas Corner Goalie Market?

at CDT | by 10 Comments

With the recent trade of Mike Smith to Calgary, the market for starting goaltenders is dwindling even further. An interesting dynamic for the Vegas Golden Knights as they choose their team will be whether they opt to select every quality goalie out there in order to flip them to other teams. There are quite a few available – Marc-Andre Fleury of Pittsburgh, Eddie Lack (and Cam Ward) of Carolina, Calvin Pickard of Colorado, Antti Raanta of New York, Petr Mrazek of Detroit, Roberto Luongo of Florida, Jaroslav Halak of the Islanders, Michal Neuvirth of Philadelphia, Peter Budaj of Tampa Bay, and Philipp Grubauer of Washington, with a few interesting prospects also exposed.  As we’ve seen in the past few seasons, dealing a goaltender for anything remotely resembling fair value can be an enormous challenge. The salary cap has really warped the value of a solid starting goaltender in a way that has not been totally beneficial to the players.

One down season and a tender’s value goes down quite heavily. The top ten goalies in the league always seem to find a home on the rare occasion they hit unrestricted free agency, but that has been a rare occurrence. Many might point to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final when they isolate a particular moment that the highly-paid goaltender became an oddity. In that Final, Michael Leighton, third-string for Philadelphia, faced off against the very pedestrian Antti Niemi, who was then  sacrificed for cap reasons. With the whole league watching, these teams ascended to hockey’s main stage with relative no names in the crease. While that moment may have been particularly damaging, the moment for me was the fiasco that was the Luongo and Cory Schneider trade saga in Vancouver, which lasted parts of 2 seasons. Then Canucks GM Mike Gillis had a terrible time finding a suitor for Luongo before finally being forced to ship Schneider off in the 2013 offseason for a 9th round pick. This too, was terrible value, considering that Schneider was one of the best young goalies in the league and coming off a scorching season where he had a .937 save percentage. This ordeal took place less than two years after Luongo had taken the team to its first Final since 1994. Granted, Luongo’s contract was considered a bit of an albatross, but it very publicly cemented the value of goaltenders on the trade market as minimal.

Looking forward to the present day, and the last two goaltenders have been traded for rather uninspiring returns. Arizona’s Smith only fetched a 3rd rounder, and Ben Bishop only netted a 4th from Dallas. GM George McPhee could end up hosting a goaltender buffet, with few paying customers. He would be wise to gauge the interest of other teams before deciding on their selections in net. They obviously want to draft a solid starter and a few young goaltenders as future cornerstones. They need to draft 3, and it’s difficult to envision them drafting less than 4 with the enticing names available out there. But if they decide to go into 5 or 6 goaltender territory, McPhee could manufacture a logjam that could be difficult to sort out. After all, only the WInnipeg Jets are truly desperate for a starting goaltender, and that’s assuming they don’t want one of Brian Elliott, Mike Condon, or another UFA to be their partner for Connor Hellebuyck. Philadelphia could be interested in a younger asset, and there are always teams who will desperately seek a starter mid-season when a keeper inevitably goes down to injury. That said, the market simply doesn’t favor the strategy of going all-in in net.

Mrazek Exposed Due To “Attitude”

at CDT | by 4 Comments

In one of the more surprising exposures of an action-packed Sunday, Petr Mrazek was left un-shielded by the Red Wings in favor of his senior backup Jimmy Howard. The reason why is even more surprising.

Howard ($5.292 MM) earns more than Mrazek (4.0 MM), and has an extra year on his contract. More shocking is the difference in age – Howard is 33 whereas Mrazek is only 25, still young for a goaltender in development. Howard has started far fewer games the last two seasons, only 24 in 2016-17. He did perform statistically well and rebounded with a .927 save percentage, whilst Mrazek posted a .908. Still, when Mrazek was on the list of those exposed, many assumed Detroit GM Ken Holland had negotiated a side-deal with Vegas to protect the tender. Not the case, apparently.

According to Holland, “I’m not spending any future assets to hang onto players”, which is as cut-and-dry a response as we’ve seen. Ansar Khan of Michigan Live states that the Wings passed on Mrazek in their expansion list due to a combination of “performance and attitude”. He even went so far as to claim that Mrazek is believed by some in the organization to be “too cocky for his own good”. The article even mentions Mrazek’s alleged unhappiness with the inability of Holland to trade Howard after the 2015-16 season.

Mrazek certainly had a better season in 2015-16, and contract negotiations did drag on for quite some time before the parties settled on a two-year deal. Mrazek was one of the most surprising goalies in that year, helping sneak the team in for their 25th consecutive playoff berth behind a mediocre defense. At the age of 23, it looked certain that the era of Howard in Hockeytown was nearing a close. After his pitfalls through 50 starts last season, management obviously decided that risking Mrazek would not hurt the team in a sizable way. If any trades were attempted to deal Mrazek, they were apparently quite unsuccessful.

Regardless of how toxic the relationship between the parties is, these sentiments might scare Vegas off of placing a claim. They certainly have a plethora of other options available around the league to tend net or flip for picks. Detroit certainly won’t be hurting for goaltending now that Jared Coreau has led the Grand Rapids Griffins to an AHL championship and is ready for prime-time. But if off-ice issues truly are a concern, and Vegas doesn’t select Mrazek, Detroit could have a very tense situation on their hands next season.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top