The Athletic’s Cat Silverman examines the Red Wings’ goaltending situation ahead of a trade deadline in which the team appears to want to move one of their goaltenders. Silverman believes that the Wings should hold onto both goaltenders until the offseason to maximize their return:
Clearly, the longer both players work with Salajko, the bigger the benefit for the club — even if one or the other eventually gets moved out. Paying nearly $10 million for both Mrazek and Howard will hurt the Red Wings if they try to ride that out for long, especially when they’re not in a position to contend. But the longer they can wait on a potential return, the better that return might be.
In June, we’ll have a better idea of which teams will be in immediate need of help, and how much room they’ll have for it.
The Oilers will be finished with their horrible, terrible, no-good season, and can consider whether adding Mrazek or Howard would benefit them when they start fresh next year.
The Islanders will also be able to properly assess where they’re headed, with Halak hitting free agency. Assuming they don’t have a ton of interest in re-signing him, and assuming the cap goes up as much as it’s expected to, they could have room to add Mrazek and may pay a heavy price to ensure they get a sure talent.
Silverman continues (paywall), and my understanding is that the Wings don’t have a priority as to whether they move Howard or Mrazek first–they just want to move a goalie.
This is such a hard situation to read, but I think the evidence still suggests they try to move Mrazek as soon as possible.
I’d like to see them move Howard. He’s only getting older and less valuable. Mrazek still has a chance at getting better, while Howard will most likely decline. Neither of them will probably be the guy when the Wings are ready to contend again, may as well go with the young guy with more potential.
I think Kenny should continue his strategy of waiting until the Draft to move one…unless he isn’t comfortable with the organization’s depth at the Draft, so maybe he should want to wait to move one until Camp and one of them separates themselves from the rest of the Goalie Corps. Of course, if they’re both looking good in camp, it’s really a good idea go into the season with a 1a/1b approach and then see if one grabs the reigns and takes over as the “True #1”, in that case, then we can look at moving the other one at the Trade Deadline…
Finally someone with hockey Brains….. Drake/Figaro