Of note from TSN’s Frank Seravalli’s “Trade Board” report:
At No. 24, Detroit’s Petr Mrazek is the top-ranked goalie on the board. The Philadelphia Flyers recently lost starter Brian Elliott for a period of five-to-six weeks after core muscle surgery. Mrazek is an RFA at the end of the season and the Red Wings are not expected to qualify him at $4 million. That is the exact situation under which Philadelphia rescued and resuscitated Steve Mason’s career from Columbus on Deadline Day in 2013.
The belief is the Red Wings are looking to move one of either Mrazek or Jimmy Howard before the deadline. Howard, 33, has one more season remaining at $5.3 million. A comparable either-or situation exists up front in Detroit. Gustav Nyquist ranks No. 27 on the list, but the Red Wings are also shopping two-time 20-goal scorer Tomas Tatar. The difference is Tatar is in the first season of a four-year, $21.2 million deal.
Again, makes no sense to move Mrazek, especially not knowing if Holland is coming back and not having a #1 goalie, let alone a true potential #2 goalie in the system. Sure Mrazek could explode in Philly, or he could have the same problem looking over his shoulder his veteran competition.
Howard, on the other hand, would be a great fit right now for a run, and potentially a good fit for next season as both Howard and Elliott will be contract years. If Philly wants to move Howard in the off-season they can because he will no longer have any trade protection.
I just don’t understand all the talk of the Wings moving on from Mrazek with no long term solution to get them through and past a rebuild that will take longer than it should because of how messed up defenseman development is.
Bradley97
I agree with you totally. As a short term solution Howard would be the better fit. But this is the Flyers who have a long poor record with Goalies.
The biggest issue I have , is Howard is not the Goalie to lead a long rebuild.
Kypreos said Flyers said no to both Howard and Mrazek, Isles said no to Howard. I might have the teams switched around
It’s just crazy. If a team needs a short term goalie and the Wings are willing to eat some money for Howard’s last year why not get the proven veteran all-star who worked hard to fix his game and get back into form. I think both Philly and NYI will regret sticking with goalies who have consistently proven they are not playoff starters just because they suddenly had a few good games.
I think it’s looking more likely someone will want Howard after the season but the Wings will still need to eat some money and it will be worth it if it means Mrazek is no longer looking over his shoulder and can just work on his game and get back to being the goalie that stole the starter job for two playoffs from Howard.