The Free Press’s Helene St. James took note of several of the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman during his post-trade deadline press conference, including this regarding Red Wings fans’ frustration with the progress, or lack thereof, from the rebuild…
“First of all, I understand the frustration or the impatience,” Yzerman said. “It’s a hockey market, it’s a hockey city. People know the game, they want the team to do well. And I guess what would I say is, we did what we thought we could to help give us a better chance here at the playoffs. Is it earth-shattering? No it’s not. But the only way we could do something earth-shattering is to give up first-round picks and our best young players and prospects, and I think everybody would agree that just to try to hope for us to get in — this isn’t the time to do that.”
And St. James noted the reasons why the GM chose to reunite with Petr Mrazek, who’s now a 33-year-old goaltender…
Mrázek hasn’t posted great numbers his last four seasons (with the Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs), failing to finish with a goals-against average below 3.00 since 2020-21. But the Wings drafted him for his competitiveness, and they like that he’s signed through next season with a $4.25 million salary cap hit. He’ll share the net the rest of the season with Cam Talbot (also signed through 2025-26) and Alex Lyon.
“We’re hoping Petr can come in and give us a boost in net,” Yzerman said. “One thing that was attractive to us is he’s signed for another season, and the goalie market right now looking into the summer, what goalies are signing for, the term and the dollar amount — for what our options were today and our options might be in the offseason, we thought it was good insurance for us. We think his competitiveness and experience will give us some quality starts.”
As well as bringing in 35-year-old forward Craig Smith:
Smith is a pending unrestricted free agent. He’s recorded 220 goals and 230 assists in 968 career NHL games. He has nine goals and 16 points in 40 games this season, and posted 11 goals in 75 games last season while with the Dallas Stars.
“Craig maybe provides a little bit of offense throughout the lineup,” Yzerman said. “Historically, Craig’s a guy who’s been able to shoot the puck in the net a little bit and we could use that.”
