OT: Mrazek

Submitted by teldar on
So. For the first time since 1929, a Wings goalie under the age of 21 won his first start in the nhl. I don't have anyone to discuss this with as everyone around here is a jackets fan and my wife, despite being from kinda close to Toronto is a Bruins fan. Mrazek was pretty damn good last night. Very quick and athletic. Came out of the net well, great positioning for a20 y.o. rookie. Great stick and give placement. Very impressed with the kid. I figured he would be decent, being named the mvp of the '12 wjc, but I thought he looked every bit the experienced nhl goalie. Maybe got a little too daring on handling the puck a couple times, but did better than I remember Osgood doing. I didn't burst an aneurysm every time he left the net like Osgood. Anyone else? Edit: forgot to add, yes, one game sample and all. And the Blues have not done well the last few games. They looked like the Wings in their first game.

Clarence Beeks

February 8th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^

He's going to be good. Scale back on the excitement, though. It'll be a few years and it may not even be for the Red Wings as he has a lot to compete with to eventually land that spot (think: Varlamov in Washington).



Also, Kuznetsov was the MVP of the '12 WJC...

mGrowOld

February 8th, 2013 at 12:44 PM ^

God would I love to see the Wings get a goalie that could steal a game or two instead of always hoping we can either get average play or score enough to overcome their shortcomings.  I'm 53 and I cant even begin to count the number of games (seemingly always in the playoffs) where the wings would outshoot their opponent like 45 to 15 and lose 2-1  cause the other goalie stood on his head and ours let in a couple of softies.

teldar

February 8th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^

I think the issue for years has been the Wings style of play. For years, the offense has been Lidstrom from the point and Homer deflecting shots, gathering rebounds, and passing the puck. They do NOT go aggressively to the net and haven't in years. Many Goals come from crashing the net and getting traffic. The Wings haven't done that a whole lot in the Lidstrom years. Maybe they will more without him and Homer.

teldar

February 8th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^

It's great to have someone who stands there and did what homer did. But I'd rather have a team of guys who drive to the net hard and are willing to get the "dirty"goals. I'd rather see 3 dirty goals on 20 shots than one goal or get shut out on 40 shots. Ideally, you would see some of both, a couple skill players and a grinder maybe instead of just a puck deflector. But that's not the way most of the Wings work. And the third and fourth lines, whose job it is to do this, if you want to go by skill vs. grinder type, hadn't done at all this year. Think back to The Grind Line, and they probably got 40 goals a year collectively doing that.

teldar

February 8th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^

It's great to have someone who stands there and did what homer did. But I'd rather have a team of guys who drive to the net hard and are willing to get the "dirty"goals. I'd rather see 3 dirty goals on 20 shots than one goal or get shut out on 40 shots. Ideally, you would see some of both, a couple skill players and a grinder maybe instead of just a puck deflector. But that's not the way most of the Wings work. And the third and fourth lines, whose job it is to do this, if you want to go by skill vs. grinder type, hadn't done at all this year. Think back to The Grind Line, and they probably got 40 goals a year collectively doing that.

Skiptoomylou22

February 8th, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^

I for one was super pumped about the Monster, Jonas Gustavsson, but am just as happy after seeing what Mrazek has to offer and what hes done the past few years. I think Howards inconsistency and knack for letting in the weakest of goals is what turns me off about him. Just think its time to switch it up in net a bit, Vancouver tried it and now they're pretty sure they wanna dump Luongo.

Skiptoomylou22

February 8th, 2013 at 1:12 PM ^

And in fairness to Luongo, he has started to prove management wrong and really make them second guess it.  Its going to be hard for them to keep Cory Schneider off the ice though. NOT a bad position to be in. cant wait (Bart Scott voice) to see The Monster healthy.

 

ALSO, major props on the Clarence Beeks MgoProfile, I would definetaly buy frozen concentrated orange juice from you.

w2j2

February 8th, 2013 at 12:59 PM ^

It is wonderful that the Wings now have quality depth in goal.

But defense wins hockey games, and they really need to get their defense figured out.

sambora114

February 8th, 2013 at 1:10 PM ^

is our goalie of the now and future, I think he turns 29 this year. That being said, I watched the game last night and was impressed with Mrazek. 

I agree that our defense needs work but we have great young talent with Smith and Lashoff. I think the Wings may be able to strike lightning twice and transition from Z and Datsyuk to Nyquist and Tartar.

I think we can make the playoffs but need to clean up the back end for sure.

MichiganManOf1961

February 8th, 2013 at 1:36 PM ^

How do you pronounce that?  It's like someone threw a bunch of Scrabble pieces out chose their last name that way.

~Herm

Charlestown Chiefs

February 8th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^

I definitely wouldn't count that as a brain fart.  He was in proper position and the puck seemed to squirt out to an open forward on the doorstep on a power play.  If anything is was lucky for the Blues forward to have gotten that bounce.  The kid played solid all night long.  As others have said, it would be amazing to have a Rinne-like goalie steal some games.  Howard is pretty solid but this guy could be something special.