OT: Wings trade Mrazek to Flyers

Submitted by redwhiteandMGOBLUE on

Per multiple sources the wings have traded goal tender Petr Mrazek to the Flyers.

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/965792402211463170

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/965793171174178816

 

DET guaranteed no less than a 4th round for Mrazek. If PHI makes playoffs and Mrazek wins 5 games for PHI in reg season, 4th becomes a 3rd. If PHI advances to CF, and Mrazek wins six playoff games, the 3rd becomes a 2nd. If PHI re-signs him next season, DET gets PHI 3rd in 19.

 

So the minimum DET gets for Mrazek is a fourth-round pick, that could become a third- or a second-round pick, dependent on how Mrazek/Flyers perform. The additional pick, a third-rounder, is conditional only on Mrazek re-signing in PHI.

Zoltanrules

February 19th, 2018 at 11:49 PM ^

I guess we will see more of Coreu and save a few million for now.

Zetts seems to be frustrated lately. He really needs to retire because this team isn't going anywhere soon. 

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

February 20th, 2018 at 7:19 AM ^

Ericsson and DeKeyser make two more.  This team is in cap hell for a long time because Kenny doesn't know how to manage a cap.

On the plus side, his shitty cap skills have forced him to use players that otherwise would've moldered in Grand Rapids til they were 29.  So one of his weaknesses is curing another.

Mark my words, however: If Nyquist is traded, he'll become an offensive revelation for whoever gets him and the price will look stupid cheap within a year.  I think there's a lot of talent on this team in guys like Tatar and Nyquist that Blashill is squandering because his coaching skills are about on par with Kenny's cap management skills.

clarkiefromcanada

February 20th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^

For years, and I am admittedly Canadian and a Leafs fan, I watched on this blog and around Detroit/Michigan people sing the praises of Holland in player acquisition. Indeed, in a time of zero cap where he just had to evaluate talent he did a solid job of it. Ownership was willing to spend and he could mature young talent in the minors with relative ease. This, interestingly, was quite the opposite of the Leafs who chose to do absolutely every wrong decision despite having Michigan sized money cannons. Talent evaluation there was, converse to Detroit, awful.

So fast forward more than a decade into the salary cap era and Holland had some success late (didn't hurt to have latent talent in Lidstrom hanging around and exceptional coaching in Mike Babcock - more on him in a moment). Once that time passed it seems that Holland and Detroit scouting/player development and acquisition all have become awful. Protecting "the streak" was a fool move designed to assuage the egos in management and keep the fanbase happy. In none of those later years were they a threat to win anything. To top it off, they basically ran the coach. I remember the conventional wisdom here that Blashill, because of his success in the minors and the Wings organization, would have success. Not so easy to replace a Hall of Fame coach.

So here the Wings are...stuck in Cap hell for probably four more years. Talent evaluation is fair/middling. Coaching is bad. What they truly need to do...what Yzerman would understand in Tampa, what Shanahan would understand in Toronto...is dump everyone and tank for a couple years. Problem is, owners have a shiny new rink and land development deal.

I've lived this with my team. "Good luck".

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

February 20th, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^

Holland was a great GM when he had the money cannon and Hakan Andersson - two aces in the hole that nobody else had.  That's not to say anyone could've done it.  Even when the Sabres are making Dominik Hasek available, trading Slava Kozlov isn't easy.  He made some pretty bold trades as well as FA signings.

I've never thought it's fair to blame "the streak" and too much devotion to it for the Wings' current problems.  Get into the NHL playoffs and you can win the Cup.  It's been that way for a long time and still is.  The stupid things Holland did had nothing to do with protecting the streak and everything to do with not learning how to re-value players in the cap era. 

I don't know what possessed him to hand out the salaries he did to guys like DeKeyser and Abdelkader - probably a combination of sentimentality and loyalty and having no clue what the salary cap meant for the value of players like them.  They seemed to think these guys are top-pairing or second-line players and I can't fathom that.  But I don't see those as being moves to protect the streak.  I see them as the result of some kind of odd belief that you couldn't find those skills in other players.  Holland doesn't know how to find them because he was always just picking up Kris Draper for $1. 

clarkiefromcanada

February 20th, 2018 at 10:38 AM ^

I'm external to the Wings' situation mostly but it was hard not to follow the focus in the Detroit media on the streak. It's not like ownership didn't sell it and the fanbase didn't expect it and ownership had boxes in a new arena to sell as well. Probably harder to do so with a team going to 70 points chasing dreams and Auston Matthews. I think I agree with you on Holland's contract/talent evaluation.

I think, a generation ago, when the early series were best 3 out of 5 you could get in the playoffs and maybe get to the conference final. Outside of the 2012 Kings I can't see a team that wasn't at least mid level competitive and with 4 out of 7 grinds the cream tends to rise to the top, as it were.

The interesting thing here is that Ken Holland is a Hall of Fame level builder. It's odd to see that thing implode in so many ways and yet, oddly familiar, if you have been a Leafs fan.

BOX House

February 20th, 2018 at 5:59 AM ^

OK, no offense, but the Wings make the playoffs for 25 years in a row with 4 stanley cups, and the first season they miss the playoffs you guys are apathetic? I understand they've been bad for some time, I'm not following this team the way I once did either, but for me at least, I feel like I've gotta stick with the Wings through this lull.

HHW

February 20th, 2018 at 8:34 AM ^

Give me a team that has been as consistently good as the Wings since 1990?  Noooobody!

 

However, I do think that Holland is incapable of building a Stanley Cup level team with the salary cap restrictions.  Would love Stevie Y to come back, KH has a pretty long leash after all of the success.

LSAClassOf2000

February 20th, 2018 at 10:02 AM ^

When the cap entered the hockey world, I initially thought that Holland would be one of those guys who could adjust his strategy to make it work for the Wings, and yet especially in the last few years, it has been painfully apparently that he hasn't been able to do make all of the needed managerial adjustments. 

Bilka19

February 20th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^

I would argue the leash has become nonexistent because 1. They’re bad and I’m cap he’ll for years to come, 2. His contract is up after the season and rumors are already circulating about a move to Vancouver or, more recently, an expansion Seattle team (#1 choice apparently), and 3. This is the first time his contract has ever been allowed to reach its final year without an extension.

My last straw with Holland was when it came out that Mr. I offered Holland a promotion to Team President all in an effort to hold onto Stevie Y, who had been offered by Tampa and was waiting to see how things would shake out in Detroit. Holland refused the promotion because he didn’t want to give up roster control, Stevie Y goes to Tampa, and here we are.

HHW

February 20th, 2018 at 8:30 AM ^

Good grief, if you watched them in the 70's and early 80's you'd still appreciate how competitive the current team is.  Those teams were god awful. 16 wins in '77, 19 in 81? Now those were awful teams and I can understand the apathy.  But, if you thought the Wings were going to be anything other than .500 this year your expectations were too high and that's your problem.

rob f

February 20th, 2018 at 12:20 AM ^

are going nowhere soon anyway, so they did the right thing trading Mrazek. He's playing well as of late (kept the Wings in the game through a pathetic first period Sunday vs Toronto) and his trade value was probably as good as it was going to get.
Problem is, if Holland is still GM, who knows if these picks are ultimately getting us anywhere.

Somehow, sooner rather than later, Holland needs to go and Stevie Y needs to return to Detroit. PLEASE!

mgobaran

February 20th, 2018 at 9:06 AM ^

His and Howard's trade value we're higher 2 seasons ago when any goalie trade should have been made instead of carrying close to $10 million in goalie cap for two seasons that weren't going to land anywhere near a playoff spot. 

bacon1431

February 20th, 2018 at 7:57 AM ^

If he meets the goals, could end up a very very good trade. We have a lot of draft picks piled up now. I just hope KH doesn’t do something stupid this summer with them....

jbrandimore

February 20th, 2018 at 8:40 AM ^

4th round picks are next to worthless.

Philly made a “heads we win, tails you lose” trade with Detroit.

I’m also going to remind older Wings fans how easily the Wings tossed away 1st and 2nd round picks every year on hot garbage in trades.

Kenny said then, “well that’s what it costs” - note that when the shoe is on the other foot he can’t get any returns at all. Hell, we are still paying half of Murazeks salary.

Idiot.

GhostofMichiga…

February 20th, 2018 at 8:50 AM ^

I think Philly won the trade but Mrazek is a RFA after this year, hasn't played particularly well over the last 2 years, there are rumors of attitude problems and the Wings still have Howard.



Bishop was traded for a 4th last year and I know the age differences but Bishop has proven more in his career than Mrazek has.



I don't think Detroit could have gotten much better here but do agree that it's titled in Phillys favor if Mrazek does well.