OT: Wings trade Mrazek to Flyers
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.
February 20th, 2018 at 8:46 AM ^
Underwhelming trade. Seems to me he should have gotten more than a 4th round pick .
February 20th, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
It'll probably be a third-rounder. The conditions to trigger changing the 4th to 3rd are pretty easy to achieve. Mrazek has to win five regular season games and the Flyers have to make the playoffs. Both are likely.
February 20th, 2018 at 9:02 AM ^
Ken Holland needs to go IMO. Stevie Y needs to come if possible.
Holland moving Mrazek when his stock was lowest is pure Holland. 2-3 years ago, could have gotten a lot for him, but we needed him in the meantime because we were in cup contention. /S
February 20th, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^
2018 4th rounder (35%) - Terrible trade
2018 3rd rounder (45%) - I'd still be bummed
2018 2nd rounder (2.4%) - great trade
2018 4th + 2019 3rd (0.1%) - this ain't happening
2018 3rd + 2019 3rd (15%) - actually a good trade
2018 2nd + 2019 3rd (2.5%) - amazing trade
Really good chance this trade is a bad one, with really the only good coming out of it being we got anything at all for a kid our organization bashed his trade value out of. There is a possibility for this to be a really good trade, but that also starts running close to the "we traded the wrong goalie" scenario.
I'm assuming this is the best return we could get. But that is a telling bit of roster mis-management in and of itself. 2 years ago, Mrazek looked like a stud, a future Vezina contender. Instead of trading Howard and gaining cap relief, the Wings took him to arbitration, and took away the starting job he earned, destroying his confidence in the process. Then they double down on that by protecting the wrong goalie as a motivational technique. Then they triple down on that by bashing him in the paper to make him look untouchable to Vegas, destroying all trade value in the process.
Then finally when a goalie move has to be made, they choose Howard over a goalie who has been outplaying him for 2 months. Choose Howard (aging/injury prone) who has one more year left on his deal over an RFA. We now have no NHL caliber goalie the bridge the gap between now and whenever Larsson/Petruzzelli are ready.
February 20th, 2018 at 9:45 AM ^
They have treated those guys like crap the last couple seasons trying to "prove a point" to hustle harder, while our defense (save for Green) has been a sieve.
February 20th, 2018 at 10:19 AM ^
AA is as good as gone. They treated his contract worse than the Mrazek deal two years ago. I hope I'm wrong about this, but I feel like they think AA is their best chip they are willing to part with.
February 20th, 2018 at 12:50 PM ^
AA, Mantha and Larkin are all RFAs this offseason. Seeing that they currently earn about $3.2M between the 3, they will all be looking for significant bumps in pay. Clearing the $10M in cap space between Green and Mrazek will help clear some room to resign them but it may not be enough. The Wings still need to backfill those spots on the roster - hopefully they will call somebody up on an ELC as opposed to overspending on a 30+ year old free agent (and give him a no trade clause as well).
February 20th, 2018 at 10:02 AM ^
The Flyers are currently at a 96% probability of making the playoffs (sportsclubstats.com). Unless one of their goalies makes it back from injury soon and Mrazek is only the back up (not able to get 5 wins), this will most likely be a 3rd rounder.
I also would have preferred that they trade Howard and take our chances with Mrazek for a couple of years. I have no idea what the Wings have for goalie talent in their system these days.
February 20th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
My biggest concern is Mrazek will sit on 4 wins for the last 3 weeks of the season or something. Philly gets a goalie healthy and staples Mrazek to the pine to save the 3rd round pick...
Philly is ~.500 on the season, and I think Petr is good enough to keep that trend going for them. So Petr needs roughly 10 starts to get the 5 wins, and Philly has 23 games remaining. Can Nuevirth get back in 3, 3-1/2 weeks? It doesn't look like that Lyon kid for them has the goods to steal starts from Mrazek.
February 20th, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
WIngs will continue to be mediorce until they dump Howard. I've been saying it for nearly a decade: Howard is not the answer. He's never been the answer. Consistently awful in the post-season, and streaky as hell in the regular season.
I was going to go to the game last Thursday here in Tampa until I found out he was going to be between the pipes. 'Lo and behold they got smoked.
Watching Yzerman sit down here and build a competitive product year after year is frustrating as hell. Holland is past him prime, and his mojo left long ago. The front office in Detroit needs a thorough spring cleaning.
February 20th, 2018 at 9:35 AM ^
February 20th, 2018 at 9:50 AM ^
They had to win on the final weekend of the season to make the playoffs their last year in the Western Conference. They haven't won a playoff series since they moved to the Eastern Conference. Plus, Mr. I was the one that didn't force Holland out in favor of Yzerman years ago.
Hopefully this trade means the Wings are truly in the tank. They need to stop trying to get into the playoff race and work to get a high draft pick. Sadly, I don't trust Holland to make a good selection if he's still here.
February 20th, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
Ever since Yzerman left.
February 20th, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
Ken Holland has his head up his 1997 ass so far the Wings are nothing and will be nothing until that man goes away. Chris Illitch also needs to get his head out of his ass as well. Mr. Illitch was hands on with his teams, knew everything and wanted to know everything going on with his team. Chris Illitch and Ken Holland will unfortunately destroy his legacy with this garbage ass product they put on the ice.
However, I do blame Mr Illitch for not forcing out Holland when he was crashing and burning after the 2008 Stanley Cup. Rough times ahead for this franchise and it sucks
February 20th, 2018 at 12:01 PM ^
Ken Holland turned nothing - a goalie that is for all intents and purposes a UFA this offseason with his ridiculous qualifying offer and who had no intention of signing in Detroit - into at least a fourth round pick, almost definitely a third round pick, and managed to get them to agree to make that a second round pick if Mrazek some how defies his past two years' of performance and gets them to the Eastern Conference Finals, AND THEN another third round pick next year if Philly loses their minds and gives him a qualifying off this summer.
To think of this trade as anything other than a huge win for the Wings organization is crazy. Mrazek will be signed as a fringe NHL goaltender next year for no more than $2.5M.
February 20th, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
This isn't the NFL where you expect to get a player in the 4th round.
This is win-win for Philly with no downside - and the Wings are picking up half the tab.
Amazing.
February 20th, 2018 at 3:14 PM ^
For one thing, it's probably going to be a 3rd-rounder and 2nd-rounder is not at all unlikely, and for another thing, you are wildly underestimating the chances of the average 4th-round pick turning into an NHL player.
If you think of this as a 4th-rounder you're doing it wrong, because the conditions are insanely easy to achieve. For all intents and purposes it's a 3rd-rounder unless Mrazek gets hurt, with the chance to become a 2nd rounder and a further chance to add another 3rd round next year.
February 20th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^
To finish low enough for a top draft pick. Lately it looks like we insist on just winning enough to miss the playoffs but not get a top 5 pick. Hate to see us losing, but at least lose like champs.
February 20th, 2018 at 4:51 PM ^