Report: Sizable Gap Remains Between Wings, Mrazek In Contract Talks
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
With an arbitration hearing looming on Wednesday in regard to Petr Mrazek's next contract with the Red Wings, the two sides remain far apart in negotiations.
Per Elliote Friedman, the 24-year-old goaltender is asking for about $2 million more than what the Wings are inclined to give him.
While that is a sizeable gap, it bears mention that this type of posturing is common in arbitration-eligible cases. The player shoots high, the team shoots low, and the two parties typically meet somewhere in the middle – often avoiding arbitration altogether.
So Friedman's report isn't so much an ominous portent as it is a sign that things are unfolding per usual.
In parts of four seasons with the Wings, Mrazek has a record of 46-30-8 with a 2.29 goals against average and .920 save percentage. He enjoyed a breakout season in 2015-16, buoyed by a sterling month of January in which he went 7-1-1 with a 1.32 GAA and .952 SV%.
He fell off drastically down the stretch, however, winning just six of his final 16 games while posting a 3.44 GAA and .886 SV%. This late-season decline cost Mrazek the starting job heading into the playoffs and called into question his viability as the Wings' goalie of the future.
He hadn't started more than 26 games in a season prior to the 2015-16 campaign, and he certainly seemed to labor under a heavier workload.
The question facing GM Ken Holland and Co. is whether Mrazek is closer to the goalie of January or the one of March and April. His career numbers suggest he falls somewhere in the middle: better than good, not quite great.
The Wings are likely banking on his continued development in estimating his future value. And it would seem Mrazek's camp is doing the same, as his career numbers don't warrant a deal worth $5 million annually.
But Frederik Anderson, who owns a 2.33 GAA and .918 SV% over 125 career games, just received a five-year, $25-million deal from Toronto. The 26-year-old is a fair comparable for Mrazek.
With time running out for peaceful negotiations, an unpleasant alternative looms. Arbitration tends to be a divisive process, with both sides emerging disgruntled. For what it's worth, the Wings haven't taken a player to arbitration since Ray Sheppard in 1995 (excluding Jiri Hudler's special case in 2009.)
It has been an interesting offseason thus far for Holland. The GM did well to unload Pavel Datsyuk's cap hit at the draft but came under fire for his moves in free agency, namely giving a six-year deal to 32-year-old Frans Nielsen. Along with resigning RFA Danny DeKeyser, reaching an agreement with Mrazek remains his last major hurdle.
But if he can't strike a deal soon, that move will be taken out of his hands.