Caleb Weiler
Ron Hextall has always preached patience and has never been quick to rush making rash decisions.
As it turns out, injuries to both Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth has forced the Philadelphia Flyers general manager’s hand.
Monday night, the Flyers acquired Petr Mrazek from the Detroit Red Wings for a couple of conditional picks.
Mrazek, 26, who has played 166 career games, has amassed a save percentage of .912 and a 2.60 GAA. He’ll be the Flyers main netminder for the next four to five weeks at least. Mrazek, who was not protected by the Red Wings in last summer’s expansion draft for the Vegas Golden Knights, has been on a tear recently, posting a 5-2-2 record in his last nine games with a 2.01 GAA and a .937 save percentage. He’d been doing this on a Red Wings team that has no shot to make the playoffs.
Mrazek does have some playoff experience; he’s played 10 total playoffs games, and they’ve all come against the Tampa Bay Lightning, posting a stat line of 1.88 GAA and .931 save percentage and three shutouts in the 2014-15 season and 2015-16 season, respectively. Mrazek has the goods to get the Flyers to the playoffs and to help them make a run if he can be on the top of his game.
The Flyers will need him at the top of his game for the next 15 to 20 games as he will be the guy until Elliott comes back.
The Flyers now have Elliott, Neuvirth and Mrazek under contract for the rest of the this year and Mrazek is a restricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season. The Flyers also have Carter Hart, Anthony Stolarz and Felix Sandstrom waiting in the wings.
One of the conditions of the picks is that if the Flyers re-sign Mrazek after this season, the Red Wings will get a 2019 third-round pick. Chances are, with Neuvirth and Elliott signed until the end of the 2019 season, that they will let Mrazek walk. However, if I was Hextall, I’d want to see if I could get something for Neuvirth and run a tandem of Elliott and Mrazek in 2018-2019.
This is all ultimately a temporary solution as the Flyers expect Hart to take over the reigns as soon as he is ready. He will be playing in the AHL late this year, more than likely, and definitely next year as he cannot stay with his Juniors team past this year.
I don’t think this move changes the direction of the franchise, if Mrazek somehow champions the Flyers to a Stanley Cup birth or even a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals, then it is possible that the Flyers will look to re-sign him. I would still expect the Flyers to keep Elliott and find a way to trade Neuvirth if they can sign Mrazek to a one- or two-year deal at the end of this year.
As always, Flyers fans just have to weather the storm until Hart is ready, and then we should start to see something truly special.
You can follow Caleb Weiler on Twitter (@TheBitter_Caleb) and e-mail him at [email protected].
Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter (@PHL_Influencer), Facebook and Instagram.