The original Mrazek deal was perfectly reasonable at the time; So was the trade to unload him on Chicago
There has been a ton of discourse around Petr Mrazek of late, but especially in the last 24 hours. The Leafs netminder struggled with injury and inconsistent play this season, and didn't offer much return on investment for his $3.8 million cap hit. Many fans who applauded the signing when it happened changed their tune over the course of the season, but rather than acknowledging that some players simply don't work out, they aimed vitriol at Kyle Dubas as if Mrazek's signing was a mistake from day 1. That's simply not true.
The Leafs entered the free agent period last summer with 1 year left on newfound starter Jack Campbell's $1.6 million contract. They knew they would need a goalie capable of splitting the load with Campbell. Frederik Anderson had seen his game go to pieces in the last year of his contract and neither he nor the Leafs were interested in continuing that relationship. The goalie market was thin and was made even thinner by the fact that the Seattle Kraken had taken 3 goaltenders in the expansion draft.
Before joining the Leafs, Mrazek had been a career .910 goaltender who had proven he could play 30-40 games and give his team a chance to win most nights. He came in at a lower cap hit and on a shorter deal than Andersen did, so at the time of the signing, it wasn't a bad deal. In fact, many Leafs fans applauded it in the comments section on the original Twitter post.
Unfortunately for the Leafs, Mrazek had a disastrous season. He was injured in his first start, and 2 weeks later was injured in his return. Between injury and the pandemic wreaking havoc on the schedule, Mrazek never got into a rhythm. Now, one could argue that Mrazek is injury prone, but very few goaltenders aren't. Knee, hip and groin injuries are part and parcel with playing the position and while Mrazek missed more time than most goalies last season, there were a number of goaltenders who struggled last season, not only with injury, but with an increasingly large number of goals being scored in 2021-22.
I'm not sitting here saying that signing Mrazek was a stroke of genius from Dubas, but it was far from the massive blunder its being portrayed as now. Goaltenders are unpredictable head cases. I know this because I, myself, play the position and I know how taxing it can be on both the body and the mind. This was simply a case of a signing not working out. Dubas is no more to blame for that than Mrazek. It was just a matter of the chips falling the way they did, but thankfully, Dubas was able to find a way out of the deal with a surprisingly minimal amount of pain.
At the draft, Dubas made a move to send Mrazek to Chicago, freeing up that $3.8 million for the next 2 seasons. The deal was Toronto's first round pick, which was #25 in the draft, and Mrazek in exchange for Chicago's 2nd round pick, which was #38. The argument that Dubas had to give up a first to move Mrazek's deal is disingenuous and ignores the fact that a late first was traded with Mrazek for an early second. Depending on the draft, the value of picks drops off significantly after the first 10-15 picks. The difference in value between #25 and #38 is about the same as a mid 7th rounder. Yes, really. Not a bad price for freeing up $7.6 million worth of cap space and $8.6M in actual salary over the next 2 seasons.
According to Dubas, had they kept the 25th pick, Fraser Minten would most likely have been their guy, internally. The Leafs had him ranked #15 in the draft on their list, while Bob McKenzie had him ranked 47th. Central Scouting had Minten pegged as the 28th ranked skater in North America. Dubas was able shed Mrazek's cap hit and, remarkably, still got the Kamloops Blazers centreman they wanted.
The true measure of how good or bad this deal was will be measured by what Dubas does with the cap space he's been given. Will he use it on an addition to the Leafs top 6 forwards? Re-signing Jack Campbell? A new starter entirely? Only Dubas knows. As for me, I'm just thankful that when something isn't working out, Dubas isn't afraid to move on. We saw it with Nick Ritchie, and now we've seen it with Petr Mrazek. Many GMs around the league would have doubled down just to avoid admitting their idea didn't work. No GM is perfect, but it certainly helps to have one who's willing to pivot if things aren't working out.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 9 | 600 ANSWERS The original Mrazek deal was perfectly reasonable at the time; So was the trade to unload him on Chicago How did you feel about the Mrazek trade to Chicago? | ||
| Great deal! | 266 | 44.3 % |
| It was okay, but nothing special | 80 | 13.3 % |
| Dubas cleaning up his own mess, no big deal | 231 | 38.5 % |
| Awful deal.. | 23 | 3.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
