Proposal: Hypothetical Rebuild 5: The Goalies!!

[BinCookin]

This may be one of the more controversial moves in our offseason.

I will pose 2 different questions here:

1) Sign Mrazek to a bridge deal (2 years) OR Sign Mrazek to a big money deal 4-7 years?

2) Do we try to trade Howard this offseason? Or wait at least 1-2 more years for Mrazek to solidify his position?

Realize if we trade Howard, we generally do not have a capable backup, assume that we can only sign a crummy backup in place of Howard (maybe getting someone else's garbage goalie back).



Mrazek is 24 (RFA) ; Howard is 31 (3 more years at 5.29Mil)

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[Ricelund]

Trade Howard ASAP. There are solid UFA backup options every year.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

Trade Howard ASAP and Give Mrazek a Tuuka Rask type deal 8 years $56M or close to it. Though i could see Holland giving Mrazek a 2-3 year bridge deal around $3.5M-$4M per. If we can't move Howard.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Sign Mrazek to bridge deal. Signing him long term right now won't get us a huge discount unless he's got a total pushover of an agent and at the end of the bridge deal we could actually move Howard for something as opposed to having to package big assets with him for little to nothing.

If you get him at 2.75-3.25 for a couple years... Maybe he gets 7 in a couple years. Whereas you sign him long term now, he gets Howard's deal or more. or God forbid nobody will take Howard no matter what you offer, you have 10M+ tied up in goalies.

E: I probably undershot the actual dollars, but essentially, we can get a couple more cost friendly years out of Mrazek and then his resultant contract is either huge money cause he's a super stud or it's not too different from the contract you'd give him now.

 

[Red Stanley]

1 and 4. I'm optimistic about moving Howard and even getting decent return for him in a package or stand-alone deal.

 

[Reddwit]

Mrazek should NOT get a lifetime deal yet. A bridge deal is ideal. Make him prove that he's the real deal.

Trade Howard if you can (with up to $1.5M retention) There are SO many solid back-ups year after year that it makes sense. Most you can get for $2M or less at short-term. And having a lesser back-up would force us to ride Mrazek which might actually be a good thing. He needs to get used to playing more.

 

[BinCookin]

Anyone else?

 

[Yemack]

haven't watched games since like nov, dec but I think if Wings plan to keep howard and give him another chance to redeem himself, it's probably not the end of the world. I mean, he was great early in the season.

for that reason, if Holland REALLY wants to trade him away, he probably can. I see worse goalies getting picked up by other teams. I dont see an urgency to trade him asap. of course, if a right deal comes along, i would not be opposed to it.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

1 and 4. Sign a cheap vet as the backup - its actually one thing Holland has proven adept at over the years is having a half decent backup, from Legace to Osgood to Gustavsson.

 

[jaster]

Howard should be moved this off-season, if possible.

As for Mrazek, I'm in favor of the shorter end of a long-term deal (4-5 years). His talent warrants something more than 2 years.

 

[Frk It]

Mrazek has shown glimpses of an ability to put together a ridiculous statistical season that forces your hand at paying him more than you want to.

I'd rather lock him up now while we have the RFA and lack of experience leverage in our favor.