Official Expansion Draft Protection Thread (Howard protected over Mrazek)

[Flowah]

Also, not smart to sit 5 or 4 million of you cap on the bench, when you have AHL championship goalie on the minors. I understand this logic. They believe in Coreau as an option with better value/role if Mrazek is exposed. Opens cap space.

Coreau had an extended chance up in the NHL.

It wasn't that pretty.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

Seen some rumors out there that MAF wants to go to a contending team, Maybe there's a deal in place where McPhee takes MAF and then flips him to a team of his choice that needs a goalie. If that were the case then i can easily see McPhee taking Mrazek then.

 

[Go Wings]

This is a terrible move exposing Mrazek and anyone that thinks otherwise is as senile as Holland. Vegas will take him then trade him to someone else. If Holland knew he wasn't going to protect him then he should have traded him before the draft.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Yeah, there's really no defending the move. If I had to guess my take would be that Holland felt the goalie market was so soft he could risk exposing a goalie. However the obvious choice was Howard, no one is going to take that contract off your hands. This is Kenny turtling like he always does and wants to go with the "proven" veteran. In this case your proven veteran has won one playoff series in his career and the Wings were actually outscored in that series.

The fact he protected Howard shows he is fully committed to trying to get back into the playoffs next year. What a joke, I really do hope Mrazek gets claimed.

Yeah, he beat Phoenix a couple times. The one nice series win was against Anaheim and again we were outscored in that series.

What's funny is that if zetterberg could have scored a single goal 2 years ago In the playoffs (or 3 now I think). Mrazek is tied or only 1 behind Jimmy in series win. We were beating Montreal that year

 

[Classicnamesup]

Mrazek is one of the few players of value on there. Vegas would be stupid to not take him, even if they flip him

 

[RedWingzz]

It's official, Ken Holland is off his rocker.

This is absolutely insane. It's terrible asset management. If this was his plan the whole time at least trade Mrazek for an asset. It's borderline insanity.

I wish I wasn't so attached to this team and could jump ship to another one. We have the dumbest GM in all of pro sports. We were a good team 10 years ago, now Holland is ruining the Red Wing legacy.

To the people saying Vegas doesn't touch Mrazek, I disagree. He's still young, and has shown the potential to become a very good goalie. Great athleticism and competitiveness. Vegas won't pass on him. Even if they do like Fleury/Grubauer better, they will select him and flip him for another asset (a 2nd rounder or a prospect) from another team. Howard would not have been picked and there is literally no interest league wide with him, Mrazek is different. Terrible asset management.

 

[Dotter]

Yeah, there's really no defending the move. If I had to guess my take would be that Holland felt the goalie market was so soft he could risk exposing a goalie. However the obvious choice was Howard, no one is going to take that contract off your hands. This is Kenny turtling like he always does and wants to go with the "proven" veteran. In this case your proven veteran has won one playoff series in his career and the Wings were actually outscored in that series.

The fact he protected Howard shows he is fully committed to trying to get back into the playoffs next year. What a joke, I really do hope Mrazek gets claimed.

I'm failing to connect the dots in your post. It's sporadic. You're saying Mrazek was the better goalie, but since he kept Howard that means he's going all in for the playoffs? That contradicts itself.

And Wings need to get rid of a goalie. If Howard was the goalie nobody wanted, wouldn't the right choice to expose the goalie that had teh best chance at getting picked?

The choice was obvious. expose the goalie with the attitude that has the best chance of getting taken. Howard gets hurt, it helps the tank nation crowd (which I think you are part of).

I think Kenny won today and did the best to help the future. Unless you think Mrazek is the next Carry Price or Dom Hasek. Which I think he is not.

I hope Vagas take Mrazek and Helm. I think they more likely take Helm first.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Who are all these teams interested in trading for Mrazek before the expansion draft? Any teams looking for a #1 and willing to bet on one of the worst goalies of the 16-17 season to be it?

Any protection list submitted by Holland would have been heavily criticized. I still think we lose Sheahan and not Mrazek.

 

[RedWingzz]

Basically it comes down to "do you think Mrazek is a core piece".

If yes, be as pissed as you want about this
If no (which is the prevailing belief here), why worry about losing him? He won't be around when we are good anyway, right? If we have Jimmy and Coreau instead of Pete, we will finish worse.

If you're a proponent of the rebuild at all costs? This is a move that is good for you, not bad

Not if you believe that Mrazek was part of the rebuild. This is horrible asset management. Even if Holland doesn't think Mrazek will be around for the long run (which he obviously doesn't) you still protect him over Howard and then make a trade for him. Get something in return. Now he's gone for absolutely nothing.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Anyone saying that holland couldn't trade mrazek doesn't have common sense

Holland could have retained salary (it's a short contract and it's not that much if you retain) and asked for a 7th

Even if it's very low chance he hits his potential and someone asks. Hey do you want this free goalie? His potential is a top 5 goalie in the league. All I ask is for a 7th round pick

Hmmmmm nah we're good here. Is what you're gonna say?

 

[steafo]

I'm failing to connect the dots in your post. It's sporadic. You're saying Mrazek was the better goalie, but since he kept Howard that means he's going all in for the playoffs? That contradicts itself.

And Wings need to get rid of a goalie. If Howard was the goalie nobody wanted, wouldn't the right choice to expose the goalie that had teh best chance at getting picked?

The choice was obvious. expose the goalie with the attitude that has the best chance of getting taken. Howard gets hurt, it helps the tank nation crowd (which I think you are part of).

I think Kenny won today and did the best to help the future. Unless you think Mrazek is the next Carry Price or Dom Hasek. Which I think he is not.

I hope Vagas take Mrazek and Helm. I think they more likely take Helm first.

They only pick one player from each team.

 

[Classicnamesup]

I would criticize less if it didn't have abdelkader on it, one of the worst contracts in the league. Abysmal

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I have lost faith. If you were all looking for a moment it has arrived.

The more I think about it the angrier I get. What a disaster this is out of Holland.

Also I think the belief in Coreau around this organization is stupid. He is a NHL backup that is his ceiling in my opinion.

I do expect our shill beat writers to start the negative pr campaign against Mrazek any minute now to help protect some of the backlash against the organization.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Basically it comes down to "do you think Mrazek is a core piece".

If yes, be as pissed as you want about this
If no (which is the prevailing belief here), why worry about losing him? He won't be around when we are good anyway, right? If we have Jimmy and Coreau instead of Pete, we will finish worse.

If you're a proponent of the rebuild at all costs? This is a move that is good for you, not bad

I disagree. Mrazek doesn't have to be a core piece for protecting him to make sense. It's about hedging your bets.

Howard: 33 year old goalie who is injury prone and becomes a UFA in two seasons. He outplayed Mrazek last season when he was healthy

Mrazek: 25 years old. Only been in the running as a starter for 2 seasons. Has stretches of elite goaltending, followed by stretches of terrible goaltending. RFA in a year.

If you protect Mrazek there's the chance he gets it together and becomes your starting goaltender. If he doesn't, you're basically in the same position as you would be with Howard. Stretches of solid play followed by stretches of poor play, though in Howard's case it's injury.

I hope Holland has some master plan, but I just don't see what there is to gain by protecting Jimmy.

 

[steafo]

My only hope is that he's willing to throw a 3rd round pick at Vegas to take someone aside from Mrazek. Which still points to bad asset management since he could have protected Petr and left Howard exposed who wouldn't get selected. If they didn't think Petr was a goalie worth hanging onto they should have been shopping him this whole time. There are plenty of teams that could use some goalie help.

 

[Chris 84]

Any protection list submitted by Holland would have been heavily criticized. I still think we lose Sheahan and not Mrazek.

would it have been?

all the talk is about mrazek. sure, if he'd left AA exposed then it'd have been criticised, and a few people are grumbling about the likes of Dekeyser and Abdelkader not being exposed, but heavily criticised? nope.

 

[Boomhower]

How does that work? If they take Mrazek, MAF and Raanta, they would take an extra to trade later? I can't see putting one of them on waivers.

Vegas can take as many goalies as they want.
They can then talk to the other 29 teams during their 3 day selection window and auction off Mrazek (and other goalies) to see if it is worth even taking him.

The only team they can't trade him to... would be back to us for one year

on the bright side, it is nice to see AA protected instead of helm.

Yes I had my worries. Glad Athanasiou was protected over Helm.

Yeah, I've never been in the hard core tank group. However if Mrazek does get claimed - and you have no idea how badly I want him to get claimed - I'm fully down with burning it down the ground. Mrazek is the only guy who's career to date indicates he could be really good. You can't say that about Larkin, Mantha or DeKeyser. The rest of the roster is a text book definition of mediocrity.

You have Mrazek more valuable then Larkin or Mantha?

I mean I would have protected Mrazek over Howard too, but this is beyond out of touch and bordering on full blown tinfoil hat crazy my dude, sorry.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I would criticize less if it didn't have abdelkader on it, one of the worst contracts in the league. Abysmal

Abdelkader, Howard and DeKeyser all needed to be unprotected.

He just doesn't get it, talk to some people around the league, figure out the values and protect the guys that have some. We aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Don't keep guys you cannot move intentionally.

 

[steafo]

The Islanders just traded their 1st to keep Vegas from taking a forward...price is high I guess.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

I have lost faith. If you were all looking for a moment it has arrived.

The more I think about it the angrier I get. What a disaster this is out of Holland.

Also I think the belief in Coreau around this organization is stupid. He is a NHL backup that is his ceiling in my opinion.

I do expect our shill beat writers to start the negative pr campaign against Mrazek any minute now to help protect some of the backlash against the organization.

The best outcome is ouellet gets taken and that's a potential top 4 dman

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Fire Holland out of a cannon. His favoritism has gone too far.

 

[Ennui]

Can't wait to hear the limp d*** drivel from Holland in the future that "Hindsight is 20/20", or something to that effect, mealy mouthed excuses from a man who SHOULDN'T EVEN BE A GM AT THIS POINT. I'm not fond of having to ask, but what have you done for me lately, Kenny?!

 

[Sparty]

I expect that a deal has been made to keep Petr and spare Jimmy the embarrassment of being exposed. We're going to lose a pick here

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I expect that a deal has been made to keep Petr and spare Jimmy the embarrassment of being exposed. We're going to lose a pick here

If a GM is making deals and giving up draft picks to keep a player from being embarrassed, they should be fired immediately.

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

I would be angry if I was surprised. He's been among the worst GM's in the league for like five years. Nothing changes until he leaves.