One of the (many) things that submarined Detroit’s season last year was Petr Mrazek’s mysterious loss of form. As Editor Custance discussed, his exposure in the expansion draft over the summer suggests that the Red Wings don’t exactly have a lot of faith that it was a one-year thing. One source outside Detroit intimated to Custance that Mrazek didn’t want to work hard. A goalie coach described him as a tremendously skilled guy who makes simple saves look hard because he ends up in bad places.



One of the hopeful signs in Mrazek’s season from my perspective is that he has a pretty long track record at being good at stopping the puck. I am largely a believer in the Goalies Don’t Improve™ school of thought, which holds that guys who can play are able to do it pretty quickly and put up track records showing it. Mrazek did that. He was a league average starting goalie in the American League at 20, put up a better save percentage the next...