On the Detroit Red Wings …
Craig Custance of The Athletic: A source is saying that multiple teams have talked to the Red Wings about goaltender Petr Mrazek. Teams aren’t lining up for him, but there is at least some interest.
One source from a team who had looked at Mrazek noted that he hasn’t played well in a year and a half and carries a $4 million cap hit. No team would qualify him at that number, so he’s basically a rental. Source added that Mrazek also doesn’t have the best reputation of being the best teammate.
Mrazek on trade rumors.
“It’s all media stuff. If something is going to happen, it’s going to happen. I can’t control it,” Mrazek said. “Just see what happens. Trade deadline, we have two or three months. It can happen. You never know.”
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Red Wings GM Ken Holland was on TSN 1050 and noted that their next 10 to 15 are critical and if things don’t go well for them, he’ll “be working the phones looking to the future.”
Holland said they would push to make the playoffs this year, but they could slowly look at turning over their roster if they fall out of the race.
“You’re not going to turn an entire roster over in 12-18 months, I think it’s impossible to do. The roster is going to be turned over over the course of three or four seasons.”
Bob McKenzie was on TSN 1050 radio and was talking about the Red Wings. McKenzie notes they are not in full sell mode just yet. They are not a terrible team, but they are not a good team either. At some point, they should be open for business.
“I don’t anticipate – it’s hard to know – we’ll get into the Henrik Zetterberg debate at some point, but with his contract and what have you and him being a seminal figure in Red Wing history, I don’t think that’s going to be something that necessarily happens.
“I don’t think he wants to wants to trade Anthony Mantha or Andreas Athanasiou because they’re young players and they’re good players, and they’re maybe not as good on some nights as you’d want them to be on a consistent basis, but they’re part of what they’re building there. No player is untouchable outside of Larkin, but you’d have to get an offer that would absolutely blow you away for those players, and I’m sure they’re worth more to Detroit than they are to anybody else.”
To move the contracts for Justin Abdelkader or Darren Helm, they might have to take back some salary.
Players like Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist could help teams. Both have term left on their contracts but are 40 to 50 point guys.
McKenzie was asked if Mike Green could be a fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“So I think he’d be an attractive guy to a lot of teams. I think he could be a useful player for the Leafs. That’s just my opinion. I have no idea, none, zero idea whether the Leafs would have any interest whatsoever in Mike Green. But he’s the type of defenseman I think that could help a lot of teams, including the Leafs.”