Detroit's Goalie Situation
The Detroit Red Wings are certainly in an interesting situation with their team right now. Legendary defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom has retired along with net-presence Tomas Holmstrom. Detroit's other solid defenseman, Brad Stuart, was signed by the San Jose Sharks over the free agency period. Ken Holland lost (or gave up, we'll never know) the betting game on Ryan Suter, leaving the Wings with a huge gap by the blue line. He attempted to make up for that by signing Carlo Colaiacovo, but Carlo was hurt only a few games into the season. He is still on the IR.
All in all, this means that without a good defense, your goalie will have enormous pressure to keep your team in the game. And right now, Jimmy Howard is doing all he can to save the Wings from themselves. Starting in 13 out of the 15 games that Detroit has played, he has a .900 SV% and 2.97 GAA.
During free agency, Detroit also picked up a new backup goaltender to fill in for (injured at the time) Joey MacDonald. This goaltender is Jonas Gustavsson, otherwise known as "The Monster." The problem is that Gustavsson has only 19 minutes of playing time currently. He, like Colaiacovo and many other Wings, got injured early in the season.
So, Detroit needed a new backup. They called up Tom McCollum from the Grand Rapids Griffins. After a short period of time, they sent back McCollum. And brought up 21-year old Petr Mrazek from the same team. Mrazek had just recently got his first ever shutout with the Griffins (I happened to be at that game), and proved that he was, in fact, a good goalie.
Mrazek got his first NHL start against the St. Louis Blues on February 7th. That was also his first NHL win. After that, Mrazek stuck around with the team while Gustavsson slowly healed and began conditioning in Grand Rapids. On February 17th, Mrazek got a start against the Minnesota Wild. The Wings lost 3-2. Coincidentally, the very next day, Mrazek was sent back to the Griffins and Gustavsson was called up, apparently ready to play.
So right now the Red Wings have Howard as their starting goalie and Gustavsson as their backup.
Should Mrazek have that backup position?
Many say yes. I say no. As much as I personally love Mrazek, Gustavsson is a seasoned NHL goalie with experience on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mrazek has yet to truly experience the intensity that is the NHL.
Crazy prediction: Mrazek will be the Wings franchise goalie in less than 10 years.
