The Canucks won’t have goaltender Marek Mazanec back for next season. The 27-year-old has signed a two-year contract with Mountfield HK, the Czech Extraliga team announced.
Vancouver acquired Mazanec in a midseason trade from the Rangers when their goaltending situation was in turmoil. Starter Jacob Markstrom was injured as was backup Thatcher Demko, former backup Anders Nilsson had recently been traded, and veteran Richard Bachman was also injured. As a result, Mazanec was immediately summoned to the big club upon being acquired and spent nearly two weeks with the team but didn’t see any game action.
He split the rest of 2018-19 between the AHL affiliates of the Rangers and Canucks, posting a 3.01 GAA with a .895 SV% over 30 appearances. He last saw time in the NHL back 2016-17 while he was still with Nashville, who drafted him in the sixth round back in 2012. He left the Preds following that season to sign in the KHL but left that team midseason to sign with New York.
As Mazanec was already slated to become an unrestricted free agent in July, Vancouver will not retain his NHL rights if he decides he wants to come back to North America once again in the future.