11:34 a.m.: Chicago has made the extension official, confirming the two-year length and $4.25MM AAV.
8:31 a.m.: The Blackhawks are signing starting goalie Petr Mrázek to a two-year extension, The Athletic’s Scott Powers confirmed Wednesday. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report the news and added the deal is expected to come in just north of $8MM ($4MM AAV). The final contract will come in with an $8.5MM total value and $4.25MM AAV, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.
Mrázek, 31, is enjoying his best season in quite some time. He first joined the Blackhawks in a 2022 draft-day deal with the Maple Leafs. Toronto moved down 13 picks from the late first to the early second round to shed Mrázek’s three-year, $11.4MM ($3.8MM AAV) contract after his first season with the Maple Leafs was hampered by injuries and poor play.
At the time, it was rightfully viewed as a cap-dump move. He made only 20 appearances (18 starts) with Toronto in 2021-22, posting a subpar .888 SV% and -9.6 goals saved above average after a three-year run of decent play with the Hurricanes. Mrázek had shown the ability to be an inconsistent but high-ceiling starter earlier in his career with the Red Wings, though, and if he could remain healthy, he had the potential to return to form.
Last season’s initial showing in Chicago was a marginal improvement but still disappointing. No one expected Mrázek to save a team with Max Domi as their leading point-getter, but his .894 SV% and -6.3 goals saved above expected (MoneyPuck) were still lower than a league-average goalie would have posted in his situation. That’s improved starkly this season, though, as his SV% has jumped to .907, and he’s saving more goals than average for the first time since his injury-shortened 2020-21 campaign, his final season with Carolina. His 3.7 goals saved above expected in 32 games doesn’t put him in the Vezina Trophy conversation, but it is an impressive turnaround for a veteran goalie on a bottom-five defensive team.
The biggest difference is health. Mrázek hasn’t sustained an injury in nearly 10 months. His last absence lasted for nine days due to undisclosed reasons shortly after last season’s trade deadline. That’s the longest he’s gone without once since returning from a concussion in March 2020 and then sustaining a hand injury in late Jan. 2021, which limited him to 12 appearances that year.
For most other teams, questions would abound regarding the merits of giving Mrázek a multi-year deal. His laundry list of injury concerns is nothing to scoff at, and he hasn’t put up back-to-back seasons of above-average play since his first two full seasons in the league with Detroit in the mid-2010s.
However, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson’s team-building goal over the next couple of seasons is team-building around star rookie Connor Bedard, not signing value contracts for success. Despite Bedard’s strong early showings, Chicago is still a few seasons away from exiting their rebuild. The team believes it important to have a veteran core around Bedard and its other prospects to help insulate them and prevent them from burning out too soon, hence a pair of similar extensions for forwards Jason Dickinson and Nick Foligno that also came in well above market value.
In the unlikely event that Mrázek reproduces these solid numbers in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 campaigns, this is a decent bit of business for Davidson to shore up his crease while under-25 names like Drew Commesso, Adam Gajan, Arvid Söderblom, and Jaxson Stauber continue to develop. The Blackhawks aren’t in a position where they’ll need to offload Mrázek’s deal to create additional cap space if it doesn’t work out, either, and his deal is set to expire along with Dickinson’s and Foligno’s in 2026. That’s when Bedard will be due for a massive extension after his entry-level contract.
After extending Mrázek, the Blackhawks’ projected cap hit for next season is just north of $48.25MM, per CapFriendly. They still need to allocate over $16MM in cap hits to next season’s roster to be compliant with the 2024-25 Lower Limit, which is expected to rise to $64.7MM from this season’s $61.7MM.
The deal also takes Mrázek off the market ahead of this season’s trade deadline, where he likely could have garnered significant interest with salary retention on Chicago’s end from contending teams looking for a quality backup. It also takes some free agency work off Davidson’s plate, who presumably won’t pursue a netminder on the UFA market for the second straight season.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Chicago’s love affair with overpaying marginal veteran talent continues. Although I guess when you’re waiting for the kids to mature & have buckets of cap space then it’s not the end of the world.
That’s exactly the plan. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Mrazek, Foglino, and Dickinson’s deals are all two years and expire when Bedard is eligible for extension. These are bridge deals rewarding players for their hard work on a bad team but clears the deck when he needs to be paid. They can then figure out how much it will take to lock in Bedard and build out from there.
Unprecedented in pro sports. I get the situation but it doesn’t feel right. I wonder what other owners think about it.
I would think owners would have more of a problem with Arizona taking on basically every player who’s career is over but doesn’t want to retire to forfeit their salary to put them on IR to hit the cap floor in recent years. At least the Hawks are paying guys who are playing in the league and contributing to the teams success. You can argue outside of Bedard that Mrazek, Dickinson, and Foglino have been their best players so rewarding them with extensions is a good thing.
I get why people look at it and don’t like it, but I also understand that going into FA and overspending to sign players is not something that usually bodes well for the team in the long term. Why clog up your cap space overpaying for guys who don’t exactly fit their timeline of trying to compete when you know you have young players you will need to sign extensions in short order too. They already have Seth Jones making 9.5M the next 5 years after this one. I would rather not overpay for talent now and lose young talent later.
Point the Blackhawks at every MLB fan that whines about how baseball should implement a salary floor –
Money Tree Davidson, GM Chicago Blackhawks.
Have they maxed out the bad contracts they are allowed to take?
Doesn’t seem like they have the draft capital they should have at this point.
They have…
2024 – two 1sts, three 2nds, and two 3rds
2025 – two 1sts, two 2nds, and a 3rd
2026 – a 1st, three 2nds, and a 3rd
Plus picks in the later rounds during these years as well. So they are pretty well stocked on draft picks with an already pretty well stocked system. Only so many AHL roster spots. At some point you need NHL talent on your roster. Mrazek, Foglino, and Dickinson are guys who aren’t likely going to be here for the long term but can be bridge players to help hold down the fort while the rookies break into the league. Also, helps to hit the cap floor until they need to pay Bedard and others.
I’m not a big Mrazek fan and was honestly hoping they would shop him this deadline with many teams starved for goaltending (hope for an overpay), but I understand wanting to have a steady pro presence in net for the time being. Soderblom hasn’t stepped up like they hoped. This deal gives him as well as Commesso, Stauber, Basse (if he signs but unlikely), and Gajan time to step up and take the reigns as the starter.
Still a ways to go with 46M committed to 10 players and 10 RFA’s. 2 retentions available.
SaveTheEmbers_33, I agree with you. Not a huge Mrazek fan, but they need someone solid in net the next two years. These other commenters need to remember that the Hawks defense currently consists of Manny, Moe, and Jack. All things considered, Mrazek has been solid.
Great move! Two years is perfect!
I’m starting to sense that 2 years is a theme here. I might be dead by then, But I’m sure it will be fine.
Yeah, thinking about long terms is not something one does as they get of certain ages.. Good for the team, but not great for some fans. Still at least we also saw 3 Championships in 5 years.
And if his previous record is going to hold-………. Cue the injury!
Cap Floor Circumvention at its finest
Not sure why everyone is hating on him. He has been really good this year. He earned every bit of the money. Colorado, New Jersey and others would be winning a lot more games if he was starting for them. Great deal in my opinion.
They wouldn’t pay him half that salary
$4 MM is in fact light for a #1 goalie who’s been playing well. And if it goes sour, it’s only a two year deal. Go ask Geoff Molson, Vincent Viola or Seattle Hockey Partners how much they love continuing to foot the bill for overpriced, under- or non-producing goalies. Heck, ask Scott Malkin how thrilled he is to STILL be paying a buyout, and will be for five more seasons, to a goalie who last was a starter on Long Island SIXTEEN SEASONS ago.
No Stanley Cup contender is going to pay that guy $4mill for 2 seasons. Not going to happen.
That doesn’t matter. He is getting the money for being their number 1 goalie while being under 35 (31 currently) and putting up better than league average goaltending. I guess you are right, other teams would have to pay more for that production. Some teams are paying more for far less at the moment.
No, no one will. Why, there isn’t any wannabe Cup contender who’s been paying a guy $10 million a year for the last five years for slightly better than league average goaltending, and LA didn’t really drop $5mm a year for Cal Petersen to sit and rot in the minors, and Anaheim isn’t really paying Gibson $6.4mm to play like crap for the last five years and likely the next three, and Toronto didn’t really trade for Matt Murray’s very suspect $6.25, and I could keep this up for the next half hour. Sheesh.
$4 MM isn’t even the median salary for a starter. 28 goalies are making that much or more, and about a third of them are either in the minors, on LTIR or out of hockey. In a league where the Jake F-n Allens are being touted as hot trade prospects in the media, Mrazek looks as solid as any.
I’m guessing Davidson gauged Mrazek’s trade market already and wasn’t getting a whole lot of interest so he figured he’d gamble on him being able to stay healthy for a couple of years so Commesso and Gajan aren’t rushed. Soderblom looks to be a non factor IMO.
Your right because he’s had multiple chances of carrying a contender and hasn’t fit the bill. So they’d rather over pay him and meet the cap floor doing it.