A busy offseason continued for the Carolina Hurricanes with the opening of the NHL’s free agent signing period Sunday. The Canes saw Cam Ward, the franchise’s leader in just about every goalie category, depart for the Chicago Blackhawks after 13 seasons in Carolina. Replacing him is Czech goalie Petr Mrazek.
The Canes gave Mrazek a one-year, “prove it” deal for $1.5 million. Mrazek split last season between the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers. He had a rough year, putting up a combined .900 save percentage and 3.06 goals-against average in 39 appearances, and has not had a save percentage higher than .902 or goals-against average lower than 3.03 in the last three seasons.
Mrazek is talented, and at 26 years of age, has plenty of bounce-back potential. The Canes will hope, playing behind a strong group of young defensemen, that he can approach the form he displayed in 2015-16, when he had a career season with a 27-16-6 record, .921 save percentage and 2.33 goals-against average. The team will look for Mrazek and Scott Darling, who had a less-than-desirable first season as a Hurricane last year, can push each other to provide better goaltending.
While the Canes did not make another move Sunday, that doesn’t mean they’re done for the summer. Trade rumors continue to swirl around defenseman Justin Faulk and Jeff Skinner, and there are still some solid free agents left on the market.
General manager Don Waddell addressed goaltending, free agency, trade talks and more in a news conference at PNC Arena Sunday. Here are some of the highlights.
On the Mrazek signing: “Obviously we knew that we were going to be in the goaltending market and this process started probably two months ago when we looked at everybody that was going to be available in the free agent market. The free agent market was what it was. There was nobody that had been a starter in the league except for Petr.”
“At 26 years of age we felt like there was still upside. And the other thing that was very appealing when I talked to Petr on the phone, when we did the interview with him, he said, ‘I want to go someplace on a one-year deal and prove that I’m the guy to be the number-one guy.’”
On the change from Ward to Mrazek: “Nothing against Cam Ward. Cam Wards’ been a great player for this franchise. But we felt at 26 there’s still upside in front of [Mrazek]. We knew where Cam was in his career and we’re going to wish him the best of luck, but the age was a big factor for us. He’s still a young player. He’s still got a lot to prove, and he’s determined to prove it.”
On the team taking shape: “You look around, teams adding these players right now. First of all, July 1 to me is always the most dangerous day in hockey because some of the contracts that get signed for term and so forth. We’re a team, if you look at any other team around the league and then say ‘Ok, we’re going to add two players in [Martin] Necas and Andrei [Svechnikov] to our roster,’ there’s no other team that’s adding two young players like that, that caliber at the same time.”
“And then obviously we made the big trade last week. We see how many trades are being made these days; it’s hard to make trades. We’ve really felt that we addressed a couple situations. One, getting [Dougie] Hamilton on the point, and [Micheal] Ferland, we’ve been talking about getting a big power forward for years. So to be able to land that through a trade, that was the way we were looking to upgrade our team.”
On Skinner trade talks: “I’ve said all along, Jeff’s an important part of this organization; he’s played a role. He’s an asset for us. Whether that asset comes back and plays next year or that asset moves on, I’ve been saying for the last four or five weeks since we’ve talked about it; we’re not just giving Jeff Skinner away. He’s a good person, he’s a good guy. He can score goals.
“I think after you get through today, there will be some more talks about it. A lot of teams the last week have been focused on free agency. Things potentially could heat up in the next short period of time.”
On anticipating more changes: “Not right now. I think if you look at every position, on defense we still have to sign [Trevor] van Riemsdyk. We’ve got six NHL pretty good defense here. Our top four is really good and our third pairing is, I think, going to be good. Up front, counting the three guys I mentioned and [Jordan Martinook] early on, we’ve added four new pieces to our top 12. We’ve also got a plethora of young players in Charlotte that at least deserve some opportunity. There might a few spots for those guys to compete for.”
“We look at every place we are right now, we feel like we’re in pretty good shape. That doesn’t mean we stop working. Don’t stop talking to people. We can make our hockey club better. It doesn’t have to happen on July 1; it can happen on August 1. We’ll keep talking and see how things go.”
On possibly rebalancing the defense: “We’ve met with a lot this week with the coaches, with Steve Smith and [head coach Rod Brind’Amour]. Everyone feels very comfortable if we stay with the six we have right now that they can move Pesce to the left side. And Slavin and Hamilton might be a pretty good pair, with Pesce and Faulk. If we make no changes, I think everybody can get very comfortable with the six guys we have.”
