Though his past accomplishments must be noted, Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland’s recent moves have been hit-or-miss, and many fans have been vocal about perceived mistakes. Sunday’s reveal of all 30 teams’ available and protected players lists won’t do Holland many favors.
In one of the biggest surprises of today’s reveal, it became clear that the Red Wings decided that their one goalie to protect would be Jimmy Howard instead of Petr Mrazek.
The decision drew national criticism to go along with local/fan critiques, too.
Gotta protect the goalie who's eight years older and so expensive you couldn't trade him.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) June 18, 2017
Gotta. https://t.co/y9FttKN84Q
Note the two players’ ages and contract situations:
Howard: 33, $5.292 million through 2018-19
Mrazek: 25, $4 million through 2017-18
There are factors that could help explain the decision. Perhaps the Red Wings have a deal in place that might illuminate the choice. Maybe management simply believes that Mrazek wouldn’t return to the team after next season, anyway. Maybe Howard’s superior work over Mrazek in 2016-17 swayed management.
On face value, it’s one of the more puzzling decisions so far, even if the Golden Knights don’t scoop up Mrazek.
Exposed include Mrazek, Glendening, Helm, Sheahan, Ouellet.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) June 18, 2017
My guess is Vegas takes Sheahan. Maybe Ouellet. https://t.co/9p1GwoTJzR
Check out the Red Wings’ protected and available players below, noting that Dylan Larkin ranks among those who were exempt:
DETROIT RED WINGS
Available Louis-Marc Aubry (F) Mitch Callahan (F) Colin Campbell (F) Martin Frk (F) Luke Glendening (F) Darren Helm (F) Drew Miller (F) Tomas Nosek (F) Riley Sheahan (F) Ben Street (F) Eric Tangradi (F) Adam Almquist (D) Jonathan Ericsson (D) Niklas Kronwall (D) Brian Lashoff (D) Dylan McIlrath (D) Xavier Ouellet (D) Ryan Sproul (D) Jared Coreau (G) Petr Mrazek (G) Edward Pasquale (G) Jake Paterson (G)
Protected Justin Abdelkader (F) Andreas Athanasiou (F) Anthony Mantha (F) Frans Nielsen (F) Gustav Nyquist (F) Tomas Tatar (F) Henrik Zetterberg (F) Danny DeKeyser (D) Mike Green (D) Nick Jensen (D) Jimmy Howard (G)