Red Wings' Petr Mrazek: Contract talks persist
The Red Wings have filed for salary arbitration with Mrazek, a restricted free agent, Ansar Khan of MLive reports.
Analysis:
Mrazek received a qualifying offer from the Wings in late June, but evidently the negotiation process has drawn out longer than expected. The 24-year-old backstop made $737,500 last season and is said to be ready to claim the lion's share of the starts in 2016-17. Of course, Jimmy Howard is set to make $5.29 million next season and presumably would need to be moved in order for Detroit to stay under the salary cap. We'd be surprised if Mrazek, who went 27-16-6 with a 2.33 GAA and .921 save percentage last season, is still without a new contract by the time arbitration hearings begin July 20 (and last until August 4).