Oh man, for a minute here, I thought I’d have to chastise Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman for doing next to nothing at the trade deadline for the second year running. But that wasn’t the case, as the Wings indeed became buyers when they acquired Petr Mrazek and Craig Smith in exchange for Joe Veleno.
This is a trade I can get behind to a degree, and although it lacks the ‘blockbuster label,’ it was a solid move that is a win for at least one franchise. For the Blackhawks, this means getting younger in the net with Spencer Knight and the resurgent Arvid Soderblom. Plus, they got a young, hard-hitting glue player. And for the Wings, it means adding another dose of much-needed veterans.
If there’s something I encourage here, it’s to look beyond Petr Mrazek’s numbers as they were going to be miserable. He currently has a 3.46 GAA and an 0.890 save percentage. But what else would you expect from the former No. 1 goaltender in the Windy City?
That was a horrible Blackhawks team Mrazek had to be the last resort for, and when he’s called upon during the waning days of the 2024-25 season in Hockeytown, expect better performances. The journeyman goaltender provides much-needed depth, as the Wings netminders have struggled with injuries this season.
Craig Smith may be a much-needed addition to the Red Wings locker room
Craig Smith is another one whose statistics you can look beyond, but I like the mentality here. There’s hardly anything flashy about a single stat in Smith’s game, but the longtime winger has a history playing for some championship-caliber organizations.
He’s never lifted the Stanley Cup, but Smith was part of that 2016-17 Nashville Predators team, the 2022-23 Boston Bruins for 42 games, and the 2023-24 Dallas Stars. For a team like the Red Wings that has been on a skid lately, adding another veteran presence to the locker room and one with ample playoff experience, 83 postseason games to be exact, was much-needed.
Yeah, there were players like Patrick Kane, Cam Talbot, and Vladimir Tarasenko, but the Wings needed more, so Steve Yzerman went out and got not one but two veterans with playoff experience. That’s why I can’t not like this trade, even if it’s for a pair of low-key players that only cost them Joe Veleno.
Now the buck stops with Steve Yzerman if the Red Wings whiff
This isn’t to say there aren’t limitations on this trade; there obviously are. Petr Mrazek is insurance for the more-than-capable duo of Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon. Yeah, you’ll see him make some appearances down the stretch, but that’s about all the organization will get from Mrazek, barring injury.
Craig Smith also isn’t the type of player who will win anyone championships, even if he can put together some quality, high-energy minutes on the fourth line. Still, he lacks Joe Veleno’s physical presence, even if he’s way more reliable as a points producer, with 16 points and nine goals so far.
The burning question following the deadline is: Did Steve Yzerman do enough to catapult the Red Wings with Mrazek and Smith? I’m not going to get so bold and claim that he improved anything on the ice, even if he added a pair of veteran voices.
The latter is a definite and much-needed prerequisite for a playoff run, but if the on-ice product doesn’t improve, I won’t blame this fanbase for pointing fingers at its general manager and asking why he didn’t do more.