Carolina Hurricanes: Can Petr Mrazek Repeat Last Season’s Success?

Petr Mrazek had a highly successful bounceback. Can he do it again in 2019-20?

The 2018-19 regular season saw the Czech-born netminder return to form with the Carolina Hurricanes. The question currently on everybody’s mind is, can he do it again? As we saw in my last article, Petr was quite the up-and-coming goaltender going into the National Hockey League. Drafted 141st overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, he had a stellar rise through the minors, culminating in a starting role for the Winged Wheel in the 15-16 season.

It was also his career-best. His slipping performance in the following two seasons saw him traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, and not extended a qualifying offer when his contract ended in July 2018. With the Carolina Hurricanes in the 18-19 season, he recorded 23 wins with four shutouts. He followed on with a stellar performance in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Petr’s Strengths

Petr’s ability to track the puck is one of his greatest strengths in the pipes. We’ve seen him time and again make incredibly acrobatic and timely saves. From being able to stop multiple high-threat rebounds, to stellar, well-timed poke checks. His uncanny ability to read plays is another sustain in my book. Time and again he’s been able to shut down attempts from unusual angles. Many of these strengths are apparent in this NHL.com Top 10 Saves video.

His enthusiasm is also quite infectious, something that a winning goaltender shouldn’t be without.

Petr’s Flaws

What can be described as Petr’s most significant weakness on the ice is his temper. The more frustrated that he gets, the more mistakes he’ll make. From his infamous outburst in 2018 after being pulled mid-game by the Flyers coaching staff, to losing his focus, or just tripping a player as they pass the net. These are things that Petr, who’s highly emotive, needs to reign in.

Another real shortcoming that’s readily identified is his short stature. At 6’1″ (185cm), he’s one of the shorter goaltenders in the league. It is, however, something that Petr can offset by play style and smart positioning.

Keys to repeating the success

For Petr Mrazek to continue to provide quality goaltending for the Hurricanes, he has to level himself out. As emotive of a player as he is, he can’t let the soft goals get to him. There isn’t a single goaltender in the NHL that hasn’t let a soft goal get by. His time with the Wolf, Curtis McElhinney, seems to have helped him to find a way to overcome his frustrations.

A cornerstone of his ability to repeating his past successes will be to employ the wisdom that McElhinney imparted. Additionally, he needs to play goal to goal. He can’t let what happened on the last goal negatively impact his play the next time the puck crosses into Carolina’s defensive zone. Mrazek also needs to let the enforcers handle missed penalties, rather than drawing one himself to avenge a teammate.

The other significant factor he’ll have to work on is his consistency. Some nights he’s incredibly good at the hard shots but gives up a softie. Other times he’ll give up the hard shots but stops all the muffins. It isn’t always easy, especially for a smaller goaltender, but these are things that can be refined in practices. I think that he’ll find more consistency under the tutelage of the Hurricanes’ new goaltending coach, Jason Muzzatti.

Will Mrazek have another successful season?

Despite what critics of Mrazek have to say, I do believe that he will dazzle his way into another outstanding season, and hopefully postseason. I don’t necessarily think it’ll be a career-best season, but I think we’ll see a quality start percentage at or exceeding 55% from him. Not to mention plenty of outstanding, memorable saves and stunts by him.

And finally, do you, our beloved readers of Cardiac Cane, believe that Petr Mrazek is capable of repeating last season’s success? Let us know in the comments, or on social media!