— Last summer Petr Mrazek was the Red Wings’ starting goaltender and appeared capable of keeping that position into the next decade.
Today, Mrazek’s future with the Red Wings is very uncertain.
The Red Wings and the 29 other NHL teams released their protected lists on Sunday for the expansion draft and there was one minor surprise on Detroit’s.
The organization decided to protect goaltender Jimmy Howard rather than Mrazek.
Howard is eight years older (33-25), has two years left on his contract at $5.29 million per season (Mrazek has one year, at $4 million), and has been injury-prone.