Red Wings prospect Petr Mrazek has already led the Griffins to one Calder Cup championship. Will he do it again before graduating to the NHL full time next season?

Story and photo by Mark Newman

Petr Mrazek has that swagger. If he were a character out of folklore, he'd be slaying dragons, pulling swords out of stones and rescuing damsels in distress. He has the makings to become a hockey hero for the ages – and he knows it.

The young netminder has all the confidence in the world – and then some – and dreams of the day when he can be considered one of the best goaltenders in the game. And yet such flights of fancy do nothing but foil his focus.

Mrazek has yet to play a full season in the NHL, so nobody is proclaiming him the second coming of Dominik Hasek, his boyhood idol in the Czech Republic, whose unorthodox style allowed him to become a six-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL's top netminder and the only goaltender to win the Hart Trophy twice as the league's most valuable player.

Still, even at the tender age of 23, Mrazek has demonstrated the kind of talent that prompts grand predictions for his future. He is doggedly determined, unflappable and unflinching in his attitude while showing an uncanny ability to win hockey games at every level.

During 2012-13, his rookie year, Mrazek became the second goalie in history to win his NHL, AHL and ECHL debuts in the same season, eventually backstopping the Griffins to their first-ever Calder Cup when he played every minute of the team's storied postseason run.

He became the youngest goalie to start for the Red Wings since 20-year-old Chris Osgood in 1993-94. He was just the third goalie under the age of 21 to play for the Red Wings in the last 30 years and among the 10 youngest ever to dress for Detroit – only he and Bill Beveridge (1929) won their NHL debuts.

More significantly, he displayed the kind of confidence that is uncommon in rookie netminders. His patience and poise enabled the Griffins to remain resolutely self-assured, even when facing more-heralded opponents during the playoffs.

"Petr Mrazek is somebody who thrives on pressure," Griffins coach Jeff Blashill told the assembled media more than once during the team's successful Calder Cup campaign. "He loves pressure. That's probably his greatest attribute. He knows big moments."

Winning the Cup only added to the aura.

"I think it helped my career," Mrazek said. "The Red Wings organization might have looked at me differently after that. ‘Here's a kid who won a Cup – maybe he'll be an NHL goalie in a couple of years.’"

Mrazek split his second professional season between the Griffins and Red Wings, posting a 22-9-0-1 record in Grand Rapids while bookending his time in the NHL with shutouts in both his debut and final appearance with Detroit.

He showed flashes of brilliance throughout the 2013-14 season, registering a 10-game winning streak as a Griffin from Oct. 30 to Feb. 1, then starting another eight-game string of victories three weeks later. He opened the Western Conference Quarterfinals with a Griffins playoff-record 55-save performance to lift Grand Rapids to a 2-1 double overtime victory at Abbotsford.

Named to the AHL's Second All-Star Team, Mrazek ranked second among AHL goaltenders with a 2.10 goals-against average, while his .924 save percentage was third best during the 2013-14 regular season.

"I think I'm becoming a better player," said Mrazek, who feels he has changed "a lot" since the start of his pro career. "Every day I feel better and better on the ice."

Mrazek started uncharacteristically slow this season, dropping two of his first three decisions and finishing the month of October with a 3.80 goals-against average. However, he won his first two starts in November before the Red Wings recalled him to Detroit, where he spent the next three months.

He supplanted injury-prone Jonas Gustavsson on the Red Wings’ bench, eventually finding himself thrust into the No. 1 role after sixth-year starter Jimmy Howard went down with a slight tear of his groin in early January.

Rising to the challenge, Mrazek posted an 8-1-0 record with a 2.54 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in his first 10 starts during Howard's absence. Although he stumbled in his final start against Pittsburgh, Mrazek had already impressed the Detroit brass with his play.

"Mrazek just wins games," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "In the end, that's what matters – winning games."

His first start replacing Howard came on the same night that the Buffalo Sabres retired Hasek's number. It was especially fitting since Mrazek was matched against Michal Neuvirth, another member of the next wave of Czech goaltenders.

"Hasek and (Jaromir) Jagr were heroes for every kid who played hockey in our country," Mrazek said. "Dom was the inspiration for a generation of young goalies. His style was different, but it was his focus, his confidence and how he won games that I'll remember."

Mrazek called it "a special night," not only because he ended up with the game puck after stopping 25 shots to outduel Neuvirth for a 3-1 Red Wings victory, but also because he stepped onto the ice to shake Hasek's hand during the pregame ceremony.

"Babs said I should go and shake his hand. He thought it was a nice opportunity for me to say something," Mrazek recalled. "I thought it was a great idea. It was nice to meet the legend."

Mrazek would be the first to admit that he didn't play his best during his time as a stand-in for Howard. He allowed 13 goals during one three-game span in late January.

"You always feel that you could play better," he said. "But it was a great stretch for me. I think it helps me for next year. Detroit now knows I can be an NHL goaltender and be there with Howie.

His 13-5-1 record in the NHL this season might have been good enough to keep him in Detroit, but the Red Wings sent him back to Grand Rapids after Howard and Gustavsson returned to health, simply because they wanted him to keep playing.

"I had a great three months in the NHL," Mrazek said. "Of course, I had hoped it would be longer. I wanted to stay for the rest of the season, but that's how it is. It's just the business."

Back in Grand Rapids, Mrazek didn't miss a beat.

From the time of his reassignment to the Griffins on Feb. 17 until his recall to Detroit on March 9, Mrazek did not suffer a regulation loss, going 6-0-1 in the AHL with a 1.13 GAA, .927 save percentage and three shutouts.

Mrazek was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending March 1 after earning three consecutive road victories, including two shutouts.

"I just want to win games. It doesn't matter if it's here or in Detroit," Mrazek said, shortly before being recalled by the Red Wings on March 9 for the fourth time this season. "You want go home happy, feeling good about yourself."

Although he would like every game to be a shutout, he knows it's inevitable that he is going to allow goals. "A friend of mine said, 'If guys didn't make mistakes, there wouldn't be any goals.' If you let in a goal and you're still thinking about it, that's wrong.

"It doesn't matter if it's a nice goal or a bad goal, it's just a goal. You don't think about it, you just try to save the next one because it doesn't matter if the score is 5-4 or 6-5 if you win the game, that's what it's all about. The next week nobody will ask you how you played, they just want to know if you won the game. That's the one thing I care about."

Mrazek knows he still has much to learn. "It's all about practice," he said, noting that he listens to everybody from Babcock and Blashill to goaltending coaches Jim Bedard (Red Wings) and Jeff Salajko (Griffins) to Petr Bolek, his mentor in the Czech Republic.

He still talks frequently with Tom Dempsey, who was his goaltending coach in junior hockey with the Ottawa 67's. "I like to stay in touch with him because it's good to see what he thinks too," Mrazek said. "He's one of the reasons I came (to North America). He helped make me into the goalie I am."

So many different voices might disrupt the development of lesser talents, but Mrazek has learned to implicitly integrate all the instruction into his daily routine. "You listen and what you like, you put into practice," he said. I'm lucky to have had all the good coaches that I've had."

Mrazek feels he is still developing his personal style. One thing is for certain: he likes to play the puck. "It's nice to be able to help the defense," he said. "If I can pass the puck and help them move it up the ice faster, we'll spend less time in our 'D' zone, which means less chances."

He is also trying to stray less out of the crease. "I may not be as aggressive out of the net. I think I've settled down a little more," he said. "It's important that I've been able to find a position that allows me to be aggressive and still stay in the crease."

Whether he is in Grand Rapids or Detroit during the playoffs, Mrazek intends to do everything he can to give his teammates a chance to win.

"In the playoffs, you never know. It's a 50-50 chance," he said, noting that teams are usually evenly matched in both the NHL and AHL during the postseason. "Whoever plays harder and plays smarter will usually be the winner."

And if he gets the opportunity to be in net during either the Stanley Cup or Calder Cup playoffs, he plans on following the same formula for success. "If there's more pressure, I think I play better," he said. "I try to put pressure on myself to win every game."