Maple Leafs need Petr Mrazek to be more than a backup to sustain their season

Toronto did not sign Petr Mrazek to a three-year, $3.8M deal for him to play backup netminder and in recent games, the Czech goalie has shown encouraging signs than he can play a pivotal support role to Jack Campbell in the second half of the Maple Leafs season.

Video Transcript

- So we found Petr Mrazek. You know, he finally got a game and he played and he won. And actually this is the first time Petr Mrazek played a game for the Leafs, one, and didn't finish with a save percentage below 900. Not a joke. Search it. But you know, I think the huge reaction, especially from the fans on Twitter, when it comes to Petr Mrazek's play really speaks to how badly we all wanted him to do well.

And when you think about it, we're actually going to need him a lot once the calendar turns to February because the schedule is insane. The Leafs are playing back-to-backs. They're playing you know three games in a single week. A lot of games that need to be made up for what was happening at the beginning of the season when games are being postponed and because the NHL is determined to finish the season on time, the Leafs actually aren't going to have too much of a break.

So maybe this is an opportunity repeated where Petr Mrazek can actually get a long stretch of game, not just the back-to-back. Maybe he can play two out of three. Maybe he plays three out of four. Especially when you see Jack Campbell doesn't necessarily look Jack Campbell-like. And again, that's not his fault. He hasn't been playing a lot and the team hasn't been as defensive in front of him. But this could be the opportunity for Petr Mrazek to really do what we signed him for. Three years and 3.8 million, we didn't just sign him up to be a backup.