Flyers acquire Petr Mrazek to bolster injured goaltending corps

Forced to find goaltending help after two critical injuries, the Philadelphia Flyers acquired goalie Petr Mrazek from the Detroit Red Wings for two conditional draft picks.

The Flyers lost both of their goaltenders to injury in the past two weeks. Starter Brian Elliott could miss the next five weeks with an abdominal injury. Backup Michal Neuvirth, who had been 3-0-1 since replacing Elliott on Feb. 10, left the Flyers' game against the New York Rangers on Sunday with an injury, leaving rookie Alex Lyon to take over.

General manager Ron Hextall had been searching for the right option to stabilize the position, as the Flyers are third in the Metropolitan Division with a 30-19-10 record. Previously, it was reported that Hextall rejected an offer from the Red Wings that would have sent Mrazek to the Flyers for a third-round pick. But with both goalies injured, acquiring him now became a necessity.

The Flyers traded a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2018 NHL draft and a conditional third-round pick in 2019. The Red Wings are retaining half of Mrazek's $4 million salary; he's also a pending restricted free agent, and the Flyers can walk away rather than qualify him, so he could become an unrestricted free agent.

Mrazek, 26, is 8-7-2 with a 2.89 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage this season, but he has been heating up lately: 5-2-2 in his past 10 appearances with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage. Overall, Mrazek has an NHL record of 72-58-20 with a career goals-against average of 2.60 and .912 save percentage.