The Detroit Red Wings announced that they’ve traded forward Joe Veleno to the Chicago Blackhawks for netminder Petr Mrázek and forward Craig Smith.
Thanks to his performance this season, Veleno became an interesting trade candidate from the Red Wings’ perspective. The former 30th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft recently achieved back-to-back 20-point campaigns in Detroit in a bottom-six role but hasn’t performed up to that standard this season. Veleno has registered five goals and 10 points for the Red Wings in 56 games, averaging 11:57 of ice time per game.
The native of Montreal, Quebec, hasn’t translated well to Todd McLellan’s system. In 26 games under the new head coach, Veleno has underperformed, scoring only one goal and accumulating four points, with a disappointing shooting percentage of 4.3%. Even as his physicality has increased in the last several years, Veleno hasn’t added much value in a bottom-six role for Detroit.
Still, he’ll have plenty of runway to produce with Chicago. He’s signed to a reasonable $2.275MM salary through next season and could make for a decent change-of-scenery candidate with the Blackhawks. As a natural center, Veleno allows Chicago to move Lukas Reichel or Nick Foligno to the wing in the team’s bottom six.
Veleno’s inclusion in the deal is the only non-puzzling portion for the Red Wings. Mrázek is signed to a relatively expensive $4.25MM contract through next season and becomes the third NHL-caliber goalie on Detroit’s roster. Additionally, since July 1st last summer, Mrázek has become the fourth goalie brought in by general manager Steve Yzerman in the past eight months.
Although the Red Wings’ tandem of Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon have disappointed recently, Mrázek won’t be much of an improvement should he maintain his production from the Blackhawks. Without factoring in his W/L record, Mrázek has a .890 SV% and 3.46 GAA in 33 starts this year with a 93rd-ranked goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck.
Meanwhile, Smith probably wouldn’t have been on Detroit’s radar if rookie Carter Mazur wasn’t injured in last night’s contest. Mazur was expected to fill the void of Christian Fischer in the team’s bottom-six after they lost him on waivers to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The veteran winger has recorded nine goals and 16 points in 40 games for Chicago this season, losing a handful of games to a nagging back injury.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report on the deal.