SIMMONS: bet on Mrazek not paying dividends for Maple Leafs

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The Maple Leafs are paying now, and could be paying later, for the stupid reach they made by signing Petr Mrazek for three years and $ 11.4 million in the offseason.

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Really, they should have known better. They should have done more homework with the doorman. They should have understood why Carolina didn’t want him back, which was for similar reasons that the Leafs got mad at Frederik Andersen.

Behind closed doors, Leafs management complained about Andersen’s health, his willingness to play and his inability to fight injuries, perceived or not.

That unreliability in management’s mind, not to mention the money involved, ended Andersen’s time in Toronto. The same unreliability ended Mrazek’s time with the hurricanes.

Mrazek is no different from many athletes today. He needs to be almost physically perfect in order to play. It is not delicate, but it is close to that. That was the book about him in Carolina. He is not a Grant Fuhr, who came in and out with his shoulder every day, knowing that he had to do it just so he could play the next day.

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Professional athletes are never soft. But today there is a wide range of players. Some will play injured. Others, foolishly, will play injured. Some will endure.

Throughout a long season, almost everyone is suffering in some way. It’s actually different for goalkeepers, who can’t lose anything with their fastballs, both in reality and in mind. A small movement, a half step slower and a save that would normally turn into a goal. The percentages are that tight.

And a goalkeeper has to feel and believe that he is ready, capable and healthy enough to play in order to be successful.

Mrazek broke his thumb last season while playing for the Hurricanes. The injury was thought to be a six-week circumstance, as other people in the hurricanes had suffered similar injuries before. Mrazek was out for 10 weeks instead of six.

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He’s started two games for the Leafs, finished one, got injured during or after both.

The injuries are legitimate. The strange aspect of his second outing is that it really seemed to come too early, which goes against Mrazek’s traditional thinking.

And now he’s out for the long haul with a groin injury, the scourge of the modern goalkeeper who falls to his knees too easily, and for how long no one really knows.

This is a major problem for general manager Kyle Dubas, whose prowess at landing goalkeepers over the years has been suspect. He traded in for Jack Campbell, which turned out wonderfully well, but beyond that, there are questions about Dubas’ thought process about goalkeepers.

He was convinced, after winning an AHL championship with the Marlies, that Garret Sparks was an NHL goalkeeper. It didn’t take long for that to come undone. But that misplaced faith in Sparks cost the Leafs Curtis McElhinney in waivers. McElhinney had come close to being brilliant the previous season with an 11-5-1 record along with excellent numerical stats.

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The failure of Sparks led to the first of several acquisitions by Michael Hutchinson. Hutchinson is like the ballplayer who can hit triple-A but just can’t deal with balls breaking in the big leagues when called up. He’s a great guy. He’s not a great goalkeeper or someone the Leafs should be comfortable with at their No. 3 position.

But the Leafs are so uncomfortable with the pick that they’re actually going to rotate minor league teammates Joseph Woll and Erik Kallgren into some kind of squad system for backup goalkeepers. This is not an ideal situation.

So they bet Mrazek would, or could, stay healthy and that didn’t last for a start. And they bet they could get away with Hutchinson and others like their No. 3 keeper and now they’re probably scouring the market and seeing if they can afford something, or someone, who might be available.

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Here’s the challenge in today’s salary cap world – it’s like trying to buy a home in Toronto. You have to find money that you don’t have to try and make it happen.

The Leafs are lucky with their schedule. They have 10 games left in November, only two of them at the end of consecutive nights, when the substitute goalkeeper would normally start. They have 13 games in December, with just two more sets in a row. They can give Campbell a break along the way and reduce his practice load.

Mrazek was not hired to be a backup goalkeeper and Jack Campbell was not scheduled to play 65 or more games. He’s never done anything like this in his wandering career and while many claim he won’t hold out, how do you know? He had never been a starting goalkeeper before. This is all new. Maybe I can hold out. However, that was not the intention.

This was established as a split circumstance between Campbell and Mrazek, a first match between equals of all kinds. Maybe it would finish 60-40, with the better of the two netminders playing 50 games, the other starting 32.

Mrazek likely won’t be back and ready to play until the new year. The Leafs have an injured NHL goalie and an NHL goalie.

That’s a healthy goalkeeper that matters. These days, you need three.

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