As he was recuperating from season-ending hip surgery, former Detroit Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek admitted to thinking dark thoughts.
Might this also be career-ending, he wondered.
“I was already thinking if it wouldn’t be better to quit,” the 34-year-old Mrazek told Czech website iSport. “This is impossible!”
With time to recuperate and rehab, Mrazek is of a different mind today, on the eve of NHL training camps. Without a contract, the veteran netminder is hoping to land a spot to play at least one more season in the show.
Sometimes, when you hit bottom, all you can think about is getting back to the top. And physically, Mrazek certainly bottomed out last season with the Anaheim Ducks.
“I’ve had groin problems since November, just like before,” Mrazek said. “It’s been an endless saga. It’s been driving me crazy.
“I’ve done everything I can, but it’s always coming back. It’s never been like I’ve pulled my groin completely. But it seemed like it was pulled, so I had to miss a week or two. And it kept pulling. It was enough to pull it. I didn’t even have to have surgery… It was really driving me crazy.”
No matter how much he rested, stretched, rehabbed, there never seemed to be a path back to health.
“Inside, I had a feeling that it was something more serious,” Mrazek said. “It was racing through my head. Because I started having problems in everyday life when I went for a walk. My left leg was constantly hurting. it felt like it was twenty kilos heavier.
“I returned to the ice at the beginning of January, but I immediately started feeling it again.”
Doctors took a deeper look. They discovered the groin issues were only a symptom. The problem was stemming from Mrazek’s hip.
Surgery was performed.
“They took a piece out of it,” Mrazek said of his hip.
Red Wings Gave Mrazek His NHL Start
Refueled and full of optimism, Mrazek looks only ahead to finding himself another NHL opportunity. With 438 NHL games on his resume, he’s third all-time among Czech-born goalies. Mrazek trails another former Detroit goalie, two-time Stanley Cup champion Dominik Hasek, and Tomas Vokoun.
However, if Mrazek is to get back to the NHL, he won’t emulate Hasek, Jim Rutherford, and Terry Sawchuk, all of whom served three tours as Red Wings goalies. Detroit is loaded with young goalie prospects.
There was a time when Mrazek was one of them.
Selected 141st overall by Detroit in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Mrazek made his NHL bow with the Red Wings during the 2012-13 season. He remained with the club until the 2017-18 season.
On April 17, 2016, Mrazek posted a 16-save shutout in a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of Detroit’s first-round playoff series. He remains the most recent Red Wings goalie to post a playoff win.
He came back to the Red Wings in a 2025 deadline deal with Chicago. That summer, the Wings moved Mrazek to the Anaheim Ducks as part of the package that landed goalie John Gibson.
Gibson will be back in Detroit this season. Mrazek is just hoping to be back somewhere in the NHL.
“Fully recovered,” Mrazek posted on his Instagram account. “Thankful for the amazing people who helped me get here.
“Excited for the years ahead.”
