“He was incredible. The Czech number one for the World Cup receives a standing ovation, she received a grade like Bedard

Officially, the national team is waiting, unofficially, it is expected that two of the three goalkeeper positions at the World Cup in May will be occupied by Petr Mrázek and Lukáš Dostál, who did not advance to the playoffs in the NHL.

The 32-year-old Mrázek fared a little better, having experienced a spectacular resurrection.

Two years ago, due to health problems, he burned out in Toronto, and after being traded to Chicago, he started the season with an 89.4 save percentage. He was expected to leave the club after the current season. On the basis that management will not extend his contract.

But he surprised. In 56 games, he stopped 90.8 percent of the pucks and became the number one. His younger partner Arvid Söderblom looked on in the role of apprentice with an 88 percent success rate.

Already at the end of January, Mrázek extended his contract by two years. He will make an average of $4.25 million per year, the most in his career.

“He was incredible, in short, our most useful player,” Chicago superstar Connor Bedard, one of Canada’s faces for the upcoming championship, praised the experienced Czech. “When he’s in form, it’s very difficult to score against him. Even though we have him.

The online newspaper The Athletic also called Mrázek “probably the most valuable player of the Blackhawks”, which gave him the highest grade A for the past regular season. As one of only four Chicago hockey players. Of course, Bedard was not missing among them with a record of 22+39 from 68 starts.

“However bad the season was (The Blackhawks finished next to last in the league ahead of San Jose – editor’s note), it could have been much worse without Mrázek. He gave the team a chance to win in most matches,” added the paper.

It can even be said that from an individual point of view, Mrázek equaled the 2015/16 season of his life, when in 54 games for Detroit he shone with a 92.1 save percentage.

This time he caught two more games. He did stop fewer pucks, 90.8 percent, but let’s remember that the average success rate has already dropped this year https://twitter.com/AdjustedHockey/status/1781694857846665704.

In Mrázek’s career year for Detroit, it was 91.5. (Read more about why goalkeepers are doing worse and worse here.)

As for the Czechs, only David Rittich (92.1) had a higher success rate than Mrázek this season, but he caught only 24 times. Dostál also finished above 90 percent (90.2). Others – Karel Vejmelka (89.7), Jiří Patera (89.3), Vítek Vaněček (89) and Dan Vladař (88.2) – remained well below the league average.

It is also noteworthy that Mrázek was the busiest Czech goalkeeper in the NHL over the last decade. He caught the most since Ondřej Pavelec, who ten years ago thanks to Winnipeg’s trust, caught 57 times.

Now the resurrected Czech Republic can use the game practice at the home world championship. Thanks to the new contract, nothing prevents him from starting.

“I’m really, really excited. If I didn’t have a contract, I probably wouldn’t go. That’s how it is with the Czechs. Insurance is expensive. We all know that. So the contract is a big plus, I have a chance to go,” he said some time ago.