This week's belated Red Wings Alumni Report features an extended look at Petr Mrazek's fit with Chicago, with notes on Dominik Kubalik, Tyler Bertuzzi, Jon Merrill, Alex Nedeljkovic and Calvin Pickard.

You were probably wondering why the second-ever edition of the Alumni Report didn’t hit the (virtual) newsstands last week. Alas, I was on a much-needed vacation. But today, we bring you a belated look at the happenings and whereabouts of some former Red Wings.

In this edition, I’d like to start by exploring what Petr Mrazek brings to Chicago’s goaltending room. The 32-year-old Czech goaltender has logged an up-and-down year for a team that has unsurprisingly struggled in front of him. However, Chicago believes in him enough to have signed him for a couple more seasons.

Thus far into the season, Mrazek is 13-23-4 across 42 starts, with a respectable .908 save percentage and 3.04 goals against average. None of those numbers are particularly impressive on their own — though I will say his underlying numbers are decent, including his .785 save percentage on high-danger unblocked shot attempts. But with Mrazek, elite goaltending isn’t the expectation while playing for a team that has holes all around him. Rather, Chicago just needs him to be serviceable.

For the vast majority of his career, Mrazek has been a reliable netminder in that way. While he hasn’t been a consistent game-breaker or gotten any Vezina nods, he has often played to a level that gives his team a chance to win. He did so in his four seasons where he was the starter or tandem starter in Detroit, and he also did so last Sunday against his former Red Wings in a 3-2 overtime loss, giving Chicago a fighting chance to beat the playoff-likely Red Wings though succumbing to Patrick Kane’s heroics in the end. Mrazek’s style to this point is not making saves that make announcers shriek and opponents shake their sullen heads. Instead, he’s often making the stops that an NHL goaltender should make nine times out of 10.

That may not seem very special for a goaltender — really, that’s kind of the bare minimum — but consistency is valuable in professional sports. Other teams can pay a lot of money for hot-and-cold goaltenders whose inconsistencies lead to booms or busts for their team. Look no further than Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh or even Sergei Bobrovsky at times in Florida.

That’s why Chicago had no problem inking Mrazek to a midseason $4.25 million extension for the next two seasons. There are a lot of teams — even playoff hopefuls — who could use a reliable starting goaltender right now. Because of this, Mrazek is a valuable asset. He might help Chicago reach toward the playoff conversation if their rookies somehow go ham, but he could also be a valuable deadline piece for a team down the line, especially when teams are paying more for the two-year rental variety.

And, of course, in a game that comes down to dollar signs, Mrazek can also provide a little bit of cap cushion for Chicago, too. There will be a day when Frank Nazar III and Oliver Moore join the team on ELCs, along with Kevin Korchinski and Connor Bedard who are already there. That’s a lot of cheap production from a cap perspective, which means that Chicago needs to find a way to reach the cap floor. One way to do that is to house other teams’ bad contracts for draft picks, but another way is to freely spend on a player they think can be impactful. That’s not to suggest Mrazek’s $4.25 million is a handout — those don’t exist in the NHL. However, Chicago didn’t have to nitpick the decimal points for a player who makes sense at this stage in their rebuild.

Mrazek might not be a game-breaker, but Chicago doesn’t need him to be.

Dominik Kubalik

This season hasn’t been a stroll for the Ottawa Senators, including former Detroit winger Dominik Kubalik. Sent to Canada’s capital in the package for Alex DeBrincat, Kubalik has notched a career-low year in scoring with 13 points in 55 games. Such play has complicated his value at this trade deadline, even though it seems like the pending UFA is expected to be traded at some point. With about four days left before the deadline, time is running out for the Sens to make a deal.

Tyler Bertuzzi

After a 19-game goalless streak, Tyler Bertuzzi finally broke his streak with a goal against Anaheim a couple weeks ago. Since then, he’s been on a bit of a tear. From that game onward, he has six goals in eight games, including a hat trick that paced a 4-3 win over Colorado. Such goal scoring is an added boost for a Maple Leafs team trying to lock up third in the Atlantic Division with Detroit nipping at its heels.

Jon Merrill

Jon Merrill isn’t a scorer, but he notched a nice goal against St. Louis on Saturday. As the Blues attempted to clear the zone, Merrill found the puck at the point and fired a quick shot through traffic that wound up in the net. His three goals in 45 games is the highest goal-scoring rate of his career, though there’s a lot of games left to play.

Alex Nedeljkovic and Calvin Pickard

Two former Red Wings went head-to-head Sunday night as Pittsburgh’s Alex Nedeljkovic faced Edmonton’s Calvin Pickard. The Oilers shelled the Penguins, 6-1, with 37 shots on goal. Pickard had a much lighter night in net, but he stopped 22 of 23 shots.

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