Mrazek signs three-year contract with Maple Leafs

The 29-year-old goalie was an unrestricted free agent.

“I was really happy when [my agent] said that Toronto reached out about it,” Mrazek said. “You know the team they have and the history of Toronto is great so it was an easy choice. The team that they have is great starting with the general manager, the coaching staff. The team in front of the goal is powerful, a lot of skills and, you know, guys can score goals and win games.”

Mrazek was 6-2-3 with a 2.06 goals-against average, .923 save percentage and three shutouts for the Carolina Hurricanes last season, when injuries limited him to 12 games (all starts). He was 1-1 with a 3.90 GAA and .873 save percentage in two Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round (No. 141) of the 2010 NHL Draft, Mrazek is 128-96-31 with a 2.59 GAA, .911 save percentage and 24 shutouts in 275 games (250 starts) with the Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers and Red Wings. He is 12-15 with a 2.43 GAA, .911 save percentage and five shutouts in 29 playoff games (28 starts).

“We were fortunate going in that we already had [goalie] Jack Campbell who we feel very strongly about,” Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said. “We felt we needed to find a strong partner for him so we can have as good a tandem as possible and we felt we achieved that with Petr today. We really wanted someone with a long track record of being a very good goaltender in the League and from that point on it was trying to find the best value, which we feel we did with Petr.

“His track record of success, he’s been a very good tandem partner in Carolina for the last number of years. We like his competitiveness and everything behind the scenes, everything checks out as strong. When I spoke to him today he was very open about how he sees himself in that partnership with Jack, and it’s about supporting each other but pushing one another. We like Jack a lot so we wanted to find someone who could be a good partner and not be disruptive in that regard.”

Mrazek will replace Frederik Andersen, who played the past five seasons with the Maple Leafs but is an unrestricted free agent.

“I don’t know Jack personally, but I heard a lot of great things about him from my previous teammates,” Mrazek said. “I can’t wait to partner with him because the last three seasons in Carolina, I always had great guys with me and we always find a way how to push, how to be better, how to push us to get better. So I’m looking forward to work with him.”

The Maple Leafs also signed forward Michael Bunting to a two-year, $1.9 million contract ($950,000 AAV) and forward Kurtis Gabriel to a one-year, $750,000 contract.

Bunting, who was an unrestricted free agent, scored 13 points (10 goals, three assists) in 21 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season and 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in 16 games with Tucson of the American Hockey League.

Selected by Arizona in the fourth round (No. 117) of the 2014 NHL Draft, the 25-year-old has scored 14 points (11 goals, three assists) in 26 NHL games.

“The things we like about him are how hard he plays, how tenacious he plays in getting to the net front and his ability to score from the net front,” Dubas said. “He started to show that this year at the NHL level. We look at him as someone who is extremely hungry and we know the way he is going to play, leaving everything out on the ice.”

Gabriel scored three points (two goals, one assist) in 11 games with the San Jose Sharks last season. Selected by the Minnesota Wild in the third round (No. 81) of the 2013 NHL Draft, the 28-year-old has scored five points (two goals, three assists) in 49 regular-season games and no points in four playoff games.

“Kurtis last year came onto the scene and made a big impact in San Jose,” Dubas said. “I just like everything that Kurtis is about, frankly. We know what we are going to get from him in terms of his effort level, his passion and his work rate on the ice. Looking back a few summers, he skated at our practice facility every day and seeing the amount of work he puts into his game, his skating, trying to improve his skill set, he’s going to be a great fit for our program. He is going to make his presence known with who he is and how he goes about his business. We are excited to have him and think he will add a lot to our organization both on and off the ice.”