OT-Wings re-sign Howard
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=420920
Howard has signed a new deal to stay in Detroit. The details were not released but speculation/past rumors are 6 year 31.8 or 5.3 a year.
I think it is a great signing as Howard has put up an impressive 0.920 save percentage and posts a 17-12-6 record this season. Howard has been strong behind a pretty weak and inexperienced Wings defense this season.
Respectfully disagree. It's so easy to say we could have signed him for less money but is taking that risk really worth it? Who is out there as good or better that we could replace him with? Did you see McCollum play at all for the Wings? I wouldn't be banking on anything I've seen from him thus far. Mrazek definitely could be the guy down the road but you cannot bank on that either. 2 decent outings in the NHL for Mrazek doesn't mean you give up on Howard. Ericsson and Quincey each make around 3.5M per year. Howard at 5.3M per year is a steal compared to those 2 contracts.
McCollum is a complete bust
I thought the contract was pretty ideal, 5 mil for a goalie of Howard's caliber is well worth it.
Mrazek is 21 years old. This extension will allow him to develop at the pace they want, while having a proven goalie in the NHL to keep them competitive
but today they confirmed it and the contract was signed.
My guess is he'll continue to be a steady goaltender. The real mistake was keeping Franzen instead of Hossa. The Elephant in the room is Pav. Should he decide to go home to Russia we are probably in full-scale rebuild mode.
I read something, i think TSN, saying that Pav's agent was talking to Holland this past week, so at least they are talking. Also that Pav won't play for another NHL team, which i think we all assumed but it at least provided a quote in regards to it.
I mean who could have predicted Franzen would get lazy and disinterested? You had two players who were around the same age and one had far less NHL miles on him who just had a monster post-season and a breakout regular season. At the time keeping Franzen didn't seem like such a bad idea. And really, despite looking slow and lazy on the ice, in full seasons he's only been about 5 or 6 goals off his career high of 34 the past 2 full NHL seasons.
Keeping Franzen also seemed like a terrible idea at the time, for me. Hossa was (and is) a world class player, and scored 40 goals the year the Wings had him. Johan Franzen has done that exactly zero times in his career. Similar body types, but one player has the best snap shot in hockey, while one is among the most underachieving players in the league.
Holland, Nill, and Wings management have obviously done incredible things over the years, especially with scouting, but I am still bitter about this one.
While Hossa clearly had world-class skill, he had just pulled a disappearing act during two straight Stanley Cup Finals, while Franzen was dominating in the playoffs.
Hossa had a long track record of excellence matched up against a couple good playoffs from Franzen. Basing the decision on a such a small sample of games when it was clear from both regular season production and the naked eye that Hossa was the better player was dumb.
6 years, no. The money makes sense, he's getting paid like he's the 8th best goalie in hockey which he might be but this is another handcuffer.
Sounds great and all but that's not typically how it works. Doesn't really show the loyalty to a player when you keep wanting to sign him to 2 and 3 year deals. If that's all we wanted to sign him to again he likely leaves town and who could blame him? I don't know that much more can really be asked of Howard. In the past he's played well but lacked that one or two big time saves per game. This season he is clearly making those and stealing games because of it. The Wings tried to give away Sunday's game vs Nashville with short-handed breakaways and penalty shots. Jimmy has now faced 13(!) penalty shots in his career (possibly 14 including playoffs) which is kind of an absurd number. He pitched the shutout Sunday vs Nashville and we are lucky to have him.
6 years isn't that long of a contract these days, especially for a franchise goalie. Besides, Howard is only 29, he will likely start to fall out of his prime right when his contract ends.
But I'm a goalie and a Blackhawks fan. As little as I've watched of the Wings, Howard seems like he's the best thing the Wings have going for them. I wouldn't be put off by the 6 years, goalies tend (no pun intended... dammit) to get better with age, as the game is so mentally focused. Look at Belfour, Roy, Brodeur, and Hasek for examples.
With recent Stanley Cup teams, the trend in the NHL is to build from the D/Goalie out. LA won it last year thanks to Quick. When my Hawks won it it was because they had 4 top-2 defensemen (and lots of depth up front). In years 4-5-6 this deal won't be as high a percentage of the Wings' cap (assuming the NHL gets out of its own way, makes money, and the cap goes up) and Howard should be a good goalie for the life of the deal.
Goalie here as well (but not the Hawks, we are coming for you 1st round!).
Anyway, I heard long ago that a goalie peaks around age 35. I'm certainly hoping so for the sake of my beer league career's trajectory!
Bring it.
Happy Gordie Howe Day
/flamebaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit
/all in good fun. I respect the hell out of the Wings. Gold standard in hockey in the last 25 years.
So you are a tender in Chi, do you play at all? I was in the "Chicago Outdoor Hockey League" this past winter. It was a blast, though the weather was not the most cooperative.
And the Wings have definitely gotten the memo to build from the D out. They have a lot of strong defensive prospects. Sproul was the highest scoring defenseman in the CHL this year, Nick Jensen won WCHA Dman of the year. Both guys are BIG, too... Not to mention Oullet, Backman, and Almquist...
Not that the wings are rebuilding but.... losing Lidstrom really hurt the blueline. Having Howard in 2-4 years when all those guys are ready to contribute as top-4 guys will be huge.
It just finally happend this year, but I truly believe in Jimmy. Go Wings Go!
i don't get too wrapped up in the hysteria over contracts like this becoming albatrosses; hell, Luongo, with one of the worst contracts in the game could have easily been traded by now if Gillis's demands weren't sky-high (he reportedly started negotiations with FLA at Huberdeau)
Howard is boss. I love to watch him play.
But the price is right. If the Wings make it into the playoffs this year, it will be because of Howard
Currently Howard has a better save % this season than Marc-Andre Fleury, Pekka Rinne, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Miller, Carey Price, Cam Ward, Jonathan Quick, and Mike Smith. His GAA is also better than all those players minus Fleury who is in the spot above him. If he is "adequate" I hate to hear what you think of all of those goalies.
April 16th, 2013 at 10:24 PM ^