RSS
Home
Tonight is a big game for Wings, Howard
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Tonight is a big game for Jimmy Howard and the Red Wings. (AP/Photo)
The Detroit Red Wings are off to a slow start. That’s no secret. The beginning to the 2009-10 Red Wing campaign has been dissected by everyone. ESPN writer John Buccigross wrote a piece last week about how the Wings’ window has closed with this particular team and their premier players, mainly Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are already past their prime, even though Datsuk’s point total has risen each of the past three seasons and Zetterberg continues to put up better than a point-per-game for his career.
Am I mistaken or is this not the Red Wings who have gone to three straight Western Conference finals, two straight NHL finals and were one game away from hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup last season, which would have made it two championships in a row?
Obviously there were some major changes to the roster from the one that took the ice in Game 7 in June against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Wings have lost Marian Hossa (40 goals last year), Jiri Hudler (23 goals), Mikael Samulesson (19 goals) and Tomas Kopecky (6 goals) to free agency. Johan Franzen and his 34 goals from a year ago are out of the lineup for 4-6 months due to an ACL tear. That’s 122 goals from last season’s roster that is not on the ice any longer. General manager Ken Holland replaced that production with Jason Williams, Todd Bertuzzi and Patrick Eaves. Not exactly tic for tac.
Detroit is banking on productive seasons from Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader in their first full years in the NHL and improved numbers from Valtteri Filppula and Dan Cleary now that each should have more ice time and increased power play minutes.
But it goes deeper than that. Detroit posted 295 goals last season, 38 more than the President Trophy winning San Jose Sharks. There was no doubt that the Wings could outscore just about any team that took the ice with them last year. This season will not be like that. They will still score goals and should still have one of the leagues top power-play units, but the goal totals will certainly come down. The problem is the Wings did not improve on their biggest deficiency from a year ago, their goals against.
Detroit had one of the worst penalty killing units in the NHL last year and was middle of the pack in goals against average. Adding players like Bertuzzi and Williams will certainly help the power-play and goal scoring numbers, but neither player has ever been considered a defensive-minded skater and they rarely kill penalties. Eaves should help that aspect a little bit, but nobody in considering putting him up for the Selke. And the biggest question mark still lies between the pipes.
Chris Osgood is the number one guy, no question. But if not for his stellar play in the postseason many would not be so quick to hand him that role. He was terrible during the regular season a year ago and if not for the great play of backup Ty Conklin, it’s hard to imagine the Wings turning in as good of a season as they did.
Conklin is now gone playing for St. Louis and many are scratching their heads as to why. It’s no secret Conklin liked it here and wanted to resign, but with Jimmy Howard out of minor league options it was time for the Wings to give him his shot and see if all the work and tutoring the organization has invested since drafting him out of Maine was worth it.
So far I have to say no.
I am not a Jimmy Howard fan, let me make that clear. He is slow, has a weak five-hole and glove hand and looks shaky when challenging shooters. He lets in soft goals and often gives up goals at the wrong times. I know what you’re thinking, when is it the right time to give up goals? Obviously it’s never a good time to give up goals, but Howard finds the absolute worst times to. He will give up goals either after the Wings take a lead or tie a game, which can deflate a team dramatically.
There is no greater of a feeling than when a team scores a big goal to tie up a game or take a lead during a close, hard fought game. And there is no bigger let down than when your goaltender gives one up shortly thereafter relinquishing the lead or tie. Howard has never shown that he has what it takes to be a winning NHL goaltender, which is why he ran out of minor league options. The Wings left him down there as long as he possibly could stay because he never gave them a reason not to. He was rarely at the top of the AHL in goalie stats or wins, and anytime they called him for spot starts or to see what he had, he showed nothing that made the brain trust think he could handle a full season in the NHL.
He has a career 2-7 record, 2.84 GAA and a .903 save percentage. That’s 2-7 when he was starting in net for probably the best team in the NHL over the past few seasons. This season he is 1-2 with a 3.03 GAA and a .890 save percentage. Ugh!
At this point in his career Osgood cannot start more than 45-50 games during the season if he is to be fresh for the playoffs, so solid play from the backup is a must. Howard has been anything but solid so far in his short career.
He had one career victory prior to his relief appearance the other night in Vancouver when he came in for a less than stellar Osgood.
Osgood gave up two soft goals on four shots and looked like he simply wasn’t ready to play. It could have easily been another bad loss for a struggling team that is looking for anything to give them a spark and lead to a much needed winning streak. Howard came in and played by far his best game of his career, keeping the game close and giving his team a chance to come back and win the game.
He did just that as the Wings got their first road win of the season and were able to beat a good Canucks team 5-4. Datsyuk scored his first two goals of the season and the team was able to score big goals against goalie Roberto Luongo. I’m sure head coach Mike Babcock and the rest of the organization are hoping this will lead to good things and a winning streak that can get them back towards the top of the standings.
The victory put them at .500 with a 4-4-2 record. They now have 10 points in 10 games and sit fourth in the Central Division, five points behind the Chicago Blackhawks. More importantly it showed the organization and the team that Howard can be a good NHL goalie. He showed good movement going post to post and made big saves down the stretch with the game on the line. Even though nobody will admit it, I’m sure the confidence of the rest of the team is not as high when Howard is in net. If he can put together some good games and notch a few victories it will surely allow the rest of the guys to play looser in front of him and not feel as though they can’t take any chances that may lead to the puck in the back of their net.
The Wings play in Edmonton tonight and Howard will again be in goal. It would be a step in the wrong direction if he was to falter and the team was to lose another road game and fall below .500 again.
I can’t remember thinking the Wings needing a victory before Thanksgiving as much as I think they need this one in a long, long time. Holland always says don’t look at the standings or analyze your team too much before Thanksgiving. It’s usually around December when we know what kind of team we have and what spot most teams are going to be fighting for, but I believe after the great win the other night, and the need for Howard to prove he can play night in and night out in the NHL while giving his team a chance to win each and every time, every game right now is big.
Let’s hope he displays the skills everyone throughout the organization thinks he has, and in doing so leads the Wings to a victory, something he’s rarely done during his short time in the NHL.
For more info: For more info check out Detroit Red Wings Examiner Mike Mouat.
Related Articles:
Comments
.jpg)
