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Picking up where he left off when healthy during the NHL regular season, Jimmy Howard is playing some spectacular goal for Team USA at the world championship.
Sunday, Howard turned in a 19-save performance for his third straight win as the United States defeated Slovakia 6-1 to clinch a berth in the quarterfinals. Howard owns a 3-1 record at the tourney, with one shutout, a 1.51 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage.
During the regular season, when able to play around a couple of serious injuries, Howard put up a .927 save percentage and 2.10 GAA for a Red Wings team that failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It’s a far cry from a year ago, when the Wings unsuccessfully sought to deal Howard to another team, certain that Petr Mrazek was their goalie of the future.
“Last year was kind of up in the air,” Howard said. “I didn’t know how everything was going to play out. I was so happy to be able to come back here for the last season at the Joe.
“I’m still thrilled to be part of this organization.”
Mrazek is coming off a disappointing season with the Wings. Too often, Mrazek didn’t just rhyme with erratic. He performed that way. Both his GAA (.304) and save percentage (.901) were far and away the worst of his NHL career.
He’s also playing at the worlds for the Czech Republic, and while Mrazek’s GAA is decent (2.28) his save percentage is an alarming .888.
It will be another summer of change for the NHL. The Las Vegas Golden Knights are entering the league as an expansion franchise and will get a player from every team. Could Howard be the Wing who is headed for Vegas, baby?
He just might be.
“I haven’t spoken to anybody about it,” Howard admitted of the NHL expansion draft. “It is a business. Whatever they decide, that’s what they decide.
“It’s pretty much out of your control.”
Howard has controlled what he can control, his performance between the pipes. And perhaps his continued solid play will give the Wings some food for thought as they determine which netminder to protect heading into the expansion draft.
“We’re going to have to wait and see,” Howard said. “I don’t know what they have planned. I haven’t heard anything.”
Logically, it still makes sense that the Wings will protect Mrazek. He’s 25, whereas Howard is 33 and has shown to be injury-prone in recent seasons.
Mrazek hasn’t done himself any favors within the organization, however. Last summer, with the Wings up against the salary cap, Mrazek forced the team’s hand in contract negotiations by filing for arbitration, even rubbing their noses in it by posting about it on social media, a post that he quickly deleted.
Mrazek’s work ethic has also been in question. While Howard attended an elite goalie camp in Wisconsin last summer to tweak and improve his game, when Mrazek lost his No. 1 job to Howard last season, he sometimes refused to fill the role of the back-up goalie and stay later on the ice to provide a netminder for players seeking extra work following practice. That didn’t make him any friends in the organization, either.
Regardless, the Wings’ hands are still tied. If they leave Mrazek unprotected, they risk losing him and with Jared Coreau proving to be not ready for prime time in a brief fling with the Wings last season, Detroit would be left without another proven NHL goalie to suit up behind the oft-injured Howard.
For his part, Howard seeks to stay away from analyzing what might be in his future.
“I haven’t thought about it, because you don’t want to stress yourself out,” Howard said.
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