Detroit Red Wings: Potential Landing Spots for Jimmy Howard
The Calgary Flames are currently the top team in the Western Conference Pacific Division so they must be doing something right–right? They are a team with a lot of young talent, a benefit from high draft choices over the last few seasons, combined with a handful of critical impact veteran players.
The Flames have five– count them five players operating a nearly a point per game clip. That alone helps the overall record. Imagine if they had a “steady Eddie” type goaltender to go with all of that offensive production.
When you think of the “current” Calgary Flames, I assume you think of the man they call “Johnny hockey” Johnny Gaudreau, and Matthew Tkachuk (son of Keith), Sean Monahan and the newest member to the club Elias Lindholm, rightly so but a lot of people overlook the captain.
Mark Giordano is the captain of the Flames, and he is arguably off to the best start to any season of his career. He has achieved 24 points in his first 25 games of the season, also recording a plus 12 rating. The Toronto native is often overlooked, but the career-long Flame is on pace to eclipse his previous career high point total of 56 in 2015/16.
The big free agent forward James Neal has yet to make much of an impact on the offensive side of things only recording 5 points to this point. He is a valuable mentor and leader to these young impactful forwards. Neal is a guy that the Flames can afford to wait on, he is expected to get going, and once he does start to produce on a regular basis, it just betters the club that much more, perhaps creating some division separation.
SO, you are thinking why would the Flames be looking at Jimmy Howard while they have Mike Smith between the pipes? Well, Mike Smith has not been the same player this season as he once was.
Smith actually lost his starting job to David Rittich. Who? He has fared well for the Flames, but they should consider a more “stable” Jimmy Howard for the stretch run. Rittich has posted an impressive 2.21 GAA, and .924% Save percentage after his first 13 starts.
Mike Smith has not been impressive at all this season posting a 3.19 GAA, and .883% Save percentage in his 14 starts. Yikes! The current play of Rittich buys the Flames time to wait before rushing to make a move, but Ken Holland should entertain the thought of moving Howard while his value continues to be on the rise. Yet he is set to become a free agent so his 5.25 million cap hit becomes tradable but could be complicated.
Ken Holland has recently suggested he is willing to wait it out with Howard until someone phones with a first-round draft selection. The Flames according to CapFriendly.com currently sit with 1.36 million in free space, meaning the Detroit Red Wings would need to either retain salary for the rest of the season if they were able to get a first-rounder in return.
Maybe Mike Smith would waive his modified no-trade clause as he is expected to submit an eight-team list to the franchise in which he would accept a trade to upon request. I don’t think he would be willing to play for the Detroit Red Wings so bringing Smith into work with Bernier to finish the season along with a draft choice would not be a realistic option.
Anyhow the Flames are currently a Stanley Cup Contender with solid goaltending at the moment but could definitely use the insurance policy that Jimmy Howard would provide the franchise.
Another Detroit Red Wings goaltender headed to the St. Louis Blues? In recent memory the Blues benefitted from the services of former goaltenders Chris Osgood and Manny Legace, could we be adding Jimmy Howard to this list?
The St.Louis Blues are getting underwhelming nightly performances from Jake Allen. He’s lost four of his last five starts and has posted below average numbers all season long. The 28-year-old most recently lost to Howard and the Wings in Detroit Wednesday night, the final score was 3-2.
Allen has started 17 games for the music notes, recording a 6-7-3 record with a less appealing .894 save percentage and an ugly 3.32Gaa. The Blues expected to be a playoff team this season before the start of the year. They find themselves down in the bottom of the litter box buried with the LA. Kings tied for a league-worst 19 total points.
Jake Allen has three years remaining on his current deal with a cap hit locked in at 4.35 million per season. I am not sure if the Blues are willing to give up on Allen altogether as he’s shown flashes of brilliance in the past. He is only 28 with term, like we mentioned before but imagine if the Detroit Red Wings could swap picks and somehow acquire Allen in a Howard deal? It is far-fetched, and it is a move that would make little sense for the Blues to make, but it could be a deal that works with their current cap situation.
If the Blues came calling for Howie and decide to keep Jake, it would be to “right the ship” with the hopes of pushing Allen and possibly mentoring him for the remainder of the season with hopes to get things turned around as a group and make a playoff push down the stretch.
The Blues do not have a 2019 first round pick, so it becomes considerably challenging to fulfill the Holland asking price. As per Darren Dreger of the hockey writers, are the Blues willing to move a prospect?
“Now, to acquire Howard, it’s going to come at considerable cost. Is St. Louis willing to part with the assets? They don’t have a first round pick in the 2019 Draft. Are they willing to give up a prized prospect like [Jordan] Kyrou or [Robert] Thomas?”
If the Wings were to acquire Jake Allen, it would be a brilliant move for Ken Holland and the Detroit Red Wings. He may not be a star goaltender, but the Wings have no prospects set to anchor the team in the near future. Allen could split time with Jonathan Bernier while he tries to find his way on a rebuilding Detroit Red Wings team. His cap hit is a bit more than I would like, but the Wings will be able to afford him with a lot of money coming off of the cap at the conclusion of the season.
What about the Philadelphia Flyers? The Flyers have been a bit dysfunctional of late and finally, have decided to part ways with General Manager Ron Hextall. Hextall was reluctant to make a coaching change for the broad street bullies and paid the price himself.
The Flyers just haven’t gotten enough out of Brian Elliott. They have a 20-year-old phenom in Carter Hart in the minors, but he is just now adapting to that level of play and is not ready to contribute to the NHL club just yet. They have also just waived goaltender Calvin Pickard who was claimed by the Arizona Coyotes. The Flyers claimed Pickard earlier in the season from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jimmy Howard could buy Hart and the Flyers time.
As Ron Hextall headed to the unemployment line, Dave Hakstol isn’t far behind. Did Ron hire Dave just because his name was so similar to his? Probably not but I like to think that went into some of Ron’s consideration during the interviewing process.
Hakstol hasn’t been a disaster by any means in Hextall’s defense. Actually, the 50-year-old head coach has never finished with a below .500 record through his first full three seasons with the Flyers. They just seem to constantly disappoint fans with shaky goaltending and their up and down performances from the defense corps.
The Flyers are 10-12-2 this season which is dead last in the Metropolitan Division and are desperate to right the ship before the vessel sinks to the bottom of the ocean. It seems the Flyers are set to bring in Chuck Fletcher to be their new general manager.
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The first order of duty apparently is to acquire a center and goaltender. Are the Flyers willing to make another deal with the Detroit Red Wings with a goaltender being the centerpiece of a deal after Petr Mrazek didn’t work out for them last season? I mean Jimmy Howard isn’t precisely Petr Mrazek, he is much more established although he’s never been an “elite” netminder he’s been a lot more than just serviceable.
It may be a blessing in disguise that Hextall has been canned, a fresh face in the front office with a little pressure from the organization to make a deal should be a bit more willing to make a move with the Detroit Red Wings. Hextall could have still had that bad taste in his mouth from the deal he made last season.
I don’t imagine Howard as being someone Mrazek would be interested in seeing. It is a reunion Petr would like to avoid. It wouldn’t be a reunion, to be honest, it would be Howard taking Mrazek’s job. Petr would be the odd man out if the Canes’ had any interest in Jimmy Howard.
The Carolina Hurricanes should be interested in the services of Jimmy Howard with the recent roster move of placing Scott Darling on waivers. Darling was brought into Carolina to be “the man,” and he hasn’t panned out.
The Canes’ claimed Curtis McElhinney off of waivers early on in the season from the Toronto Maple Leafs. “Mac” is a veteran netminder who has been primarily a career back-up is trying to guide the Canes’ into a playoff unit.
The Hurricanes also signed Peter Mrazek to a one-year 1.5 million dollar deal this past summer to serve as a backup for Scott Darling. Mrazek hasn’t fared too well either but he is definitely a backup caliber NHL goaltender.
While playing for the Detroit Red Wings, especially during that 2014/15 playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning where he almost stole the thing in seven games, flashed spurts of brilliance at times. Through that stretch, he provided the Detroit Red Wings with a .925 Save percentage and a spectacular 2.11 Goals against average.
If everything would have panned out to the plan pf Ken Holland, Mrazek would have been the starter this season for the Detroit Red Wings or at least nearing a 50/50 split with Howard. That is how much potential the franchise thought Mrazek had. Remember Mrazek lobbying for a long-term deal and Holland reluctant to dish it out? I mean kudos to Kenny on that one because Pete doesn’t look to be an NHL starter.
The Canes’ are 12-9-3 (27 points) on the season, which is good for fourth in the Metropolitan Division. At this point they wished they had Jeff Skinner back from Buffalo as he is absolutely lighting the lamp, leaving a constant sunburn on the back of the neck of every opposing netminder he faces.
I can’t imagine where to Hurricanes could be with Skinner and a reliable goaltender. Curtis has played in 9 games and posted stellar numbers, but I can’t see that continuing as the season treks on. He as video game type numbers recording a .930% Save Percentage to go with a 2.12 GAA. Ironically he had similar statistics in 18 appearances last season for the Maple Leafs. I just don’t see those numbers holding up as the season grows old.
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Jimmy Howard could provide stability in goal for the potential surging Hurricanes. He and McElhinney could split time the rest of the way until either of them falters or if one separates from the other. The pair provides stability; there is that word again. If you are not lucky enough to have an elite goalie in today’s NHL, the next best thing is a player that shows up every night, and you know what you are going to get from him. A netminder that levels out the peaks and valleys are valuable assets to be in possession of.