Detroit Red Wings: Film Session helps Jimmy Howard correct his game

Jimmy Howard has been flat out atrocious in his last three starts.  The veteran netminder thinks he’s figured out the problem, and the solution couldn’t come at a better time for the Detroit Red Wings.

Jimmy Howard has been pulled in each of his last three starts.  His only good appearance was when he took over for Jonathan Bernier against the Flyers after Bernier was crashed into and forced to sit out the remainder of the hockey game for precautionary reasons.  The Detroit Red Wings goaltender has struggled of late, and it’s overshadowing what has been a tremendous season.

You might question the term “tremendous” season.  How can Jimmy Howard have a tremendous season playing for the 3rd worst team in the league?  Well up until about two weeks ago he possessed the second best even strength save percentage at 0.933%.  Special teams play a role in games, and although for the first 6 weeks of the season the Detroit Red Wings had both a top 10 power-play and penalty kill, both units have plummeted since.

Now the power-play unit is ranked 25th, and the penalty kill ranks 27th league-wide.  The PK only operating at a 77.4% success rate doesn’t help goaltenders statistics.  The Wings also take the 10th most penalties in the NHL.  When you are a lousy team with a bad PK, taking that many penalties are indeed not a remedy for success.  Also allowing nearly 20 goals over the last three starts really skew the season stats.

In an article written by Dana Gauruder for the Detroit Free Press, Howard describes what he thinks the problem has been;

"“To be honest, going through the video, it’s just being off by a fraction,” he said before the Wings embarked on a two-game road trip beginning in Arizona on Saturday. “Not having the correct angle. When you don’t have that as a goalie, guys can put the puck in tight areas and that’s what’s happened.”“You think you’re in the right position but then when you look up at the screen or something like that, you can just tell (you’re not) by looking at it,” he said. “For me, it’s just being a fraction off.”"

Some fans feel Howard’s lousy play was calculated.  His lackluster play started about a week before the trade deadline.  The Detroit Red Wings were trying to find a market for Howard but was unable to find a team to bite.  Although the asking price earlier in the season was deemed to be a first round pick, that would be an extremely generous return for a 35-year-old goaltender who would likely be an insurance policy on a contending team.

I can’t help but wonder if the trade deadline and trade rumors bothered Howard.  It seems as the deadline neared the possibility of being dealt may have crept into his head and affected his play.

I may be naive, but I don’t think Howard or any player would mail it in on purpose so that they didn’t have to relocate.   Sure players take shifts “off” here and there, maybe in some cases nights off but these are professional athletes with reputations.  The whole team took Tuesday’s game off and paid the price at practice.  Jeff Blashill made them skate like a 14-year-old travel team after practice, and I hope they hated it.

Look for Jimmy Howard to rebound tonight in Arizona.  I will be interested to see if he was able to make the proper adjustments he noticed during his film session. Howard is 17-17-5 on the season with a 2.98 GAA/ 0.907 SV%.  Puck drop is set for 8 pm tonight.