Should the Detroit Red Wings re-sign Jimmy Howard?

With 16 games left in the 2018-2019 season for the Detroit Red Wings, there are some decisions that need to be made before training camp begins in September.

Luke Witkowski, Thomas Vanek, Niklas Kronwall, and Jimmy Howard are all current Detroit Red Wings that are set to become Unrestricted Free Agents. Most fans would probably agree that it would be surprising to see Vanek come back next year for a team that is looking to become younger and give chances to those on the brink of making the opening night roster.

It would also seem unlikely that Witkowski will be re-signed unless they would like to keep his gritty, in-your-face style of play around for certain nights.

In an article written by Ansar Khan of mlive.com Holland talks about Kronwall’s future;

"“I think he has another season in him if he wants to have another season in him. As I’ve dealt with older players through the years, a lot about it is about the fire they’ve got. Is he going to work all summer in the gym? He’s got to work twice as hard to maintain. Obviously, Father Time is banging away, so I’ll talk to him at the end of the year and see what he’s thinking.”"

Jimmy Howard is probably the biggest question mark for the Wings general manager Ken Holland. Do the Red Wings want to let him test free agency? Do they want to bring him back and, if so, what would it take to bring him back (term/price)?

Howard has posted a 2.95 GAA (35th in the NHL) and .909 SV % (29th in the NHL) in 45 games this season. He isn’t putting up a career year by any means, but he has played an enormous role in keeping the Detroit Red Wings competitive this season. Johnathan Bernier has posted 3.39 GAA and .896 SV% appearing in 29 games. Bernier hasn’t played well enough to push Howard for that #1 goalie spot like the Red Wings envisioned when they signed him this past summer to a 3-year deal.

Looking into the pipeline:

Harri Sateri has appeared in 31 games this season with the Grand Rapids Griffins posting a 2.85 GAA and .900 SV%. Sateri has been the one called up recently due to Howard’s recent illness but has not appeared in an NHL game since the 2017-2018 with the Florida Panthers.

Patrik Rybar has appeared in 27 games, posting a 2.35 GAA and .915 SV% and has yet to play in an NHL game. Both are set to become UFA’s this summer, and at least one of the two will be resigned. Neither look ready to make the jump the NHL next year.

Filip Larsson who was picked in the 6th round (#167 Overall) in 2016 is in his freshman year at the University of Denver. Larsson has been playing well since returning from his lower body injury that was suffered back in September. He has a 2.30 GAA and .919 SV% in 15 games this year.  He and sophomore goaltender Devin Cooley have been splitting time since his return.

Keith Petruzzelli who was picked in the 3rd round (#88 Overall) in 2017 is in his sophomore year at Quinnipiac University. Petruzzelli has a 2.42 GAA, and .904 SV% in 14 games played this year. He has been the backup to the Junior Andrew Shortridge all season. Both are still at least 2-5 years from competing for an NHL job.

Unrestricted Free Agents:

Looking ahead to this summer the UFA notables consist of Sergei Bobrovsky (CBJ), Semyon Varlamov (COL), Mike Smith (CGY), Cam Talbot (PHI), Cam Ward (CHI), and Brian Elliott (PHI). The Detroit Red Wings wouldn’t want to fork out the type of money and term that Bobrovsky is looking for and the others have put up similar numbers as Howard on better teams.

Holland plans to sit down with Howard’s agent over the course of the next couple of weeks. I think it would best for the organization if they can work out a short-term (2-3 year) somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-4.5 million per year.

A deal like this would buy time for both Larsson and Petruzzelli to develop further and hopefully shed light on the goaltending situation of the future. The ball is in your court Ken Holland, get something done.