gcom007

Totally fair enough. I wasn't referring directly back to everything but was kinda replying generally to a sentiment that's been expressed by many and kinda latched on to your post. I see what you were saying more clearly and I apologize if I came off as an ass. I mean, we're all here talking about hockey and cheering for the Wings as far as I'm concerned, everything I say is should be taken as spirited but good-natured banter at worst.

So we’re going to get impatient with Mrazek who’s had higher NHL highs than Howard ever has had at a younger age than Howard was when Howard got his “last chance” and finally got his s*** together? Makes sense. I’m not saying Mrazek is the savior and he could disappear to Europe in no time, but he’s a better long term bet than Howard, and we’re not in a position to be gambling. If a brittle 33 year old Howard who’s consistently floundered in the playoffs (when healthy...) is our best shot, you’re in serious trouble. You bet on youth when you’re prospect-poor and you’ve got a goalie that’s shown extended glimpses of pure elite brilliance. It’s simple as that.

I’ll dig more into older Howard references, but here’s an early one that references his slow development and poor start with the organization. Again, not surprised at all how people have conveniently forgotten how all but written off Howard was when he initially joined the team. http://blog.mlive.com/regners-ravings/2010/04/post.html And to be clear, I’m not saying Howard is “the worst” and I’m not wildly enthused about either goalie really at this point given all that’s gone on. Mrazek has a lot of work to do to prove he can be a big game goalie consistently, though I do believe he has the potential to be great. But Howard has had a career based on wild ups and downs, and he kicked off his NHL career at an older age than Mrazek is now! All I’m saying is I think it’s well worth giving Mrazek a bit more benefit of the doubt. We’re not an organization rich in top-notch prospects, and while Mrazek’s fallen from grace, he’s still very young and with the right attitude and choices, he still has potential to turn things around.

Howard ran his mouth to the media too much and was negative plenty even just a couple seasons ago. He didn’t take well to Mrazek moving past him at all, even at 30+ years of age. And he hasn’t handled pressure and bad games well consistently either throughout his career. He took far longer to make it into the league because he was lazy and in poor condition in the minors; when he made the team, at an age that I believe is older than Mrazek even is now, it was because they were out of options to keep him in the minors and it was his last chance. This whole idea of Howard being a mature, mental-rock has only been born in the last year or so when people decided to get whiny about Mrazek.

Oh, it’s hardly upsetting. It’s the pure hilarity of it all at this point. Only this team is this silly at this point. We make less trades than any other team in the league by a large margin and these are the kind of moves we do.

For f***s sake...

He was garbage last season, as was the rest of the team. Howard was better, sure, no doubt. But again, future? Howard has little left. Mrazek may indeed end up a bust, but we've clearly seen he's capable of outstanding play. He's still young and he's been in a rough environment of transition, with a rookie coach and a garbage team in front of him. I'm not shocked he's struggled in that environment more than Howard. Howard is capable of being a great goalie too, but he's been inconsistent throughout his entire career, and he's on the tail end of it. Mrazek is still young. Neither is a great option right now, but we got one guy who's just getting started who could go either way and another who we know could be great today, garbage tomorrow, and injured the next week. You've got to bet on the younger goalie.

I don't think Mrazek will be taken, but I wouldn't be shocked if he was for numerous reasons already explained by others. Either way though, I think it's absolutely foolish to chance it; another moronic move from Holland.

Yeah, he’s only had sustained stretches where he was arguably one of the best goalies in the league and two overall solid playoff outings, one coming off a rough season when he was cold. I am not saying Mrazek is perfect, but I don’t see how anyone could reasonably argue that he doesn’t have more upside and value than Howard at this point. I’m not even saying Howard is terrible, but he’s certainly never been consistently great, he’s on the tail end of an average career and he’s making too much money. I don’t think either guy would necessarily be taken, but you’re playing with infinitely more fire leaving a guy like Mrazek hanging out for the taking. Between Howard and Mrazek, who has the better shot of being a long term solution in goal: the consistently injury-prone Howard who will be 34 this season or the guy who will be 25 who’s shown he’s got elite-level upside Andy potential? He very well may not get there and he could disappear, but given our lack of guys with elite-level potential, we simply are not in a position to be giving that kind of talent up for free. It’s absurd. This guy was in the Vezina conversation a couple years ago and hasn’t dropped off as much as some suggest and has had two respectable playoff outings for a young goalie now. He came off the bench and gave a very mediocre team a chance to win some games in the 2016 playoffs when Howard couldn’t deliver. And let’s be perfectly honest: if Howard was doing his job as well as he’s being paid to, Mrazek would still be in a position to simply be developing instead of being thrown into the fire as a young goalie on a lousy team. Mrazek wasn’t even supposed to be on this team so early, but our long-time “starter” hasn’t been able to hold onto the position for any period of time recently either. So yeah, let’s protect Howard. Brilliant.

Typical forum BS of focusing on one of the few bad stickhandling moments and holding it against him forever. Lots of great goalies have had horrible moments in huge games. Get over it. The big picture here is pretty damn simple: you have one goalie who has a long career ahead of him and a lot of upside and another who's never done much in his career winding down, and you protect the guy on the way out either way with the albatross contract??? Idiotic.

If Mrazek gets taken, Holland should be fired. He hasn't been even close to perfect, but he's one of the lone promising players with upside on this roster. We are not in a position to be taking chances on people with as much upside as Mrazek. He's one of a handful of guys on this roster capable of being elite at his best. You don't protect Mrazek over an old, injury prone, inconsistent Howard who's never won anything in a much longer career. Likelihood of either being taken or not, this is a joke.

Nashville fans are getting to Malkin... https://www.instagram.com/p/BU6DdE8BKCK/

We might've snuck in again, but it's a toss up. We wouldn't have gotten far if we had.

Can't say it enough, hated losing Eaves. Heart and soul player with skill. If not for the goofy injuries, I think heblikey would've developed more of a role here.

I never liked losing Eaves. He had bad luck here with injuries and we used him poorly.