Jimmy Howard

[Guest Lidstromboli]

HOWARD NEEDS MORE TOUGHNESS AND GRIT

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Waive him, send him down, trade him, whatever, just give it up. Everytime he makes a save, he can NEVER control the rebound. When the regular season starts, we'll be doomed. Heaven forbid OSgood gets hurt for the playoffs, and we have to rely on Howard as the starter? This guy just doesn't have it. No offense Jimmy, but it's over. Good lucj with whomever picks you up...

Agreed.

After 7 career regular season starts and nearly a whole 8 hours of gametime in his NHL career, he's been given more than his fair shot at playing in this league and completely worn out his welcome.

Sometimes Holland carries this loyalty thing way too far.

[FinWing 26]

HOWARD NEEDS MORE TOUGHNESS AND GRIT

Why not trade him and a 7th for Steve Mason?

[Doc Holiday 0]

I was hearing the same thing last year when Osgood was sucking.

Not saying Howard is going to go out and bring us to the finals again, but it's September for christ's sake.

[Rivalred 630]

I was hearing the same thing last year when Osgood was sucking.

Not saying Howard is going to go out and bring us to the finals again, but it's September for christ's sake.

What are you trying to get at?

[CenterIce 83]

I beg to differ. That's exactly what the whole preseason is about. Judging people.

Not bashing him yet, but he's on thin ice.

I didn't say anything about preseason. I said he has to get consistent action. Nine games over four years is no way to base a prospect.

[CenterIce 83]

Maybe Howard is why Cloutier got a camp invite. Let's give him a chance though.

Cloutier contacted the Wings. The Wings did not ask him to come in. Cloutier is just trying to get some exposure. The Wings didn't even gaurantee him a game. They want to look at their prospects first and fourmost.

[gcom007 1,465]

I'm absolutely not sold on Howard, but I'll give him a bit of the regular season before I go off the deep end in my personal opinion. He's got a lot to prove though. To be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if we had a different backup by seasons end.

[Snazzy 0]

Lol. @ this thread! @ fair weather ignorant Wings fan that have no sense of reality. Fu.k.in.g un.believ.able. Save oxygen and just pull the trigger! And thanks!

[Guest Lidstromboli]

TRAVIS MOEN SHOULD BE OUR BACKUP

[Shaman 713]

No one has yet adressed 2 things

1: Why the hell do I have to see adds on this site with Penguins Cup victory merchandise?

2: Howard's inconsistent play in the AHL. There is a real issue here with him not playing well at a lower level, atleast not well consistently. He really is a boom bust goalie in the AHL, whats changed since last season?

Edited September 20, 2009 by Shaman464

[Carman 387]

Lol. @ this thread! @ fair weather ignorant Wings fan that have no sense of reality. Fu.k.in.g un.believ.able. Save oxygen and just pull the trigger! And thanks!

Oh I know, how dare people have an opinion on a goalie who has been in the organization for 4 years. It shouldn't even be suggested that he won't improve his consistency and rebound control.

Sarcasm aside, goalies take a lot longer to develop, and it very well could happen that Howard can reach his potential consistently. He deserves a shot, that said I just have a gut feeling that he won't be here by the end of the season. I hope he can prove me wrong.

[XxGoWingsxX 0]

speaking of howard, what is the design painted on his goalie mask? is it like a stopwatch?

[b.shanafan14 733]

speaking of howard, what is the design painted on his goalie mask? is it like a stopwatch?

I believe they are supposed to be gauges, like speedometer on a car.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Best thing you can do is write a goalie off as soon as possible-- in the preseason if you can. For example, last year? Man we should've written Ozzy off in January and gone with Conks in the playoffs. That would've worked out amazingly.

Also, I heard that if a goalie can't win in his first 15 games he'll never be a star. I mean, hell, I can't think of one single goalie who didn't mature with time.

Are you sure you haven't been the GM for the Coyotes the last 10 years?

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Sarcasm aside, goalies take a lot longer to develop, and it very well could happen that Howard can reach his potential consistently. He deserves a shot, that said I just have a gut feeling that he won't be here by the end of the season. I hope he can prove me wrong.

A much more reasonable assessment.

[Guest Four]

I don't recall a whole lot of offensive support (A loss 1-0 to Dallas, 4-1 to Vancouver, 3-1 last night) And didn't he have a W on his record too?

That being said, his sv % is not impressive this preseason.

You do realize we had DOUBLE Buffalo's shots last night? We had enough offensive support to win last night with a tarp in net.

[Doc Holiday 0]

You do realize we had DOUBLE Buffalo's shots last night? We had enough offensive support to win last night with a tarp in net.

And we only scored one goal.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

You do realize we had DOUBLE Buffalo's shots last night? We had enough offensive support to win last night with a tarp in net.

Huh? Look, I'm not a huge Howard fan but that statement makes no sense. How does Howard control whether the offense scores on the 40 shots they took? Doesn't matter if the shots are 100-20, if your team only scores one goal on those 100 shots and your goalie lets in 2 on 20 the offense still didn't give him enough offensive support.

The only way we could've won last night without changing the Detroit offense was 1-0. Hardly a ton of options for Jimmy.

[Snazzy 0]

You do realize we had DOUBLE Buffalo's shots last night? We had enough offensive support to win last night with a tarp in net.

if....if....if......if....if.....if only some of those shots had actually mattered on the official scoreboard.

Offense was the reason we lost last night, not the goaltending. We lost a meaningless preseason game, guess this means we're not going to win the cup? /sarcasm

[Drake_Marcus 890]

if....if....if......if....if.....if only some of those shots had actually mattered on the official scoreboard.

Offense was the reason we lost last night, not the goaltending. We lost a meaningless preseason game

[gcom007 1,465]

I was hearing the same thing last year when Osgood was sucking.

Not saying Howard is going to go out and bring us to the finals again, but it's September for christ's sake.

I was one of the few last year who defended Osgood the whole way through. I don't go with hype. I go with what I see. I don't really see Howard taking off. He could. I'm not wholly close-minded about it because this is the first real shot he's getting. But from what I've seen, I'm not incredibly confident and I also know a bit more about him off the ice than most which doesn't give me a tremendous amount of confidence either. I don't really have anything against him, I just don't really have a lot of faith in him either. But again, we'll see.

[gcom007 1,465]

And we only scored one goal.

:thumbup:

[titanium2 867]

I'm not incredibly confident and I also know a bit more about him off the ice than most which doesn't give me a tremendous amount of confidence either.

Oooh. Gossip? I'm guessing his work ethic habits aren't very "Red Wing like"?

[Jedi 1,865]

I say give him a full season as backup, with some semi regular playing time. I haven't seen enough to say anything either way.

I will, however, agree that going into the postseason with only Ozzie and Howard is a bad idea. IIRC, a lot of the hockey pundits were speculating that we would pick up a more proven backup around the trade deadline (I think this was right around the time Kenny declared that Conklin wouldn't be re-signed, but I could be wrong on that). A move like that would make sense, as I don't think the Wings want to go into the playoffs with a rookie goalie as backup. Just makes you wonder who would be available, and what we would have to part with to pick up said more-reliable-backup.