Jimmy Howard watch thread

[Guest zackmorris]

I feel like Ken and Mickey read these forums because every time some consensus opinion on someone pops up here regardless of what the greater media has been saying, they seem to mention something along the same lines within a couple days of us.

We shouldn't flatter ourselves. Mick could school 999/1000 people here on anything hockey related, including the knowitalls who for some reason have opinions held in high regard around here.

[Gnredwing 10]

hey everyone this is Tomas Holmstrom, f*** everyone who said I suck and wasnt going to be good anymore, I lead the team in goals!!! Happy new year!

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Is it just me or does jimmy look like he's getting better by the game? It just seems that he is confident and just goes out there and plays his game and he looks a lot better than earlier on in the season. If you look at all the goalies who have started 20 or more games he is in the top 10 in just about every category i think. I am actually getting used to seeing him in goal now and am quite comfortable with him in net on a nightly basis. I actually think he has been a bright spot so far this year.

Keep it up jimmy!

This

[Echolalia 2,961]

Updated. Jimmy has the 7th best save percentage and 6th best GAA in the league right now. Not bad at all.

[Branton87 77]

And here I am a little disappointed. I honestly thought this was a group buy to purchase a "Jimmy Howard Wrist Watch."

http://instantrimshot.com/

[cjm502 165]

I wonder which poster is a Red Wings player.

You know there has got to be at least one. I wonder how many Wings/Wings Staff read all the garbage we argue about on here...

[Carman 387]

You know there has got to be at least one. I wonder how many Wings/Wings Staff read all the garbage we argue about on here...

I'm actually Todd Bertuzzi.

[Pucks 66]

I'm Osgood.

[Zetts 236]

You know there has got to be at least one. I wonder how many Wings/Wings Staff read all the garbage we argue about on here...

I now have this image of a poor, forlorn Jiri Hudler curled up in a corner crying his eyes out after some of the stuff said here.

In all seriousness I'm sure none of them have even heard of most fan forums. If, as a player, you start to get into this stuff, it can only pull you down, and I'm sure they know that.

Of course, particularly for some of the younger players, the temptation is there...

Edited January 5, 2010 by Zetts

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I'm actually Todd Bertuzzi.

I like to think he's a more agreeable guy.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I now have this image of a poor, forlorn Jiri Hudler curled up in a corner crying his eyes out after some of the stuff said here.

Poor Hudler... he'll only have his $5,000,000 (tax free) to keep him company. *sniff*

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

Poor Hudler... he'll only have his $5,000,000 (tax free) to keep him company. *sniff*

And a few prostitutes in tow.

[blankrap 9]

You need to start keeping track of which posters never post during a red wings game and that is your culprit! Wouldn't be surprised if one of them did stumble here every once in a while.

I personally think dats needs to start tweeting between shifts.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

And a few prostitutes in tow.

Hey. At that price they're called escorts.

[mmamolo 287]

To get this thread's focus back on Jimmy Howard...

Through 41 Red Wings games Howard's numbers are:

14 Wins, 8 Losses, 2 OTL

2.20 GAA

.923 Save %

1 SO

Also, through Howard's last 4 games:

Detroit 4 Phoenix 1 - Howard W, 35 Saves on 36 Shots

Detroit 4 Colorado 2 - Howard W, 20 Saves on 22 Shots

Columbus 1 Detroit 0 - Howard OTL, 39 Saves on 40 Shots

Detroit 2 Columbus 1 - Howard W, 28 Saves on 29 Shots

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

He seems to get better with every game. Love Babcock's confidence in him, and I say let him run with it until he falters. However, Osgood needs to get the occasional start to prepare for the postseason. Unless Howard plays absolute lights out for the rest of the season, there's no reason to believe that Osgood won't be the playoff goalie come springtime again.

[NGKEIB 32]

Would it be too optimistic to perhaps mention his name when discussing Calder candidates? Tavares leads the forwards, and Myers seems to be the top defence candidate, but in terms of goaltenders, Rask, Varlamov and Howard all seem to merit discussion.

[kook_10 1,705]

You know there has got to be at least one. I wonder how many Wings/Wings Staff read all the garbage we argue about on here...

I'm actually Marian Ilitch, and I must say have been quite impressed with you all. So much so, in fact, that Mike and I have been considering "poaching" one or more posters to come work for the organization. Do any of you nice young fellows have contact info for a Mr. Jake Ryan?

[Echolalia 2,961]

Would it be too optimistic to perhaps mention his name when discussing Calder candidates? Tavares leads the forwards, and Myers seems to be the top defence candidate, but in terms of goaltenders, Rask, Varlamov and Howard all seem to merit discussion.

Seems to be pretty tough competition this year. One thing Howard has on Rask and Varlamov is the fact that he's played about 10 more games than each of them. We'll see where they all are 41 games from now.

[mmamolo 287]

Seems to be pretty tough competition this year. One thing Howard has on Rask and Varlamov is the fact that he's played about 10 more games than each of them. We'll see where they all are 41 games from now.

It's true that Howard has played about 10 games more. Even with how impressed I have been by Howard I'd find it tough to say he's been better than Raask or Varlamov. Actually, it's kind of hard for me to say any one of the three have been completely better than the other two. Either way, with how good some of the other rookies have been in the league this season I doubt any of these three win the Calder. Hell, they may not even garner a nomination.

[redwingfan19 293]

He seems to get better with every game. Love Babcock's confidence in him, and I say let him run with it until he falters. However, Osgood needs to get the occasional start to prepare for the postseason. Unless Howard plays absolute lights out for the rest of the season, there's no reason to believe that Osgood won't be the playoff goalie come springtime again.

agreed, but I could see a scenario were osgood gets the hook and jimmy comes in and leads us to the promise land like with what happened with hasek

[mmamolo 287]

agreed, but I could see a scenario were osgood gets the hook and jimmy comes in and leads us to the promise land like with what happened with hasek

I think this is exactly right. If Howard continues his play throughout the remainder of the season Osgood will have him breathing down his neck in the playoffs. As good as Conklin was last year Howard has really inspired confidence in his play.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

agreed, but I could see a scenario were osgood gets the hook and jimmy comes in and leads us to the promise land like with what happened with hasek

Funny, they said this about Conklin last year.

[Dynheart 42]

Howie has been outstanding so far, but he still scares me. He's like the opposite of Ozzie. Ozzie is awesome positionally, has awesome rebound control, and if he let's up a bad rebound he usually makes the save...but he's got a bad five hole...and 95% of his shots are straight in to the net.

Howie on the other hand is quite the opposite. He's also very sound positionally but has awful rebound control, and after the initial shot, he's down and out 3 feet out of the paint. So it's like with Ozzie (mainly close shots) he gets sniped pretty often. most likely because he's such a tiny goaltender playing butterfly (he was better before he went butterfly IMO) and get's scored on the initial shot. Howie let's up insane rebounds (D has been awesome in front of him btw) and let's in goals that are from those rebounds.

I will say that one thing Howie does infact have of Ozzie is size and lateral movement (Ozzie rarely puts him self in a position to really need lateral movement, though...but Ozzies lateral movement is awful). Not so much as Howie is faster laterally, but because the guy can do the slipts better than Van-Dam, and at a drop of a hat.

All in all, Howie is the man. I believe Ozzie would be at this point too if he actually had more than 1 game inbetween 4-6 games to get some rythym...and have played that position for many years before I tore, you guessed it, ACL, rythym is probably one of the goaleis most important part of the game. If you don't use it, you lose it; and no, practice is not the same.

Lastly, as far as Howie goes...if Ozzie can teach him how to stay in position after an inital save, rebound control and most importantly the mental aspect of the game (which IMO Ozzie is the best goalie in the league when it comes to staying focused...hardly get's frustrated if at all), I believe Howie will be a top 5 goalie for years to come...my only concern is that the wings don't really include great goaltending in their system...if he's gets TOO good, we're looking at 4-5mil cap hit. Hmm...something to think about?

[Broken 16 381]

Funny, they said this about Conklin last year.

No comparison between the two. Aside from the fact that they are both NHL goalies.

Edited January 5, 2010 by Broken 16