Jimmy Howard Appreciation Thread

[MulesWillFly93 199]

Howard needs to improve his lateral movement. Big time. He's slow side to side, and tends to stay low (perhaps related) giving up the entire top half of the net to the shooter on the back side.

Huh, I thought he made some pretty fantastic saves moving laterally tonight. Granted, they were all right after I thought he went wayyy too far to one side of the net when you could tell the puck was going to come back around the other way, but somehow he managed to get to the other side in time. Not trying to be an ass, just looking for further explanation.

[Guest Crymson]

Howard needs to improve his lateral movement. Big time. He's slow side to side, and tends to stay low (perhaps related) giving up the entire top half of the net to the shooter on the back side.

And the ultimate Osgood slappy strikes again. Does the fact that Osgood isn't in net mean you're required to bash whomever did serve between the pipes, regardless of how sensational a postseason that person may have had?

Thank goodness the minus is back.

Not trying to be an ass, just looking for further explanation.

Your further explanation is that he'll bash any starting Wings goalie who isn't Chris Osgood.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

He needs a solid back-up next season. Poor guy cant be expected to play 60+ games a season. But yes, he proved he can be a big time goalie. A little fundamental work, and a stronger 6-man unit defensively and I'm sure we'll see his numbers improve in the regular season and now we know what he's made of in the playoffs. Way to be Jimmy

[sandyeggo wingnut 19]

This is just a description of butterfly style

This.

I like the glove UP you don't see that much any more (well another netminder here who happens tho have +400 wins does it but not so pronounced)

We found Ozzie's successor..for a f***in STEAL.

[Nev 1,085]

Only 2 Wings turned up for every game this postseason. Datsyuk was one, Howard was the other. They both deserved better.

[sputman 1,268]

although getting bumped out of any playoffs is painful, i take from this great joy in knowing we have a young, game-changing, playoff-caliber goalie.

seriously, how long has that been?

[beez35 4]

.... no goalie bashing!!

Most years I've been here as a fan and we've been knocked out of the playoffs, too many people here call out the goalie and wish they were traded.

It's nice to see that Jimmy is getting the credit he deserves this year, being a 2nd year playoff goalie who's proved (at least to me) he can handle the big games. Sure he let in a couple of squeakers - so do the best of the rest!

I personally thought Howard had a great playoff run this year, and I'm looking forward to having a confident goaltender in the playoffs for the next few years at least.

Despite the Game 7 loss.... what a GREAT series, and hats off to the Red Wings, and the Joe Louis fans for having the heart to come back from 0-3 down and still only get beat by 1 goal in the end. The Sharks are still a bunch of gutless, cheating p*ssies, and I hope they get their a**es handed to them by at least 1 of the next 2 teams they could face!

[Wings_Toledo 233]

Jimmy deserves a lot of credit. He played great in this year's playoffs and kept the Wings in the game most nights against San Jose. In the end, it was the D not being able to match the speed of SJ's forwards that lost them the series. With the teams that are left, I'm pretty much done watching hockey for the rest of the playoffs. I'll root for Tampa because I like their roster and because of Yzerman, but that's about it.

[HankthaTank 1,100]

For sure. Jimmy was a huge positive to take away from this playoffs. The kid has that competitive edge and ability to just brush things off. Having Ozzie mentoring him was the best possible scenario to prepare him to play goalie in Detroit. Way to go Howie keep it up into next year!

[shoe 165]

Well said

[ricky0034 89]

yeah he's been good

I do however think that the Wings need to sign a new backup goalie in the offseason,what with Osgoods age and injuries,and Joey MacDonald well,being Joey MacDonald

[gcom007 1,465]

Howard was nothing short of outstanding in the playoffs. Anyone who wants to try to take anything away from his performance is out of their damn mind. I didn't expect a performance like this in the playoffs until next year maybe. I thought he still needed a bit more experience to get his game to the level he did consistently, but man oh man, did he really rise above what I thought were my reasonable expectations. Again, he was outstanding and I'm thrilled for him on an individual level.

[gcom007 1,465]

Howard was nothing short of outstanding in the playoffs. Anyone who wants to try to take anything away from his performance is out of their damn mind. I didn't expect a performance like this in the playoffs until next year maybe. I thought he still needed a bit more experience to get his game to the level he did consistently, but man oh man, did he really rise above in surpassing what I thought were my reasonable expectations. Again, he was outstanding and I'm thrilled for him on an individual level.

(I'm just copying what I wrote in the other thread as I figured it was appropriate for this thread as well...)

Edited May 13, 2011 by gcom007

[Chris L 0]

Howie is the man! I'm very comfortable with him in the pipes now.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

He's earned my complete confidence.