I think its kinda funny how people for years said that Osgood was average, but he won 3 cups with Detroit and over 400 wins in his career which is #10 all time. Mike Vernon, who many consider to be the holy grail of goaltenders in Detroit because he led them to a cup win in 97 was #12 on the all time wins list. Jimmy is winning half of his games, and if he continues to do so, he will eclipse the 400 win plateau easily.
Right now, we don't know how much Howie is going to resign for. It must be nice to be able to tell the future and pull a number out of your ass, but in the end, that number just comes straight from your ass.
Oh, and a cup win is a cup win. Its not like Legace did nothing that season, so don't cherry pick your stats.
There are going to be detractors and cheerleaders for Howard, thats for sure. Any intelligent hockey fan is going to be able to point out two simple truths.
1. Howard, just like any goalie, is only going to be as good as the team he plays in front of. This is a team game. How many playoff runs did Roberto Luongo lead the Florida Panthers to? Zero. Yet, I believe Luongo is a great goalie. Look at any elite goalie who has won a cup or multiple cups as well. If the team is horrible in front of them, they aren't going to make any headway. A goalie isn't going to win a cup on his own.
2. How well the team is playing is tied to how the goalie does. Right now, the Red Wings are banged up and are in serious trouble. The last thing we should be doing is blaming Howard and calling him out for being average. Is Jonathan Quick average or are the Kings playing horrible hockey in front of him? Hell, this was the same team that won the cup last year. Right now, Chicago and Anaheim are playing great, and their goalies are the beneficiaries of that great play. It wouldn't matter if the Wings had Patrick Roy in his prime playing right now. The Wings would not have won more games this season with Roy in his prime than with Jimmy.
The sooner that people realize that Howard is just a piece of the puzzle, and not the entire puzzle, then we will be much better off.
First of all, I am a huge Osgood and Legace fan so I am not detracting anything from them. I am just saying Legace has won here just as much as Howard and most folks hated on him for not winning in the playoffs. I am not cherry picking anything. My whole point was about the regular season stats. Also, if you think Howard will get less than $4M then I want what you are drinking and if gets $5M+ I want what Holland is drinking! My comparison's were and are, Howard is above average, but at this moment he is no better than Legace or Cheveldae, so he is not elite, but above average. I agree with your take on the Roy comparison, which is why Jimmy is being exposed a bit for what he is, because of the bad D in front of him...imagine Legace or Cheveldae on this current team...I think they would struggle a bit too...
I like Jimmy, I am not a huge fan of his, but I am fine with him here. But I can see Holland overpaying him and then in three years when M-Raz is outplaying him, Howard will still be playing because of his salary and we may lose M-Raz, who in three years WILL be better than Howard (barring injutries.) Yes that is my opinion of M-Raz, he is better than Howard, but because of Babs and Holland love of Jimmy, M-Raz will probably be gone in three years because he won't want to ride the pine behind an average goalie. I will also be surprised if Howard ges 400 wins, let alone 3 Cups....it just isn't going to happen unless Holland addresses this teams problems, which thankfully, isn't goaltending. But signing players like Bert, Sammy, keeping Cleary on the ice and wasting 1st round picks on trash like Q alon with letting Kindl step on the ice, then no, it just won't happen....and we'll probably lose Dom, Jr.
Edited by LeftWinger, 19 February 2013 - 10:46 AM.
