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matt198913

Official: Howard signs 6-year, $31.8m contract extension

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I think it might be more about the super long contracts in general. Zetterberg is great but I would not want to give an 11 year contract to any player, and to be completely honest, if i did it would have to be a player that I thought had skills so superior that at age 40 he would still be a point per game guy. I dont believe Z is that guy. Franzen...i was baffled then and im still baffled as to how that guy was handed a 10+ year deal for less than two years of proving himself. Howard, while great and one of my favorites, is a goalie. Maybe I live in dreamworld but i dont remember Broduer or Roy getting 6 year deals. I also feel that goalies are in a unique postion and really kind of need to be pushed, to stay on top of their game. 6 years/30 million is not bad for Howard. Id rather it be 4-5 years...but no biggie. I just think these longer contracts for both players and goalies have become a huge stumbling block for the league.

I agree. I mostly just meant that this kind of contract doesn't seem out of character for Holland.

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Howard is the best option right now. I like Mrazek, but he's not ready yet and you absolutely cannot rely on potential. I'd prefer a shorter deal as well. But if that's the sticking point between having him and not, then I'll settle for 6 years. It's not super long, he was probably asking for the max term anyways. Really if the extra 2 years made the difference in keeping him or not, then you didn't want him in the first place. It shouldn't be the sticking point on whether or not the deal should have been done.

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Howard is the best option right now. I like Mrazek, but he's not ready yet and you absolutely cannot rely on potential. I'd prefer a shorter deal as well. But if that's the sticking point between having him and not, then I'll settle for 6 years. It's not super long, he was probably asking for the max term anyways. Really if the extra 2 years made the difference in keeping him or not, then you didn't want him in the first place. It shouldn't be the sticking point on whether or not the deal should have been done.

And if something happens and we decide to trade him down the road his cap hit isn't outrageous.

Edited by Hockeymom1960

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Try reading The Axes responses out loud and yelling when the caps lock comes on. It's fun.

I do this with everyone, helps me to not get so angry when I read stupid s*** lol.

I think this is a good deal, would rather see 4 years than 6 but if that's what it takes to get it done then so be it.

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And if something happens and we decide to trade him down the road his cap hit isn't outrageous.

Yep exactly. Hopefully Mrazek does come up and push him. Having two good goalies is better than banking the future on one.

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Guest The Axe

and we get a good amount of forwards off the books at seasons end. plug in young guys for cheap, we easily have 5-7 mil throw at a scorer in the offseason.

That's only enough to get Val. Need 7.5 mil more for Bobby Ryan.

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Sounds good to me. Jimmy deserves it. I'm cautiously big on Mrazek myself, but now we either have time to find someone else if he doesn't pan out, or some nice quality time with him and Jimmy together so that the little guy can learn from Jimmy and eventually have the torch passed onto him.

This may be a bit on the long side or a bit on the spendy side, but compared to the general range of contracts out there, it seems pretty average.

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Guest Crymson

My only issue with Jimmy right now seems to be the 5-hole. It was gaping tonight in the shootout.

It was tiny on Couture's goal.

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The problem wasn't the size of the 5-hole, it was that both goals went through the same spot.

Even with his gaping five hole his save % is 6th among active goalie with atleast 70 attempts.

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Guest The Axe

Congrats to Jimmy. He's a no problems workhorse and a damn good Red Wing. I hate how Holland spends the money, but I like Jimmuh!

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I think the only way this deal turns bad is if Howard starts to play much poorer than he is currently. I think we obviously need scoring, but with our average defense core I also think it is important that the Wings have a good solid goalie. Seems that the Goalie/Defense is set going forward. Time to work on the Forwards...hopefully

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Guest RedWingsDad

Yeah, should have been 4 years max... I am sure KH would have liked that but I imagine Howard's agent made the 6 year contract happen. I don't really feel good about this signing because of the term, I thought 5 years was too long. As others have pointed out, goalies can sometimes implode out of nowhere.

Edited by RedWingsDad

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How do you think players like signing a 10 year deal, firming planting thier family in a city because the team commited to them, only to lose their job, house, land, schools, kids friends, blah blah blah?

Then maybe they shouldn't have become a professional athlete where things like trades are common. Maybe a nice stable career as a dentist would have been better.

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Money is right but 6 years is too long. I want to see Mrazek in net long before 6 years!

This signing has no impact on that. Mrazek can earn the backup job and outplay jimmy in 3 years. This signing ensures us of at least having a good NHL goalie for the term, we can't rely on mrazeks potential.

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Congrats Jimmy! Look 6 years is perfect imo, Mzarek will more then likely spend 2-3 more years in GR then come up and back up Howard for a year or two then hopefully take over the net while Jimmy backs up for Mzarek for his remanding year or two. All while Mzarek is still on a nice petit rookie contract.

(I just noticed how many times I said "year or two", giving myself some grace I guess ;))

Edited by 13dangledangle

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I mean, if you look around the league at what other teams are doing, $5.3 million for Howard is not a bad deal. I actually think his overall game has continued to improve over the past few seasons, but that can be hard to get a read on with the changes to defense. Same is true for his playoff performances - he's been mostly very good. Heck, there's been some games this year (the L.A. game comes to mind) where Jimmy absolutely stole the game for us. Without a few of those "extra" wins, we aren't even in the 8th seed right now, believe it or not.

M-A Fleury makes $5 million a year. Jonas Hiller makes $4.5 mil. Backstrom is very solid goalie, but Minnesota fans have complained about that $6 mil cap hit for years. I think people look at some of these goalies like Rask and Niemi, but need to realize that if those guys were UFA's tomorrow, they'd get bigger deals than they currently have.

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