Heaton

I don't know if Ryan Whitney is any good - I think the injuries have taken its toll and playing on the Oilers have made him a lot worse than he actually is.  I don't think the Wings are in a position to take on another Quincey type 'hope' project, though.

I've always been of the opinion that you do not pay any goalie more than 5m per season.  I don't care if it's Henrik Lundqvist or Patrick Rinne, no goaltender is worth that in a capped league.  The biggest reason for this is the uncertainty of the position, when your big money goalie has a bad night they can cost you a game, when your big money forward or defensemen has a bad night it may result in a minus or zero points, but a loss isn't always the worst case scenario.  

In the case of Jimmy Howard, I think he's a really good goalie, I think he's a homegrown talent and we can win with him.  But the problem is if he asks for more than 4m/season the best thing to do would be to let him walk.  There's too many decent goalies available to wrap that much cap space into that position.