Confirmed with Link: Jimmy Howard re-signed for 6 years 5.3m per year

[last_sd]

Does this mean Mrazek gets his first chance to start in 6 years?

No more like, he will stay in minors for 3 years. He gets waived at 4th year, we trade picks to get him back on 6th year trade deadline

 

[Bench]

Kari Lehtonen got 5.9 over 5 years. This sounds about on par. I give a slight edge to Lehtonen, but it is close most nights.

 

[last_sd]

Kari Lehtonen got 5.9 over 5 years. This sounds about on par. I give a slight edge to Lehtonen, but it is close most nights.

I think his contract probably was used as guide line.

Our management probably thinks they are same level goalie => so 1 year longer = little less cap hit.

I would argue that Lehtonen is slightly better than Howard but we got no leverage.

 

[ProPAIN]

I'm ok with the cap hit, more concerned by the contract length. But I don't see a short term replacement if Howard walked after this contract. Mrazek is our projected future starter, but I'd like to see more than the couple of games he's played at the NHL level.

 

[VladTheImpaler]

Term is way too long. Four years is the most that should've been given.

 

[Bench]

I think his contract probably was used as guide line.

Our management probably thinks they are same level goalie => so 1 year longer = little less cap hit.

I would argue that Lehtonen is slightly better than Howard but we got no leverage.

Yup. And keep in mind Kari has ZERO playoff pedigree. Zip. So the playoff comments in this thread would apply to him even more, but whatever, this is a standard deal league wide. Not a bargain, just fair.

 

[Syckle78]

All in all its fine. May be a little long but we have one less position to worry about for the foreseeable future.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Trying to trade a 33 to 35 year old with just those years left is a significantly different market. Howard will still have value as a guy that ranks top 15 in a lot of categories and banks a lot of wins as a workhorse type starter. This also means Mrazek has forced him out, something he has to do still no matter how high you're on Mrazek that will be important for his development in a good way. He likes rising to the challenge, it brings the best out in him.

I don't love this deal, but Jimmy earned it and he is a very good goaltender. There are worse things to have happened, but this along with Ericsson should be a glimpse into what Hollands system is rendering. The reason Filppula still demands what we don't like. The Wings that were over-ripe aren't interested in cutting deals. Kronwall is the last of those guys and he had an A on his sweater and just didn't push hard enough, because he could have got an Edler type contract maybe a little more.

Face it these guys have waited to make money and get one big contract or two depending on when they sign and for what. Not the possible three and they want their money. I do think the Wings should have held firm at 5 million but glad Howard didn't get Quick or Lehtonen money, he could have and might have on the open market. It would have been a risk for Howard, but with term limits I think someone would have taken the plunge.

 

[icKx]

I think some are kind of overreacting over the term. Really it's only a year longer than one could reasonably expect.

If you think Howard was going to do a 3 or 4 year deal you're out to lunch. He did the bridge contract thing once. This was his chance to get some security.

 

[Alpha190]

I hate long term deals for goalies. Max 4 years, I prefere 3. Reason for this is that it keeps the motivation up to be a good goalie on a consistent basis. Just look at Quick, Backstrom, Luongo etc. Everybody except Lundqvist started sucking after they signed their long term contracts.

I don't mind the 5.3M. But as many said here, 6 years is way way too long.

 

[Heaton]

I think some are kind of overreacting over the term. Really it's only one year longer than one could reasonably expect.

If you think Howard was going to do a 3 or 4 year deal you're out to lunch. He did the bridge contract thing once. This was his chance to get some security.

To a point, I think you're right and I wouldn't want to sign Howard to a 3 year deal where his cap hit is 6m.

I still don't like the contract, too long and too much. I know goaltending is extremely important, but I feel like we can find a guy looking to prove something on the cheap(er). Chicago did it, Phoenix did it, Florida did it (though they suck so thats not a great example), anyway it's possible.

I don't like the idea of having to find a new goalie every few years, but I still feel that no goalie should make more than 4.5m.

 

[JmanWingsFan]

I guess they're planning on an Osgood-Hasek situation by rolling with Howard-Mrazek... For all intents and purposes a Howard-Mrazek combo would be the closest thing to Osgood-Hasek considering how close in style the two are to their respective comparisons.

 

[fimoknete]

i cant see the bad side of the deal. howards a fine starter. and 5.3mil is ok to me.
compared to the 1.9 mil of tootoo or the 3.5 mil of samuelsson it is a sensatinell good deal.
so everybody on this team is now allowed to get double salary. so why should howard be the exeption?
we have a good goalie now for the next years. thats what it is. the first thing kenny did right since 4-5 years.
and as long it keeps osgood away from the team its ok what ever they sign a goalie for.

 

[joe89]

To be fair, even if I'm not a fan of the term, I think stability in goal is important. I think the people who say it's too much and suggest we go out and roll the dice in free agency instead are wrong. At best you find someone equally good, and the risk of finding someone worse is a lot bigger. The chance of finding someone better than Howard in free agency in this day and age would be close to non-existant. So don't try to fix something that isn't broken. Let's try to fix our defense and offense instead.

 

[Hendricks433]

To be fair, even if I'm not a fan of the term, I think stability in goal is important. I think the people who say it's too much and suggest we go out and roll the dice in free agency instead are wrong. At best you find someone equally good, and the risk of finding someone worse is a lot bigger. The chance of finding someone better than Howard in free agency in this day and age would be close to non-existant. So don't try to fix something that isn't broken. Let's try to fix our defense and offense instead.

As long as we stop over spending for mediocre players. Sammy, Cola, Quincey, Abs, Tootoo to a point and possibly Fil in the offseason.

Sammy and Cola is 5 million from last season that was completely necessary and now our buy outs are probably used on them when they probably should be used on Franzen(I know, it will never happen) and maybe someone else.

 

[WingedWheel1987]

Holland is going to regret this contract before it's half way done.

 

[HIFE]

 

[SortaExtremist]

I'll be ok with the term if the salary cap goes up to 80 million in 2-3 years. If that happens, then Holland will again look like a Genius.

 

[detredWINgs]

Holland said, "The disparity between the best goalie in the League of the 30 starters and the 30th goalie is pretty different, but what's the difference between the 11th and the 20th? At some point you're putting your team together and deciding where to spend your money and you have to make a decision on how much of a difference maker the goalie you're signing is. At the same time, if you are spending significant dollars on the best goalie then the other guy is going to have much more money to spend on skaters.â€

My feeling is if you can get one of the five or six best goalies in the league you can spend the money. We can’t get into those guys, and the difference between the eighth goalie in the league and the 15th goalie, it’s a big difference in money. It’s not a big difference in performance.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/692570-behind-the-mask-is-a-big-name-goalie-a-requisite-for-success

http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2010/01/27/the-league’s-10-highest-paid-goalies/

Good to see Kenny sticking to his guns, once again.

 

[Jussha]

To a point, I think you're right and I wouldn't want to sign Howard to a 3 year deal where his cap hit is 6m.

I still don't like the contract, too long and too much. I know goaltending is extremely important, but I feel like we can find a guy looking to prove something on the cheap(er). Chicago did it, Phoenix did it, Florida did it (though they suck so thats not a great example), anyway it's possible.

I don't like the idea of having to find a new goalie every few years, but I still feel that no goalie should make more than 4.5m.

it's strange to me at least with Holland and all the things he talked about in adjusting to the post-cap NHL and what his philosophies were on how to succeed in the post-cap NHL, that the one thing he decides to now take a different approach to is a long-term investment at a high cap hit for a goaltender, whereas he seemed pretty convinced before that you don't need to invest a lot into your goalie tandem

 

[Jussha]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/692570-behind-the-mask-is-a-big-name-goalie-a-requisite-for-success

http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2010/01/27/the-league’s-10-highest-paid-goalies/

Good to see Kenny sticking to his guns, once again.

I was just posting pretty much the same thing, I just find it strange that Holland obviously now has a different take on this, unless he considers Howard to be a top 6 goaltender in the NHL

 

[WingedWheel1987]

At least Corey Crawford is going to get a ridiculous pay day too. I guess it doesn't really matter though, since the Wings aren't in the same division anymore.

 

[Vladdy84]

Too long of term. Whatever on the money. Jimmy hasn't earned that money. Another potential contract as far as I'm concerned. Can't wait to see Flip signed for 5 years at 27M and Daniel 2 yrs 6M!

 

[WingedWheel1987]

Too long of term. Whatever on the money. Jimmy hasn't earned that money. Another potential contract as far as I'm concerned. Can't wait to see Flip signed for 5 years at 27M and Daniel 2 yrs 6M!

Holland better save one of his compliance buy outs for this contract. He will be needing it.

 

[detredWINgs]

To be fair, even if I'm not a fan of the term, I think stability in goal is important. I think the people who say it's too much and suggest we go out and roll the dice in free agency instead are wrong. At best you find someone equally good, and the risk of finding someone worse is a lot bigger. The chance of finding someone better than Howard in free agency in this day and age would be close to non-existant. So don't try to fix something that isn't broken. Let's try to fix our defense and offense instead.

How? By paying free agent prices? Look at the contracts we've locked ourselves into, then consider the fact that Holland is wholly incapable of trading core roster players, and then ask yourself how exactly we're going to be able to pay for elite free agent talent?