Do you mind expanding on this? Lumping him with Abdelkader (only got his contract because of playing with Datsyuk who even acknowledged how much of an anchor he was) and Ericsson (who never even broke the 20 point barrier) seems pretty insane without demonstrating it in any way.
Coaches like Babcock/Hitchcock, with reasonable talent, are the kind of keepers who inflate goalie numbers.
A guy like Brian Elliot can look like a regular 1B/backup goalie, go to St. Louis and look like a Vezina winner, and return to 1B/backup form.
One of the reasons goalies are so hard to scout is because even a fully developed goalie is challenging to assess.
We waited a long, long time for Jimmy Howard. He was 25 before he played significant minutes. I don't remember what your take was on Jimmy, but I was always cautiously optimistic he would be a good goalie despite uneven results in Grand Rapids with a few weakish teams.
Jimmy Howard's career:
9-10: Rookie Year. Great regular season. Not as good in the playoffs - es[especially the SJ series.
10-11: Substantial decline in sve pct/GAA, but nobody really cares because his WL was about the same. Playoff performance improved. Helped Detroit comeback from down 3-0 to SJ. Wings/Howard could get it done in Game 7.
11-12 - Howard improves his GAA and sv pct. Was not good, however, in that 4-1 playoff loss to Nashville.
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So, we enter Jimmy Howard's contract year, 2012-13.
What do we know about Howard?
Good regular season goalie, 2 out of 3 years.
One good playoff performance. One so-so performance. One poor playoff performance.
12-13 was the shortened season. The start of the post-Lidstrom era.
Howard is nearing the end of his 12-13 regular season when Holland signs his deal
21-13-7 (pretty meh) but he also had five shutouts, 2.13 GAA and .923 sv pct.
Other factors to consider:
* Red Wings were able to keep great teams together under the cap by being thrifty on goalies.
* Petr Mrazek was a highly regarded prospect who was completing a very good rookie year in the AHL and who looked good in a brief NHL callup.
* Wings signed Gustavsson for two years.
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In April, Holland signed Howard to one of the richest contracts among NHL goalies..
Howard had done enough to make it reasonable, but at the same time, I still felt he was unproven.
His playoff performances didn't scream "playoff stud." His regular seasons were mostly good, playing in a good system with Datsyuk/Zetterbug and Flip as his centers.
It was a break from the Wings philosophy.
I wouldn't have supported that kind of contract for any kind of goalie, unless he was a proven stud. And I never thought Howard proved it.
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Howard finished out that year with what I thought was a solid playoffs.
Really good numbers. But lost his last 3 playoff games as the Wings blew a 3-1 series lead. The second of those, in Detroit, he gave up 3 goals in the third period.
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Actual contract kicks in.
Never finishes another playoff series.
Four years before the new contract kicks in.
Reg season 130-62. .918 2.35
Started every Red Wings playoff game
Six year contract
113-148 .911 2.71
Never finished a playoff series in goal for the Wings.
Almost every year, started well and then deteriorated badly with the notable exception of 16-17 - when he only started 24 games.
16-17 was also the only "plus" year Howard had during the contract. Every other year his sv percentage was .910 or below.
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I don't think Howard was ever as bad as Abdelkader, or Ericsson.
But it was another example of Ken Holland being completely oblivious to the actual value of players.
Overpaid. Over-extended.
And these kinds of contracts cost us useful players.
