Is Jimmy Howard Capable of A Long Playoff Run

[LastWordArmy]

The Wings have hitched their wagon to Jimmy Howard. Is he good enough to take the team to the cup?

http://lastwordonsports.com/2015/03/14/is-jimmy-howard-a-stanley-cup-caliber-goaltender/

Click to read more...

 

[Eggberto]

Why not? Niemi won a cup. The wings haven't had a -real- shot since the took the Hawks to game 7 and if we're being honest they overachieved that year.

So why couldn't he win the cup? If the wings falter this year I'd bet money now on the fault lying on the defense rather than Howard.

 

[Frk It]

We just had this thread like 2 weeks ago, and it got shut down:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1850267

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Ugh. Stop.

 

[SoupNazi]

We'll give this another try, but be respectful. Make a post and move on; don't make the same post 50 times. If it gets heated, it gets shut down again.

 

[Eggberto]

We just had this thread like 2 weeks ago, and it got shut down:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1850267

Aha! I knew this thread seems familiar.

 

[Cult of Hynes]

depending on how the team in front of him plays. he doesnt impress me as a goalie to steal you a ton of games in the playoffs.

 

[pucky]

The Wings have hitched their wagon to Jimmy Howard. Is he good enough to take the team to the cup?

http://lastwordonsports.com/2015/03/14/is-jimmy-howard-a-stanley-cup-caliber-goaltender/

Definitely not. Imho, they should run with Mrazek.

 

[ap3x]

Article states that Howard doesn't necessarily needs to be "elite". But considering our defensive flaws and struggles to keep up a good PK it's nothing than essential that he steals the one or the other game in the playoffs. Hell, we instantly rely on him to stand on his head and help us out, when our defense ****s it up again. And I've no doubt that he'll do that.

 

[Eggberto]

Article states that Howard doesn't necessarily needs to be "elite". But considering our defensive flaws and struggles to keep up a good PK it's nothing than essential that he steals the one or the other game in the playoffs. Hell, we instantly rely on him to stand on his head and help us out, when our defense ****s it up again. And I've no doubt that he'll do that.

He's certainly capable of showing up to big games. The Rangers game is a recent, obvious example. I don't understand the "arguments" against Howard. Sure every now and again he lets in a softy but more often than not he makes great reads on cross crease passes and makes pretty difficult saves looks easy. Sometimes the defense just utterly fails him and Howard is no Rinne, Lundqvist, or Quick. He can't bail us out all the time, and he does bail us out occasionallym

 

[Mount Suribachi]

Pre-injury Howard? Yes

Post-injury Howard? No

 

[Frk It]

Don't feel that comfortable with Howard right now, but I also have goalie trust issues.. So who knows.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

The Wings and goaltending have been a long sorry tale. How many more Cups could the Wings have won over the last 25 years with elite goaltending? From Tim Cheveldae to Jimmy Howard, it's a story of sub-optimal solutions.

The thing is that the team is now not good enough to go deep with "above average" OK goaltending. There's little point in saying so and so won the Cup recently with that when those rosters were better and deeper defensively.

Is Howard good enough to win the Cup? Maybe, if he has a Norris caliber D-man and a top 4 D in front of him that's elite. With the current D? Nope.

 

[Bench]

Don't feel that comfortable with Howard right now, but I also have goalie trust issues.. So who knows.

What goalie broke your heart, Frk It? Was it that cheating jerk CuJo?

 

[Hunting Bow*]

Someone needs to tell me why?

 

[Hunting Bow*]

The Wings and goaltending have been a long sorry tale. How many more Cups could the Wings have won over the last 25 years with elite goaltending? From Tim Cheveldae to Jimmy Howard, it's a story of sub-optimal solutions.

The thing is that the team is now not good enough to go deep with "above average" OK goaltending. There's little point in saying so and so won the Cup recently with that when those rosters were better and deeper defensively.

Is Howard good enough to win the Cup? Maybe, if he has a Norris caliber D-man and a top 4 D in front of him that's elite. With the current D? Nope.

He had Lidstrom, Kronwall, Rafalski and Stuart in front of him and turned in horrible numbers.

When does it stop being others faults?

 

[Invictus12]

He had Lidstrom, Kronwall, Rafalski and Stuart in front of him and turned in horrible numbers.

When does it stop being others faults?

Show me a person on here that doesn't acknowledge that Howard has benn sub-par since his return?

Then I ask you the same thing but in reverse. When does it stop being Howards fault when he turns in a solid performance and the team loses a game 3-2, 2-1, 1-0???

 

[TatarTangle]

Someone needs to tell me why?

It has been explained to you numerous times but you refuse to acknowledge anything that isn't your own opinion. We get that you hate Howard so I think it's time to let it go and move on.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

He had Lidstrom, Kronwall, Rafalski and Stuart in front of him and turned in horrible numbers.

When does it stop being others faults?

He had bad numbers in 2010-2011. In the surrounding years, he had some pretty damn good numbers.

.924 sv%, 2.26 GAA 09-10
.920 sv%, 2.12 GAA 11-12
.923 sv%, 2.13 GAA 12-13

So what is this about bad numbers? Three out of four years when he had a good to decent D core, he posted ~.920 sv% and low 2.00 GAA.

 

[14ari13]

He had bad numbers in 2010-2011. In the surrounding years, he had some pretty damn good numbers.

.924 sv%, 2.26 GAA 09-10
.920 sv%, 2.12 GAA 11-12
.923 sv%, 2.13 GAA 12-13

So what is this about bad numbers? Three out of four years when he had a good to decent D core, he posted ~.920 sv% and low 2.00 GAA.

Good numbers like in SOs. Why are his numbers so terrible in the SOs? When there is no those terrible Dmen, Kronwall who screens him, Ericsson who always makes mistakes, Smith, Kindl and so on?
When Howard has no this bad in front of him, his numbers turn real ugly. His SV% in SOs is by far the worst in the nhl. It is a halv of the worst goalie in the entire league.

Howard has no mental fortitude to keep playing strog in the playoffs.
I have seen Howard enough, this will be his last chance. If he fails to play well in the playoffs this year, we have to give up on him.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Yes

But he probably wont

 

[aar000n]

Howard is like Quick. He can look great all locked down or it can be a 6 goal night. I have no faith in our bipolar goalie.

 

[Mijatovic]

I Was just thinking we needed another Howard vs Mrazek thread.

 

[DeYarmond Edison]

He is capable, but I think you go with the hot hand. Which is Mrazek (right now)

 

[ArGarBarGar]

He is capable, but I think you go with the hot hand. Which is Mrazek (right now)

When it comes to the playoffs, Mrazek has to prove he can hack it consistently. A rookie goaltender in the playoffs against a team like Tampa (or worse, Montreal)? That could spell disaster if he hasn't completely won the starting job.

Essentially, Mrazek has to be lights out for the rest of the season and Howard has to remain inconsistent for him to get the nod.