News Article: The Athletic on Detroit's "Contract Efficiency"

[ShelbyZ]

You just described a very inconsistent player. Also Osgood was NEVER this inconsistent or this injured/often.

I meant they were similar more in terms of never being in the top goalies of their era, at times failing to deliver on lofty expectations after a big season/playoff, and being soured on by the fan base pretty early on in their careers.

But, did we watch the same Chris Osgood?

I would argue the injuries are pretty much a draw... Since the long term injury during 16-17 (where it was more his own player falling on him and not some wonky groin related conditioning issue), Howard has missed 4 games in the last 2 seasons and final month of 16-17 due to injury/illness. Around the same age, Osgood would deal with multiple bouts of injuries a season. That includes starting and ending the 05-06 season with groin injuries that cost him the opportunity to battle with Legace for the #1 spot or replace him when he melted down against the Oilers. He then missed chunks of the next year with multiple ailments. You also have the inopportune injury during the 1999 playoffs that allowed the Avs to light up Ranford and Maracle and forced him to play hurt, missing over a month in 99-00 and struggling to get it going afterward, then missing 1/4 of his 2nd season on the Island which lead to him becoming expendable and being deal to the Blues.

I don't think the consistency is really that far off either... You have Osgood with some very "Howard like" seasons in 96-97 (.925 before New Year, .891 for the rest of the year) and basically every year from 99-00 to 03-04 where he goes through some mid season slump or injury, and then you have consecutive Cup and Finals runs followed by absolute garbage regular season similar to, yet more extreme than Howard's follow up to the 2013 season/playoff run/big raise in 13/14. You also had (earlier in his career) some game to game playoff inconsistency where Osgood is practically giving you a heart attack giving up juicy rebounds or a notable softy and then follows it up with a game where he's absorbing everything.

When comparing the two, it should be noted that the majority of Osgood's Red Wings tenure was spent behind deep stacked contenders with multiple HOF skaters that continually added more talent and HOFers. Howard's has trended the exact opposite. He took over as that contender started to age and lose both HOF and non-HOF talent, tried to stay afloat as a low seeded playoff team and then entered a rebuild. So of course Howard's inconsistency is more glaring, while Osgood's lows can be forgotten due to overall team success. Even then, it's not hard to remember that the narrative for a long time was that the Red Wings won in 98 in spite of Osgood and that there was a pretty big collective eye roll when he was brought back after the lockout.

 

[Hockeyville19Calumet]

I meant they were similar more in terms of never being in the top goalies of their era, at times failing to deliver on lofty expectations after a big season/playoff, and being soured on by the fan base pretty early on in their careers.

But, did we watch the same Chris Osgood?

I would argue the injuries are pretty much a draw... Since the long term injury during 16-17 (where it was more his own player falling on him and not some wonky groin related conditioning issue), Howard has missed 4 games in the last 2 seasons and final month of 16-17 due to injury/illness. Around the same age, Osgood would deal with multiple bouts of injuries a season. That includes starting and ending the 05-06 season with groin injuries that cost him the opportunity to battle with Legace for the #1 spot or replace him when he melted down against the Oilers. He then missed chunks of the next year with multiple ailments. You also have the inopportune injury during the 1999 playoffs that allowed the Avs to light up Ranford and Maracle and forced him to play hurt, missing over a month in 99-00 and struggling to get it going afterward, then missing 1/4 of his 2nd season on the Island which lead to him becoming expendable and being deal to the Blues.

I don't think the consistency is really that far off either... You have Osgood with some very "Howard like" seasons in 96-97 (.925 before New Year, .891 for the rest of the year) and basically every year from 99-00 to 03-04 where he goes through some mid season slump or injury, and then you have consecutive Cup and Finals runs followed by absolute garbage regular season similar to, yet more extreme than Howard's follow up to the 2013 season/playoff run/big raise in 13/14. You also had (earlier in his career) some game to game playoff inconsistency where Osgood is practically giving you a heart attack giving up juicy rebounds or a notable softy and then follows it up with a game where he's absorbing everything.

When comparing the two, it should be noted that the majority of Osgood's Red Wings tenure was spent behind deep stacked contenders with multiple HOF skaters that continually added more talent and HOFers. Howard's has trended the exact opposite. He took over as that contender started to age and lose both HOF and non-HOF talent, tried to stay afloat as a low seeded playoff team and then entered a rebuild. So of course Howard's inconsistency is more glaring, while Osgood's lows can be forgotten due to overall team success. Even then, it's not hard to remember that the narrative for a long time was that the Red Wings won in 98 in spite of Osgood and that there was a pretty big collective eye roll when he was brought back after the lockout.

Let's not forget Osgood was very good to awesome in the 2008 playoffs. He would have also likely won the CS in 2009 had the Wings won game 7. Also Osgood's value was known in 1999 playoffs when he did get injured. One of Howard worst season was with the best defense likely to be seen in the cap era with Lidstrom, Raflaski, Stuart and Kronwall. Just saying.

 

[ShelbyZ]

Let's not forget Osgood was very good to awesome in the 2008 playoffs. He would have also likely won the CS in 2009 had the Wings won game 7. Also Osgood's value was known in 1999 playoffs when he did get injured. One of Howard worst season was with the best defense likely to be seen in the cap era with Lidstrom, Raflaski, Stuart and Kronwall. Just saying.

I made mention of Osgood's runs in 2008 and 2009, as the regular season between is notably the exact opposite. And you're correct on Osgood's injury. I was merely pointing it out in that Osgood had his fair share of disappointing injuries.

No doubt that 10-11 season was a bad one for Howard, but in his defense it was his sophomore season in the NHL, and like Osgood he turned it around in the playoffs. And while you're correct on that D core, it was past it's peak (the 08 and 09 seasons) by that point as Rafalski and Stuart started to slow down and regress. Osgood his two worst (and last 2) seasons the two prior years. He also had one of his worst on a team that had Lidstrom, Chelios and Murphy. Howard redeemed himself two years later with that surprise 2013 playoff run behind the stellar top 4 of Kronwall-Ericsson and Smith-Quincey... Kindl too if you want to go top 5.... Just saying.

 

[vladdy16]

Grading on a curve by era etc. Osgood is by far the player with the higher pedigree imo.

Osgood played at a time when the position was changing rapidly, which highlighted some of his weaknesses that were in turn overblown due to the embarassment of riches we had elsewhere.

But bottom line is, he was a top 10 goaltender in the league for a large portion of his career. Howard wont be able to say the same.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Grading on a curve by era etc. Osgood is by far the player with the higher pedigree imo.

Osgood played at a time when the position was changing rapidly, which highlighted some of his weaknesses that were in turn overblown due to the embarassment of riches we had elsewhere.

But bottom line is, he was a top 10 goaltender in the league for a large portion of his career. Howard wont be able to say the same.

Was he really a top-10 goaltender? I always considered him middle of the pack, generally, with some high points mixed in.

 

[MBH]

Grading on a curve by era etc. Osgood is by far the player with the higher pedigree imo.

Osgood played at a time when the position was changing rapidly, which highlighted some of his weaknesses that were in turn overblown due to the embarassment of riches we had elsewhere.

But bottom line is, he was a top 10 goaltender in the league for a large portion of his career. Howard wont be able to say the same.

I don't know if Ozzie was a top 10 goalie for a large portion of his career.
He finished in the top 10 in Vezina voting 3 times.
Howard has done so twice.

The big difference is Ozzie was the starting goalie for two cups, and and another trip to the finals, and another trip to the final 4.
Howard never got beyond round 2.

In fairness to Howard, Lidstrom's days as a Norris winner were done by the time Howard took over. (Yes, Lidstrom won again in Howard's 2nd year as a starter. But that was his -2 Norris. Rafalski's knees had made him a liability. Stuart's body was breaking down.
Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen - the team's big 3 forwards - took turns being injured in the playoffs.
You'd have to go to 12-13 to find a year when Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen were healthy. It was their last trip beyond round 1. And by this time, Babcock was so full of himself that he couldn't concoct decent lines.

Still, it's hard not to notice this about Howard's playoff career.
2013 - lost 3 straight games with a chance to clinch in round 2.
2014 - Lost 2 games to Boston and didn't finish the series (flu).
2015 - Lost job to Mrazek before the playoffs and only played one period.
2016 - Lost starting job after two week starts. Never returned.

Osgood had some ugliness in his career in the playoffs too. And while he was never "elite" and while he doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame, you have to credit him for winning two cups. And it's hard not to notice that Osgood finished his career by stepping in and taking the team to the finals twice. Howard took over and never won more than 7 games in the playoffs.

 

[ShippinItDaily]

It's easy to see why Dom's model has the Wings in last, based on numbers alone. However, given so much of the negative value is coming off the books this year, I think the Wings' cap situation is actually better than a lot of other teams.

Starting next season, the Wings should be on an upwards trajectory and Yzerman will have a lot of flexibility in how he builds this roster. That trajectory will be limited until at least a few more impact players are developed or acquired however.

 

[Pavels Dog]

It's easy to see why Dom's model has the Wings in last, based on numbers alone. However, given so much of the negative value is coming off the books this year, I think the Wings' cap situation is actually better than a lot of other teams.

Starting next season, the Wings should be on an upwards trajectory and Yzerman will have a lot of flexibility in how he builds this roster. That trajectory will be limited until at least a few more impact players are developed or acquired however.

Yeah I think this "contract efficiency" is meaningless for us currently. We're not missing out on much by not having more cap space, we haven't struggled to re-sign any RFAs, cap space is opening up soon enough, and only Abdelkader+Nielsen have enough term to possibly be issues that need to be dealt with the 'hard way' (buyouts, trades where we need to include a pick/prospect) eventually.
It's just another way to say we are a bad team.

 

[Shaman464]

Howard has been the modern day Cheveldae.

He's Manny Legace 2.0. Both were good when they were on, both seemed be headcase guys. Both couldn't win in the playoffs to save their lives.

 

[MBH]

Yeah I think this "contract efficiency" is meaningless for us currently. We're not missing out on much by not having more cap space, we haven't struggled to re-sign any RFAs, cap space is opening up soon enough, and only Abdelkader+Nielsen have enough term to possibly be issues that need to be dealt with the 'hard way' (buyouts, trades where we need to include a pick/prospect) eventually.
It's just another way to say we are a bad team.

Awful team.
Expensive. Poor performance.
But with Holland gone, it's no longer something to worry about.
Yzerman has a few years to try and turn the ship around before fans get antsy. Holland's mistakes are falling off the books. Though Nielsen/Abdelkader have some time left.

 

[ShelbyZ]

But with Holland gone, it's no longer something to worry about.

To be fair, the way he had operated since the 2017 TDL should've alleviated any legitimate and rational worry not tied to narrative over things he'd done when the team was still in or trying to stay in the playoffs:

-No term longer than 3 years to anyone not named Dylan Larkin, with Daley and Bernier the only two longer than 2 years.
-With the exceptions being Green, Howard and Vanek 2.0 (all having had limited to no market or little value), he traded or did not extend just about all expiring UFA's, some of whom fans bit their nails thinking Holland would overpay to extend them (Smith, Nyquist, Jensen, etc.).
-With the exception of Vanek to Florida, the returns on his trades ranged from acceptable to absolutely fleecing the other GM (Jurco, Smith, Tatar)
-Had a regrettable 2017 draft (which was weak in and of itself), but followed it with a 2018 draft that is pretty much universally praised.
-Even before the streak had ended, he had started to loosen up on the practice of letting guys overripen in the minors

Based on that, the Filppula and Nemeth signings are probably very similar if not identical to what Holland might have done this summer had he decided to stay and not step down to let Yzerman take over... That includes the very Holland-like NTC that Yzerman gave Filppula, which he also handed out like candy in Tampa... So those that were still losing sleep over Holland the past couple years might want to invest in a bottle of Melatonin to keep on the night stand... Just in case...

 

[ArGarBarGar]

He's Manny Legace 2.0. Both were good when they were on, both seemed be headcase guys. Both couldn't win in the playoffs to save their lives.

Howard has never had the mental issues Legace had. He legit had depression issues.

 

[Shaman464]

Howard has never had the mental issues Legace had. He legit had depression issues.

And Howard seems to have issues with confidence, its been that way since the NCAA. When he's hot, he's red hot. When he's off his game, you're better off with one of those plastic goalie cutouts.

 

[MBH]

To be fair, the way he had operated since the 2017 TDL should've alleviated any legitimate and rational worry not tied to narrative over things he'd done when the team was still in or trying to stay in the playoffs:


-No term longer than 3 years to anyone not named Dylan Larkin, with Daley and Bernier the only two longer than 2 years.
-With the exceptions being Green, Howard and Vanek 2.0 (all having had limited to no market or little value), he traded or did not extend just about all expiring UFA's, some of whom fans bit their nails thinking Holland would overpay to extend them (Smith, Nyquist, Jensen, etc.).
-With the exception of Vanek to Florida, the returns on his trades ranged from acceptable to absolutely fleecing the other GM (Jurco, Smith, Tatar)
-Had a regrettable 2017 draft (which was weak in and of itself), but followed it with a 2018 draft that is pretty much universally praised.
-Even before the streak had ended, he had started to loosen up on the practice of letting guys overripen in the minors

Based on that, the Filppula and Nemeth signings are probably very similar if not identical to what Holland might have done this summer had he decided to stay and not step down to let Yzerman take over... That includes the very Holland-like NTC that Yzerman gave Filppula, which he also handed out like candy in Tampa... So those that were still losing sleep over Holland the past couple years might want to invest in a bottle of Melatonin to keep on the night stand... Just in case...

Disagree. While Holland improved when he finally seemed to accept what was obvious to everyone else years earlier, I can't applaud trading Mrazek for a third. I don't think it's going to be clear that Tatar was a fleecing, either.
I couldn't support bringing back Vanek considering what he had on the Wings.
While I like the draft in 2018, the 2017 draft looks pretty ugly.

And I disagree with your assessment about Yzerman/Holland making similar moves.
Holland would have signed a Filppula in a year when everyone was expecting Veleno to jump in.
Yzerman signed a Filppula a year or two before Veleno is expected to compete for a spot.

Holland was jettisoned from the GM chair for good reason.

 

[ShelbyZ]

Disagree. While Holland improved when he finally seemed to accept what was obvious to everyone else years earlier, I can't applaud trading Mrazek for a third. I don't think it's going to be clear that Tatar was a fleecing, either.
I couldn't support bringing back Vanek considering what he had on the Wings.
While I like the draft in 2018, the 2017 draft looks pretty ugly.

And I disagree with your assessment about Yzerman/Holland making similar moves.
Holland would have signed a Filppula in a year when everyone was expecting Veleno to jump in.
Yzerman signed a Filppula a year or two before Veleno is expected to compete for a spot.

Holland was jettisoned from the GM chair for good reason.

What else were you going to get for Mrazek? Or were you one of the few that thought he deserved the $4.15M qualifying offer, to "see what they have?" He wasn't getting that QO from any GM and he wasn't going to re-sign. Holland would've gotten roasted if they got nothing for him, and he ended up an absolute dumpster fire in Philly anyway.

He probably wasn't going to get anything better for Tatar. He was trending down in Detroit and had an NTC kicking in that July. Given where they were at at the time that was a pretty solid return. That doesn't change because the guy figured it out two teams later. Had he stuck around and continued to trend down, his NTC would've put him in the Abdelkader/Helm/Nielsen category.

Using Yzerman apologist logic, Vanek was just "a placeholder" for whatever new wing is on the team this next season, so that wasn't a big deal at all. I mean who did he block? They carried Michael Rasmussen all year who barely looked AHL worthy... I agree they should've brought in a center so AA could stay at wing, but Vanek was "just a placeholder" for Zadina.

You're really reaching on that Holland vs. Yzerman thing in regards to Filppula... But I commend you for not stooping to the tired "hOlLaNd WoUlD'vE gIvEn HiM 5 yEaRs". And I was talking about THIS summer.... It would be silly to debate over how unrealistic it's going to be for Yzerman to just casually leave spots open for kids to "compete". Back to this summer... Let's say a Red Wings fan went into a coma back in March and wakes up today completely oblivious that Yzerman took over as GM. If you first told that fan that the team signed of all players Valterri Filppula, a player it was speculated Holland was after last summer, for 2 years with an NTC that person would roll their eyes so hard it would hurt and lay out some sentence that included "Kenny", "Holland", "Ken Holland" AND at least one expletive and you know it.

Man this is going to fun to watch for the next couple years.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

And Howard seems to have issues with confidence, its been that way since the NCAA. When he's hot, he's red hot. When he's off his game, you're better off with one of those plastic goalie cutouts.

To apply the concept of "issues with confidence" to Legace is putting it mildly.

I don't think Legace would last as long as Howard on the Red Wings post-2010.

 

[MBH]

What else were you going to get for Mrazek? Or were you one of the few that thought he deserved the $4.15M qualifying offer, to "see what they have?" He wasn't getting that QO from any GM and he wasn't going to re-sign. Holland would've gotten roasted if they got nothing for him, and he ended up an absolute dumpster fire in Philly anyway.

He probably wasn't going to get anything better for Tatar. He was trending down in Detroit and had an NTC kicking in that July. Given where they were at at the time that was a pretty solid return. That doesn't change because the guy figured it out two teams later. Had he stuck around and continued to trend down, his NTC would've put him in the Abdelkader/Helm/Nielsen category.

Using Yzerman apologist logic, Vanek was just "a placeholder" for whatever new wing is on the team this next season, so that wasn't a big deal at all. I mean who did he block? They carried Michael Rasmussen all year who barely looked AHL worthy... I agree they should've brought in a center so AA could stay at wing, but Vanek was "just a placeholder" for Zadina.

You're really reaching on that Holland vs. Yzerman thing in regards to Filppula... But I commend you for not stooping to the tired "hOlLaNd WoUlD'vE gIvEn HiM 5 yEaRs". And I was talking about THIS summer.... It would be silly to debate over how unrealistic it's going to be for Yzerman to just casually leave spots open for kids to "compete". Back to this summer... Let's say a Red Wings fan went into a coma back in March and wakes up today completely oblivious that Yzerman took over as GM. If you first told that fan that the team signed of all players Valterri Filppula, a player it was speculated Holland was after last summer, for 2 years with an NTC that person would roll their eyes so hard it would hurt and lay out some sentence that included "Kenny", "Holland", "Ken Holland" AND at least one expletive and you know it.

Man this is going to fun to watch for the next couple years.

The correct move was to trade the older goalie whose value was high, and to keep the younger goalie, whose value was at its lowest. Does that mean Mrazek gets that $4.2M contract? Maybe. Maybe not.
Maybe Mrazek takes less after a couple bad years.
But even if he made $4.2M... that's cheaper than what Howard made these last two years.
Realistically, Mrazek could still be this team's goalie when it's ready to turn around.

I'm not an Yzerman apologist. There are things about his track record I like. His 2nd round picks and beyond. His bold trades. But it was hard to not think of Brett Connolly and Slater Koekkok when Yzerman reached for Moritz Seider.

Holland spent a decade driving this team over the cliff. He needed to go.
I have high hopes Yzerman can continue to build a core here that drives Detroit back into a playoff picture.
But I won't be silly about it.

Like I said, we needed a veteran center and a veteran LD. That's what we got. We got them both on short contracts, indicating Yzerman realizes those spots are eventually going to other players - likely prospects.

Celebrate Holland's first decade as GM all you want. That decade will put him in the hall of fame.
But the next decade? It was a long, slow fall... one he pretended wasn't happening.

 

[newfy]

Who cares about the wings contract situation right now? Its a bunch of left over bad ones from when they were actually good and are all pretty much gone in a year or two. The younger core just had their future captain sign at a really reasonable price. The contracts being discussed will not have any legit impact on the wings future when theyre ready to compete

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

The correct move was to trade the older goalie whose value was high, and to keep the younger goalie, whose value was at its lowest. Does that mean Mrazek gets that $4.2M contract? Maybe. Maybe not.
Maybe Mrazek takes less after a couple bad years.
But even if he made $4.2M... that's cheaper than what Howard made these last two years.
Realistically, Mrazek could still be this team's goalie when it's ready to turn around.

I'm not an Yzerman apologist. There are things about his track record I like. His 2nd round picks and beyond. His bold trades. But it was hard to not think of Brett Connolly and Slater Koekkok when Yzerman reached for Moritz Seider.

Holland spent a decade driving this team over the cliff. He needed to go.
I have high hopes Yzerman can continue to build a core here that drives Detroit back into a playoff picture.
But I won't be silly about it.

Like I said, we needed a veteran center and a veteran LD. That's what we got. We got them both on short contracts, indicating Yzerman realizes those spots are eventually going to other players - likely prospects.

Celebrate Holland's first decade as GM all you want. That decade will put him in the hall of fame.
But the next decade? It was a long, slow fall... one he pretended wasn't happening.

1) Howard was okay, but hurt pretty often. You would have gotten nothing in a trade for him outside of maybe last year when he was a rental (and Mrazek was already gone)
2) Mrazek was a ****show in his last year here. All of the bad in his game was on full display where he was giving up ice cream soft goals in the bunches.
3) You would have had to give Mrazek that "4.2M contract" because it was his qualifying offer. To qualify him you had to pay him that. And with the relationship he already had going with the team, he wasn't going to extend for cheaper than that, when the league rule book guaranteed him that deal.

Mrazek was not a good goalie. The reason he went and not Howard is because Mrazek was bad. He was given several chances to be the #1 and he never took them. He sulked when he didn't get his way and he didn't seem to be interested in fixing the weaknesses in his game (as evidenced by him not improving in his last two years as a Wings goalie). Mrazek isn't going to be ANYONE'S goalie that is attempting to compete. Hell, in Carolina this year, McBackup played just as well as he did. An inconsistent goalie who posts a shutout streak one week and gives up 5+ a game the next is a bad goalie, not a guy you want to build anything around.

Holland didn't pretend the fall wasn't happening. He just had his car careening towards the brink and kept tossing out bumpers to stop himself from falling and his car broke right through them. The Wings tried to roll out a new crew to rebuild the team in the early 2010s and literally all of them flopped.

All the contracts falling off the books now and all the cap space we're set to have and all these draft assets we had the last couple years.... That was Holland. He didn't fall as fast and as hard into the rebuild as you would have liked, but if you've got any excitement about what the Wings can do in the next couple years with flexibility coming up and any young players we have that aren't from the 2019 draft, those are Holland's moves.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

And Howard seems to have issues with confidence, its been that way since the NCAA. When he's hot, he's red hot. When he's off his game, you're better off with one of those plastic goalie cutouts.

Wow, this sounds like literally every goalie to ever put on a pair of pads.

Jordan Binnington, Stanley Cup champion, was probably the worst goalie to ever win one, but my god, he was fabulous in that clinching game.
Marc-Andre Fleury was an impenetrable wall up until the Finals last year and then all of a sudden couldn't stop anything.

That's not a Howard thing, that's a goalie thing. Hell, Petr Mrazek was a great goalie when he was walking around with the biggest stick in the room, but couldn't stop a beach ball once he lost that edge.

 

[MBH]

1) Howard was okay, but hurt pretty often. You would have gotten nothing in a trade for him outside of maybe last year when he was a rental (and Mrazek was already gone)
2) Mrazek was a ****show in his last year here. All of the bad in his game was on full display where he was giving up ice cream soft goals in the bunches.
3) You would have had to give Mrazek that "4.2M contract" because it was his qualifying offer. To qualify him you had to pay him that. And with the relationship he already had going with the team, he wasn't going to extend for cheaper than that, when the league rule book guaranteed him that deal.

Mrazek was not a good goalie. The reason he went and not Howard is because Mrazek was bad. He was given several chances to be the #1 and he never took them. He sulked when he didn't get his way and he didn't seem to be interested in fixing the weaknesses in his game (as evidenced by him not improving in his last two years as a Wings goalie). Mrazek isn't going to be ANYONE'S goalie that is attempting to compete. Hell, in Carolina this year, McBackup played just as well as he did. An inconsistent goalie who posts a shutout streak one week and gives up 5+ a game the next is a bad goalie, not a guy you want to build anything around.

Holland didn't pretend the fall wasn't happening. He just had his car careening towards the brink and kept tossing out bumpers to stop himself from falling and his car broke right through them. The Wings tried to roll out a new crew to rebuild the team in the early 2010s and literally all of them flopped.

All the contracts falling off the books now and all the cap space we're set to have and all these draft assets we had the last couple years.... That was Holland. He didn't fall as fast and as hard into the rebuild as you would have liked, but if you've got any excitement about what the Wings can do in the next couple years with flexibility coming up and any young players we have that aren't from the 2019 draft, those are Holland's moves.

Mrazek just took a team from the bottom of the standings to the final 4.
In his last year here, he had the same numbers as Jimmy did in Detroit. And when he was given the opportunity to actually play (when Holland was shopping him), he was very good.
Mrazek vs McElhenney? Mrazek has the better save percentage by .02 and better GAA by .19. Mrazek's post-groin injury numbers are terrific.
20-11-1, .921, 2.29.
Anyway, Jimmy "Mr October" Howard could have been shopped, like Holland promised Mrazek, any of the last 4 years.

But Ken Holland foolishly believed this team might be a playoff team and didn't move him.

Here's Howard's GAA/Sv pct on Nov. 15 each of the last 3 years.
2018 - 6-6-2 .922 2.64
2017 - 7-5-1 .930 2.32
2016 - 4-3-0 .943 1.80

In any of these years, Howard could have been traded early in the season while he was playing well. There's always a team looking for a goalie.
And if you don't agree, then how is it that you think the Wings were able to offload a struggling Mrazek?

The fact is, there's no evidence Holland ever tried to trade Howard in the last 3 years. Blashill wanted Howard. Both Howard and Blashill seemed to believe Howard gave this team a chance to win.
Of course, every year, Howard crapped the bed after the first six weeks.

Defend Cleary, Bertuzzi, Samuelsson, Modano, Alfredsson, Quincey, Tootoo, Colaiacovo, White, Weiss, Erik Cole, David Legwand, Nielsen, Abdelkader, Helm, Ericsson, Zidlicky...

Be my guest.

But the article in OP makes it perfectly clear.

The Red Wings have been a f***ing slow-moving train wreck.

And thankfully, the engineer of this disaster is out of the picture.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Mrazek just took a team from the bottom of the standings to the final 4.
In his last year here, he had the same numbers as Jimmy did in Detroit. And when he was given the opportunity to actually play (when Holland was shopping him), he was very good.
Mrazek vs McElhenney? Mrazek has the better save percentage by .02 and better GAA by .19. Mrazek's post-groin injury numbers are terrific.
20-11-1, .921, 2.29.
Anyway, Jimmy "Mr October" Howard could have been shopped, like Holland promised Mrazek, any of the last 4 years.

But Ken Holland foolishly believed this team might be a playoff team and didn't move him.

Here's Howard's GAA/Sv pct on Nov. 15 each of the last 3 years.
2018 - 6-6-2 .922 2.64
2017 - 7-5-1 .930 2.32
2016 - 4-3-0 .943 1.80

In any of these years, Howard could have been traded early in the season while he was playing well. There's always a team looking for a goalie.
And if you don't agree, then how is it that you think the Wings were able to offload a struggling Mrazek?

The fact is, there's no evidence Holland ever tried to trade Howard in the last 3 years. Blashill wanted Howard. Both Howard and Blashill seemed to believe Howard gave this team a chance to win.
Of course, every year, Howard crapped the bed after the first six weeks.

Defend Cleary, Bertuzzi, Samuelsson, Modano, Alfredsson, Quincey, Tootoo, Colaiacovo, White, Weiss, Erik Cole, David Legwand, Nielsen, Abdelkader, Helm, Ericsson, Zidlicky...

Be my guest.

But the article in OP makes it perfectly clear.

The Red Wings have been a ****ing slow-moving train wreck.

And thankfully, the engineer of this disaster is out of the picture.

I'm not defending any of those here. Those are irrelevant. Some of them are perfectly fine moves, however.

On Howard...

Teams would not have wanted to deal for Jimmy Howard at 5.3M with term. Not when he had a history of playing well for a month or two, getting hurt, and sucking. There was plenty of smoke around him once he got to the last two years of his deal.

On dealing Mrazek. He was a rental and they retained 50% on him. That's how they got something for him.

On not trading Howard... There was no takers for an okay starting goalie with 3+ years of term. That's when Mrazek was pushing for him to be traded. As soon as Mrazek got pissy that they didn't trade Howard away, that poisoned the well of him remaining here long term.

And honestly, Mrazek gave up 10 more goals in 7 more games in the regular season than McBackup. There is very little functional difference between 2.37 and 2.57 GAA. Further, Mrazek had a good half series this playoff run. The vast majority of it, he was actually trash. .894, 2.75. McBackup came in, same team in front of him, .930, 2.01.

Petr Mrazek, like Riley Sheahan, Teemu Pulkkinen, Xaiver Ouellet, etc. is not in Detroit anymore because he wasn't any ****ing good. Not because Holland had a boner for Jimmy Howard. Petr Mrazek was not why Carolina made it to the conference finals. He did have half a series where he put the team on his back. He also had about a series and a half where the team put him on their back and won a game or two where he gave up 5.

 

[vladdy16]

Was he really a top-10 goaltender? I always considered him middle of the pack, generally, with some high points mixed in.

I'm open to taking a look, but I'm pretty confident.

Osgood was never really evaluated that way by the fans or media. He was a young guy over his head on an underachieving team, then a passenger on a team that was historically good.

But if you take a look at the post mortem from each season, I think you'd be hard pressed to get to 10 goalies that had better stats/ability/impact.

Osgood was a great prospect that struggled to live up to his potential as the position changed, but took advantage of pedigree and circumstance to become an impactful netminder.

His strengths seeing the ice, and extinguishing abrupt net front chances complimented our puck dominant play style and reinforced it in ways that he doesnt get enough credit for.

And that's just the first half of his career.

 

[Winger98]

Osgood has been underappreciated by hockey fans for awhile. From 92/93 to 99/00 he was 7th in wins, 6th in sv%, and 5th in shutouts. Part of that, clearly, goes to being on some really good teams. But his sv% was the same as Vanbiesbrouk and Belfour's, while being better than Joseph and Richter's. If he didn't have to go against Roy every playoff run, I think his shortcomings wouldn't have been nearly as remarked upon.

 

[Frk It]

Osgood has been underappreciated by hockey fans for awhile. From 92/93 to 99/00 he was 7th in wins, 6th in sv%, and 5th in shutouts. Part of that, clearly, goes to being on some really good teams. But his sv% was the same as Vanbiesbrouk and Belfour's, while being better than Joseph and Richter's. If he didn't have to go against Roy every playoff run, I think his shortcomings wouldn't have been nearly as remarked upon.

It’s crazy how much better Hasek’s sv% is than everyone else’s over that period of time.