Money time for Jimmy Howard
The Red Wings raided the Grand Rapids Griffins this past offseason, taking their top three forwards in Jiri Hudler, Tomas Kopecky and Valtteri Filppula. Those three players accounted for 88 goals and 238 points for Grand Rapids last season. So it was expected that Jimmy Howard would need to be the Griffins’ best player if the team was to make the playoffs.
He has been hit or miss this season, at times being excellent and at other times pretty average. He was given a C+ grade by the website Griffins Central through the halfway point of the season. Here is what they had to say:
A streaky season so far for the future of the organization, Howard has had stretches where he was the difference and stretches where he struggled. Consistency is what he must work on in the second half to push for an NHL job next season. The skills are there, but he must bring the same approach day in and day out.
Helene St. James recently sat down with Red Wings general manager Ken Holland and goaltending coach Jim Bedard to talk about Howard’s development. Bedard gave a good take on where Howard is right now in his career:
“He’s shown technical improvement in that he is more patient, which comes with experience,” goaltending coach Jim Bedard said. “He’s learned it’s important he stay in position rather than chase the play. He’s not overreacting. He’s letting the play come to him.”
On the flip side, Bedard said, Howard needs to react better to situations that originate behind the net and to do a better job finding the puck when there’s a ton of traffic in front of the net. Then there’s the elemental task of recovering at his post, for while Howard moves well for a 6-foot, 215-pound guy, he doesn’t yet have the instinct to arrive in position to make the save rather than arrive and then have to get straightened out first.
“But overall,” Bedard said, “I like the way he’s progressing. I like his attitude, I like his work ethic, and I like how he’s perceived by his teammates.”
How he is perceived by his teammates is a big factor. If the team has confidence in their goaltender they will play much better. The Griffins have really struggled with goaltending during the time Howard was out of the lineup with an injured ankle. Griffins Central gives a good description of how dicey the goaltending situation has been in Howard’s absence:
What started out as a day to day ankle sprain has cost starter Howard the whole month of January, leaving Stefan Liv and a rotating committee to patrol the crease. The Wings sent down GR’s all time wins leader Joey MacDonald for a few games, but recalled him when they ran into injury problems of their own.
MacDonald split his two decisions and played well enough to win both. Liv continued to make progress, turning in a 5-3 record in the eight games he saw prior to being shelved with a groin injury. With no healthy netminders in the system (3rd stringer Logan Koopmans has been out with an injury since his last stint in Grand Rapids), former MSU puckstopper Dominic Vicari was thrown to the wolves in his first AHL start.
Vicari gave up 4 goals on 7 shots before being pulled in favor of Muskegon Fury backup Ryan Cyr, also making his AHL debut, who played well in a losing effort the rest of the way. Liv was able to play through his injury the next night, and Howard was slated to return after the All-Star break.
The Griffins are currently in 4th place in the North Division of the Western Conference. Considering the injuries they’ve had to deal with their 3.15 GAA is competitive. However they have only averaged 2.85 goals per game. With the firepower they lost to Detroit, the team is going to have to rely on Howard to help them move into playoff contention.
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