Detroit Red Wings Howard Returning from Injury

Jan 6, 2015; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Benoit Pouliot (67) and Detroit Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg (40) battle in front of Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard (35) during the second period at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

After being out a month, Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard is finally coming off of the IR.

Like the tweet says above, Petr Mrazek who has been filling in for Howard will get the start Wednesday when the team takes on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Which at the rate that Mrazek has been playing is a good thing. However with Howard coming back and Jonas Gustavsson also making strides in his rehab the Red Wings are in an interesting position.

Which goalies do you keep up with the club?

Clearly, you must have Howard, he hasn’t been putting up terrible numbers this season. In fact it has been a turnaround year for him before he got hurt. You can’t just dump your starter into the AHL or the backup spot after everything he has done for you.

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So the Red Wings have to decide do you keep Mrazek or Gustavsson? If you want to look at just stats on this season, well the clear winner is Mrazek because Gustavsson got hurt so early in the season that he hasn’t played since October 2014. While Mrazek has been a nice replacement for Howard while he was injured.

Mrazek is 13-4 on the season so far. He has had his few bad games that every goalie is allowed to have, but other than that he has been a good goalie for the team. The one thing that Gustavsson has that Mrazek doesn’t is playoff experience in the NHL. In the 2013-2014 season he played two games in the playoffs, the only downside? both of those games he was in, he lost.

While Mrazek hasn’t been in the NHL playoffs, he has in the AHL. He helped the Grand Rapids Griffins capture the Calder Cup. During their playoff run he played all 24 playoff games and was 15–9 with 4 shutouts. He also posted a 2.31 goals against and .916 save percentage. While it may have been in the AHL, it is still a lot of success in the playoffs.

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Which in the end, that is what the team needs. They are making their way to the playoffs and are going to need a goaltender to back up Jimmy Howard. Gustavsson has had the experience, but at the same time, Mrazek has been keeping it together for the team in the absence of both Howard and Gustavsson. So why not just keep him and have Gustavsson go down to Grand Rapids until Mrazek gives you a reason to send him down.

I think with the tandem of Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek the Red Wings have the better chance of making it farther in the playoffs, because unless something terribly bad happens this team is making into the playoffs. Yet to make it farther than the first round this team is going to need not only Howard to play well, but also their back up to play well in case something happens to Howard.

I’ve said it before, to be a successful team, you need a good goalie but your back up goalie has to be not spectacular, but he has to be able to win games. With Howard and Mrazek I think the Red Wings have that more than when Gustavsson is the backup goaltender.