Detroit Red Wings Must Trade Jimmy Howard This Offseason

Detroit Red Wings net-minder Jimmy Howard has had a good run in Motown, but Petr Mrazek is the future and the time is now for the Wings to trade Howard.

Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland has a bad habit of often overvaluing his own players. Examples are aplenty but just mentioning the names of Jonathan Ericsson and Dan Cleary is enough to boil the blood of many Red Wings fans.

But fans shouldn’t be mad at the players, they should be frustrated with Holland. In Ericsson’s case, Holland signed Ericsson to a six year contract worth $25.5 million in 2013. At the time, the contract paid Ericsson like a borderline top-pairing defenseman.

Unfortunately, Ericsson doesn’t play that way. He has never tallied more than 15 points in a season and he isn’t the physical presence his size would indicate.

More from Detroit Red Wings

The case of Dan Cleary is even more egregious. Ken Holland kept re-signing Cleary to one-year contracts with the Wings, long after it was clear Cleary’s best days were behind him.

Cleary continued to take up a roster spot on Detroit even though he was physically hampered, and his spot could have better been used on a handful of prospects. Holland reportedly kept employing Cleary because he was honoring some handshake deal the two had made years before when Cleary spurned the Philadelphia Flyers to return to Detroit.

So what do Jonathan Ericsson and Dan Cleary have to do with Jimmy Howard? Hopefully nothing.

If Ken Holland is smart he will have learned from past mistakes, and he will realize the time is now to part ways with Jimmy Howard. Truthfully, Holland is already late to the game. Holland signed Howard to a six year contract extension worth $31.8 million in 2013.

Howard’s contract, at the time it was signed, paid him like a top-ten goalie. There have been moments that Howard has performed up to par with his contract, but those moments are long past.

Petr Mrazek is the Wings starting goalie of the present and future, and there should be no room, nor excuse, to pay Howard $5.3 million to be a backup.

This past year Mrazek outplayed Howard in the regular season, and he clearly outperformed him in the playoffs.

The Wings are in a tight bind with the salary cap. They have several lengthy and expensive contracts – Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, and Ericsson. They have the Johan Franzen LTIR contract to deal with. They have the Pavel Datsyuk situation still unresolved. And they have several key restricted free agents they must re-sign this offseason, including Mrazek.

Howard is a serviceable goalie. Serviceable might even be underselling him a bit. But his time in Detroit should be up. Holland should find any way to trade Howard this offseason.

The Calgary Flames might be interested. The Carolina Hurricanes could be interested too. The Dallas Stars pay two goalies first-string money. Maybe they want to pay for another one. OK, maybe the Stars aren’t an option.

Any team that may be interested, the Wings should be aggressive in making a Howard trade happen. They might have to retain some of his salary, and Howard might not fetch that much in a trade.

Next: Red Wings Must Upgrade Defense in Offseason

Still, something is better than nothing and the Wings need to get something for Howard while they still can.

Home/Detroit Red Wings