Red Wings: The rise of Jonathan Bernier and fall of Jimmy Howard

The rise of Jonathan Bernier during the 2019-20 season and his re-emergence after a down year in 2018-19 for the Red Wings.

Bernier has been with the Red Wings for two seasons and is under contract for one more, mostly as a backup, but more recently, the starter.

Bernier was never a Vezina winning goaltender in his prior ten seasons in the league, but he is a solid netminder who bounced between teams as a platoon starter, starter, and backup role. With the Red Wings, however, on this awful rebuilding team, he has catapulted himself into the starting role with his stats this season.

Bernier carries an 11-14-2 decision record over thirty games played with twenty-seven starts. Besides that, which is far better than Howard, Bernier has a .908 save percentage(SV%), which is just under what he averaged with other teams over his career. He also has a 2.89 goals-against average(GAA), which is not bad for a team that is playing with gaping holes all over the ice.

Compared to his other seasons, Bernier seems to have gotten back on track as a starter for a terrible team. Face the facts, Bernier is generally, keeping the Red Wings in the game, but the offense is lacking the spark to put up points, which happens to a team in a rebuild which has as many holes as the last-place Red Wings.

Since returning from his injury that sidelined him in January, Bernier has played in two games allowing only three goals on sixty-one shots faced, both resulting in losses. Times have changed, and Bernier is the starter of this team rather than Jimmy Howard, who has descended through the rankings.