RWC REPORT: Will Howard's time come?

By Matthew Wuest - RedWingsCentral.com / December 1, 2008

There are more than a few followers of the Detroit Red Wings who figure Jimmy Howard should already be tending goal in the NHL.

No doubt, Dominik Hasek's retirement in the off-season opened the door for that to happen. But Howard — now 24 years old — didn't walk through it, bowing out to Ty Conklin in the battle to become Chris Osgood's backup.

So Howard is back in the American Hockey League for a fourth season with the Grand Rapids Griffins, looking to prove to the Red Wings that he'll be ready to assume the backup gig in Motown next fall.

"This is going to be a really good year for him to round out his game," Griffins general manager Bob McNamara. "It's an opportunity to work on the finer points and little attention-to-detail things that will keep him in the NHL for a long time. I think he'll be a guy who will play in Detroit next year."

Fact is, Howard basically has to play for the Red Wings next year because his waiver-exempt tag is officially gone after this season. Either that or he'll be made available to the 29 other NHL clubs on the wire.

The one thing that must be understood with goaltenders is they take longer to develop, on average. Miikka Kiprusoff, Ilya Bryzgalov and Marty Turco were all 25 years old before breaking into the NHL as backups; Vesa Toskala and Nicklas Backstrom were 26; and Manny Legace was 27.

Howard, drafted 64th overall in 2003, turns 25 in March.

The 6-foot-1, 208-pounder has shared time in Grand Rapids with rookie Daniel Larsson, another solid prospect. He has a 5-5-2 record in 13 starts along with a 2.74 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage.

While Howard's numbers don't jump out at you, he received a pat on the back from Griffins head coach Curt Fraser after being named second star with a 20-save performance in Saturday's 3-1 win over Rochester.

"I'm just glad for Jimmy Howard," Fraser told the Grand Rapids Press. "He's been doing a good job and hasn't been getting any rewards for it. Tonight, it was nice to see."

* Howard might want to look over his shoulder, because Larsson's coming on strong in his first year out of the Swedish Elite League. He picked up his second shutout of the year on Sunday and hasn't lost in regulation in six starts, posting a 1.58 GAA and a .937 save percentage in that stretch.

* Still on the goalie front, Thomas McCollum (Guelph, Ontario Hockey League) is second in the OHL in GAA (2.29) and fourth in save percentage (.924). He gives Detroit outstanding prospect depth in the crease.

* Forward Cory Emmerton (Grand Rapids, AHL) is starting to make some noise. Although he's still looking for his first pro goal, he has nine assists in his past nine games and is tied for third among AHL rookies with 12 helpers in 20 games. His role will only grow with production like this.

* The lack of production from forward Ville Leino (Grand Rapids, AHL) is cause for concern. Leino doesn't have a point in three contests; doesn't have a goal since Oct. 25; and has just five assists in his past 10 games.

* Also in Grand Rapids, rookie blueliner Logan Pyett has been a healthy scratch, while forward Evan McGrath (four goals, six assists in 11 games in November) and defenseman Jakub Kindl continue to come on strong.

* Defenseman Bryan Rufenach (Clarkson, NCAA) had a goal and two assists in a pair of weekend games and has five points in 11 contests. He's just an assist away from surpassing last year's freshman output of six points. Rufenach is an undersized blueliner cut from the Derek Meech/Brett Lebda cloth.

The following is an up-to-date statistical report for skaters:

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
A H L
Ville Leino	Grand Rapids	AHL	20	4	16	20	6
Darren Helm	Grand Rapids	AHL	19	5	13	18	4
Justin Abdelkader	Grand Rapids	AHL	22	9	5	14	33
Mattias Ritola	Grand Rapids	AHL	22	7	7	14	8
Cory Emmerton	Grand Rapids	AHL	20	0	12	12	8
Evan McGrath	Grand Rapids	AHL	15	4	7	11	6
Jakub Kindl	Grand Rapids	AHL	22	4	7	11	6
Ryan Oulahen	Grand Rapids	AHL	22	6	2	8	9
Jonathan Ericsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	21	0	7	7	28
Jamie Tardif	Grand Rapids	AHL	15	3	1	4	11
Logan Pyett	Grand Rapids	AHL	16	0	4	4	0
Sergei Kolosov	Grand Rapids	AHL	16	0	3	3	12
Jan Mursak	Grand Rapids	AHL	15	0	1	1	6
K H L
Gennady Stolyarov	Astana Barys	KHL	20	6	4	10	16
Miroslav Blatak	Salavat Yulaev	KHL	27	1	6	7	12
S W E D E N
Dick Axelsson	Djurgarden	SEL	16	5	7	12	6
Anton Axelsson	Timra	SEL	26	3	4	7	0
Joakim Andersson	Frolunda	SEL	27	1	3	4	14
Jesper Samuelsson	Timra	SEL	26	2	1	3	6
Joakim Andersson	Boras	SWE-2	4	2	2	4	2
Johan Ryno	AIK	SWE-2	4	1	2	3	2
Jesper Samuelsson	Sundsvall	SWE-2	5	0	1	1	4
C H L
Brent Raedeke	Edmonton	WHL	29	8	18	26	36
Randy Cameron	Moncton	QMJHL	22	3	18	21	12
Zack Torquato	Erie	OHL	25	12	9	21	40
Stephen Johnston	Belleville	OHL	25	8	12	20	14
Brian Lashoff	Barrie	OHL	25	1	12	13	19
N C A A
Brendan Smith	Wisconsin	WCHA	15	4	8	12	34
Gustav Nyquist	Maine	HE	12	6	5	11	14
Julien Cayer	Clarkson	WCHA	7	1	4	5	8
Bryan Rufenach	Clarkson	ECAC	11	2	3	5	22
Nick Oslund	St. Cloud State	WCHA	13	3	1	4	4
Nils Backstrom	Alaska-Anchorage	WCHA	14	1	0	1	14
U S H L
Max Nicastro	Chicago	USHL	17	3	7	10	23

The following is an up-to-date statistical report for goaltenders:

NAME	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	W-L-O	GAA	SPCT
Thomas McCollum	Guelph	OHL	24	12-8-4	2.29	.924
Daniel Larsson	Grand Rapids	AHL	12	7-2-1	2.52	.910
Jimmy Howard	Grand Rapids	AHL	13	5-5-2	2.74	.895

LEAGUE LEGEND: AHL — American Hockey League; KHL — Kontinental Hockey League; SEL — Swedish Elite League; SWE-2 — Swedish Allsvenskan (second level); OHL — Ontario Hockey League; WHL — Western Hockey League; QMJHL — Quebec Major Junior Hockey League; WCHA — Western Collegiate Hockey Association; ECAC — East Coast Athletic Conference; HE — Hockey East; USHL — United States Hockey League.