MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a mailbag feature this morning. Among his questions:
Q: What is going on with the Red Wings’ goaltending situation, now and in the future? Is this the last year for (Jimmy) Howard? Why was (Jonathan) Bernier signed for three years? Why not one or two years? Are any kids in the system close to making the jump (to the NHL)? – Mort
A: Howard is entering the final year of his contract. I think the Red Wings will sign him to a one- or two-year extension. None of their junior/college/European prospects is close to being NHL-ready. I believe the organization would prefer Howard, even at age 35 in March, over Grand Rapids goalies Harri Sateri and Patrik Rybar in 2019-20. And it appears to be a thin free-agent market for goalies in 2019, assuming Sergei Bobrovsky (Columbus) and Pekka Rinne (Nashville) sign with their teams.
I think they will have a Howard-Bernier tandem for the next two or three years.
Bernier wasn’t going to sign for one year and they might not have gotten him for two years. They felt comfortable with three years because it’s safe to assume none of their prospects will be NHL-ready during that time.
Pretty sad there have been only two (maybe) prospects in the last 5 yrs
Ex Goalie GM Holland really missed the boat over the years
Awfully hard to draft goalies.
Most of the good ones seem to be found after the first round (partly because most teams are reluctant to spend any first round pick on such a hard to project position?)
But that’s little reason not to try.
Some good ones have been acquired at a relatively reasonable cost in recent years as they prove themselves too good and potentially expensive to toil behind an established starter.
I can see how Rybar would be considered too old to be a prospect in spite of the different timeline for goalie development. Is Fulcher not considered a prospect (I know he was signed, not drafted). As of now, it looks like Larssen might be a legit prospect. Petruzelli a raw project/prospect with high upside. And the rest a bunch of longshots or guys who haven’t panned out.
Of course just a couple years ago, we thought we’d found our goalie of the future. Am very very curious how Mrazek does in Carolina, especially if he is given an equal chance to seize the starting job.
‘Am very very curious how Mrazek does in Carolina’—the answer most likely lies in how well he did in Philadelphia.
This might be Mrazek’s last chance to be a 1A or even 1B
From Philly’s perspective he helped get them into the playoffs with both goalies down, for a #3. That’s probably all they expected.
No way Philly wasn’t going back to their tandem signed past the playoffs once they were healthy.
Who knows what will happen in Carolina. But they have a pretty solid defense and, after Ward, Lack, and Darling underwhelming, this might actually be a great opportunity for Mrazek. Not saying he’s suddenly any less inconsistent than we’ve seen over the past few years. But he really has a full season now to show what he can do with more rope.
Am also interested to see what Rybar’s upside in NA might be, if he’s given a chance.