MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article discussing Ville Husso’s status as the Red Wings’ goaltender, and the ways in which the team hopes to give him another 50-55 starts without burning him out this upcoming season:
“We plan on using him in a similar amount of games,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “It just felt like last year we pushed him into some games because of where we were with what we weren’t getting out of some of our depth at that position. I think we knew we probably overused him, maybe took him beyond his threshold. We have a plan on what the season will look like. It’s probably a day-to-day thing, but we foresee him (in) the 55, 56-58 range. Hopefully, we can manage it a little bit better than we did last year in the volume of when and where.”
That means managing the schedule better.
“How many games a week, smart about rest days,” Lalonde said.
Husso was the Red Wings’ most valuable player for much the season, the main reason they briefly climbed into a playoff position on Feb. 23. He was 23-13-5 with a 2.85 goals-against average and .907 save percentage at that stage.
After a pair of blowout losses in Ottawa prompted general manager Steve Yzerman to sell at the trade deadline, Husso wasn’t himself the final few weeks, going 1-6-1 with a 4.32 GAA and .839 save percentage.
“At the end I think I wasn’t on the level I wanted to be and needed to be,” Husso said. “The start of the year was good and I got to get a good start this year, too.”
