Teammates' praise of Howard is great news for Red Wings fans

After a tough season, the news comes on point

Heading into the “Farewell Season at the Joe”, the Detroit Red Wings knew that the goaltending tandem of Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek was going to be a strong one. While Howard’s name circulated in trade rumors or as the likely candidate to be exposed in this upcoming summer’s NHL Expansion Draft, it appeared as though everything was set in stone moving forward.

However, despite Team USA’s loss at the Worlds, Howard was superb all tournament long.

"Jimmy wanted to come to this tournament," said Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, who ran the bench for the U.S. "He made that known early in the process, once we were eliminated from the playoffs. I just think for his own sake, he'd played so well until he got hurt, and he played very well when he got back. He just wanted to keep playing hockey."

"Even with the injury, he's had a really good season," Larkin said. "He kept us in a lot of games in Detroit, and then to have the injury, everyone was feeling for him. He hasn't taken any time off. He didn't even take the bye week off in Detroit. He was still skating and stayed for the All-Star break, rehabbing. Then, after the season, he skated all the way up until this tournament. You can see it paying off for him, too. You look at that game against the Russians, he kept us in it."