Wings GM Ken Holland on potentially major trade: “thought about it lots.”

If you had suggested this trade roughly a year and a half ago, you would have been chased out of Detroit with pitchforks, but now it seems like the majority of the fan base is calling for this move.

According to a report from The Detroit News, general manager Ken Holland has informed reporter Ted Kulfan that he has put a lot of thought into the possibily of trading goaltender Jimmy Howard.

“I can see on the one hand that having two goaltenders, it’s a nice luxury,” Holland said. “Certainly Jimmy Howard played an important role down the stretch in our team qualifying for the playoffs.

“It (a trade) might be good for some careers and good for the organization. I’ve thought about it lots.”

It was just a little over a year ago that Jimmy Howard was being named to the 2015 All-Star, a game he never played in as a result of suffering a major injury. That injury in large part led to the ascension of Petr Mrazek, a much younger, cheaper and comparable option in goal for the Red Wings. For his part Howard says he doesn't want to go anywhere:

“It would be disappointing. I’ve met a lot of great people in this city. But that’s the nature of this business. Sometimes you have to pack up and move on.”

Howard currently carries a $5.3 million dollar cap hit, a price tag that you simply can't justify having on a backup goaltender, and one that will make him difficult to trade without retaining any salary. 

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