After winning nearly 70 games and being the runner-up for rookie of the year, the Red Wings felt that they should probably keep Jimmy Howard around for a while.
↵The Red Wings did just that, giving Howard a two-year contract extension that pays him $2.25 million each season. Howard is making $800,000 this year according to CapGeek.com, so it's a substantial raise for the soon to be 27-year-old. GM Ken Holland gave his reasons for the extension:
↵↵↵"He was a big part of us making the playoffs last year, his rookie year," Holland said. "He’s a young goalie, and we feel he’ll continue to grow."
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Howard played 67 games last season and went 37-15-10 with a 2.26 goals against average and a .924 save percentage. This season Howard is on pace for over 40 victories with a 30-12-3 mark and a 2.79 GAA. The Red Wings, who are right up against the cap this season, will have the contracts of both Kris Draper and Chris Osgood coming off the books next season and it's unclear if they'll retire or not.
↵So how does Howard's new deal compare him with the rest of the league? Here's the top five highest-paid netminders in the NHL (again via CapGeek).
↵1. Roberto Luongo, VAN, $10 million
2. Henrik Lundqvist, NYR, $7.75 million
3. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, TOR, $7 million
4. Miikka Kiprusoff, CAL, $7 million
5. Tomas Vokoun, FLA, $6.3 million
Howard's new deal will put him in the No. 25-20 bracket of the list of highest paid goaltenders. The Red Wings have never been big on paying goalies ridiculous amounts of money, and this keeps in line with that.