Detroit Red Wings: How Long Will Jimmy Howard Be 'The Guy' in Net?

If there is one thing that the Detroit Red Wings players, fans and management have learned this season, it is that when healthy, the Red Wings have the deepest goaltending trio in the NHL.

But as big of a blessing as that could appear, over the past two months, the Detroit Red Wings seems to be part of a growing league-wide "problem" of backup goalies (third-string in this case) taking the reins in the crease and running with them.

Starting Red Wings' goaltender Jimmy Howard is just one of a handful of No. 1 goalies around the NHL who have lost time and starts to their understudies, who have outplayed starters over a prolonged period of time.

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In Howard's case, Petr Mrazek stepped in when Howard and normal backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson were both out with injuries. Mrazek performed admirably over the duration of Howard's absence in January, picking up nine wins and losing just three times, while getting pulled in another game that the Wings came back to win.

While Jimmy Howard has a slightly better 2.38 GAA than Mrazek's 2.47 GAA, the Red Wings just seem to play better offensively when Mrazek is in net. The "goals for in games played in" statistic below does not take into account which goalie was in net if more than one goalie played in the game (i.e. injury or goalie gets pulled, etc). It simply notes the goals per game in games which a goalie played any part of.

Goals For/Against per Goalie	Howard	Mrazek
Games Played	45	21
Average Goals For In Games Played In	2.82	3.28
Average Goals Against	2.38	2.47

Obviously, Howard has the better goals-against average over Mrazek. But inexplicably, the Red Wings just seem to score more for Petr Mrazek than they do for Jimmy Howard, who has seen his GAA fall off from the lights-out 2.11 GAA that Howard had prior to his injury.

The one-time American Olympian has the experience in the crease necessary to carry the Wings in the playoffs, but Mrazek has been winning games and seems to inspire confidence in his teammates overall.

Howard just seems to pick up a lot of "hard luck" losses, despite the fact that he plays well in most games where those hard-luck losses occur.

Going into the playoffs, Mike Babcock (and coaches in general) like to see experience in net, but one can't deny that Mrazek has been the hot hand, which is why he is picking up his second consecutive start in Florida on Thursday, per Helene St. James of Detroit Free Press.

But Jimmy Howard is not the same goalie he was prior to his groin injury, and he has just four wins in 11 starts since then, giving up 35 goals in those 11 games. 

While coaches might attribute some of those goals to the Red Wings' horrendous defense and lack of offensive support in those games, the fact is that Howard needs to step up and help his team out when it's struggling as the coach-named "starting goalie" for Detroit.

So how long can Howard rely on the support from his head coach?

He could just play himself out of a starting role in the playoffs.

All statistics via NHL.com.