{"id":4506,"date":"2016-12-23T11:38:41","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T16:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=4506"},"modified":"2016-12-23T12:57:23","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T17:57:23","slug":"jimmy-howard-miss-4-6-weeks-mcl-sprain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2016\/12\/23\/jimmy-howard-miss-4-6-weeks-mcl-sprain\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Howard Out 4-6 Weeks With MCL Sprain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Detroit Red Wings were dealt the opposite of a Christmas present today when it was announced that <\/span><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/howarja02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Howard<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> would be missing 4-6 weeks with an MCL sprain. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Jimmy Howard To Miss 4-6 Weeks With MCL Sprain<\/b><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MCL sprain for Jimmy Howard. Out 4-6 weeks. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RedWings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RedWings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HeleneStJames\/status\/812325173995171841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 23, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Howard had to be helped off the ice during the second period of Tuesday\u2019s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was writhing in pain after a collision with <\/span><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/condrer01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erik Condra<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Lightning and Red Wings rookie defenseman <\/span><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/j\/jenseni02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Jensen<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> fell on top of him. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Howard\u2019s Elite Season Riddled With Challenges<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What makes this news really painful is how good of a season Howard has been having so far. He\u2019s tied with none other than <\/span><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/priceca01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carey Price<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the second-best save percentage in the league among goalies who have started more than fifteen games. His .934 save percentage and 1.96 goals against average are much higher than his career average of .915 and 2.43. In fact, they are the best of his career so far.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/widgets.eliteprospects.com\/iframe_player_stats_small.php?player=9058\" width=\"100%\" height=\"490\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Howard has been one of the very few bright spots on this 2016-17 Red Wings team. His goaltending has kept them in almost every game that he\u2019s started. His team\u2019s lack of offensive production is holding him back in the \u201cwins\u201d column, as he&#8217;s gotten just over one goal of support per game all season, the lowest in the NHL.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To add to this frustration, this is the second injury Howard has sustained this season. In late November, he had a stint on the injured reserve after leaving a game against the New Jersey Devils. Howard has been bitten by the injury bug in recent years suffering multiple lower-body injuries since 2013, the year he signed a six-year $32 million contract extension. Since signing that, he&#8217;s never put up a save percentage over .910, and due to his career season, these are tough ones to swallow.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Mrazek\u2019s Time to Shine<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taking the reigns from Howard is 24-year old <\/span><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mrazepe01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Petr Mrazek<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. After putting up elite numbers for the first half of last year, it was widely believed that Mrazek would be Detroit\u2019s go-to goaltender this year. Alas, Mrazek has fallen back to Earth, posting a .899 SV% and 3.06 GAA so far this season. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that Howard\u2019s out, all of the pressure falls heavily on Mrazek\u2019s shoulders. He has failed to post above a .900 SV% in his last three outings, so the team expects him to turn a corner here and carry the goaltending load. This is his chance to get himself back into the starting goaltender discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/coreaja01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared Coreau<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been called up from the Grand Rapids Griffins to back Mrazek up, and it appears he will be making his second career start. He gave up four goals in a 5-3 loss in Pittsburgh earlier this year making 32 saves. In his last 89 games at the AHL level, he&#8217;s put up a 2.27 goals against average and .924 save percentage. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jared Coreau first off ice for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RedWings?src=hash\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RedWings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HeleneStJames\/status\/812336545575403520\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 23, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/623583572\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/623583572?et=-xcDP1lJTT9j444sQjdIqg&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=5nsbwphotjcRwRMcN3u5ULn5HHa4pW6_-W8vvzqQwbE=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Detroit Red Wings were dealt the opposite of a Christmas present today when it was announced that Jimmy Howard would be missing 4-6 weeks with an MCL sprain. Jimmy Howard To Miss 4-6 Weeks With MCL Sprain MCL sprain for Jimmy Howard. Out 4-6 weeks. #RedWings &mdash; Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 23, 2016 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1667,"featured_media":4509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,34],"tags":[95,37,1053,817,38,619],"class_list":["post-4506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-redwings","category-news","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-hockey","tag-jared-coreau","tag-jimmy-howard","tag-nhl","tag-petr-mrazek"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}