Jimmy Howard vs. Pekka Rinne

Well, we're here. It's playoff time and everyone is buzzing about whose going to step up to the plate and deliver a legendary performance and who is going to go home the loser. The Detroit Red Wings play the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference's tightest matchup. As much as I'd like to go on a tirade about legacies, streaks, and Detroit's recent success against Nashville in the playoffs, I'm taking off my Red Wings cap to put on my goaltending analysis cap.

In the red corner, there's Detroit Red Wings starting goaltender, Jimmy Howard. In the blue corner, Nashville Predators' starting goaltender Pekka Rinne. Is there a better matchup among first round goaltenders? I think not. Without any further peacocking, it's time to see how these two stack up against one another.

Here. We. Go.

REGULAR SEASON

Jimmy Howard: Detroit's goaltending saviour had a phenomenal regular season, sporting top ten numbers in wins, save percentage, goals against average, and shutouts. As good as that is for Jimmy after a mediocre sophomore campaign, the better news was he did all of this in a season where he went down twice with injuries. Perhaps that is looking through rose coloured glasses, but since coming back from injury he looks like the same guy who stole a LOT of wins in the first half of the season. The injuries are a black mark on the season, but not enough to steal away the credit earned as Jimmy flirted with the idea of smashing Martin Brodeur's NHL record for wins (48).

Pekka Rinne: Nashville has always had a lot of luck with their goaltenders. Are they a product of their defensive system? I disagree with the notion, and Pekka Rinne is the perfect way to explain why. The guy is a straight up DYNAMO in goal. He led the league in wins, saves, shots against, and games played. He's a workhorse, and a damn good one. Since becoming the Predator's starter his workload has constantly increased over four seasons, and he's only gotten better. The idea of a fresh Pekka Rinne in the playoffs is as intimidating as just about any goaltender in the NHL. He is to be respected. He should be nominated for the Vezina, but will likely be overlooked in favor of some random guy in New York. Henrik something or other. Pfft.

Jimmy Howard's 2011-2012 Record: 35-17-4, 2.13 GAA, .920 SV%, 6 SO

Pekka Rinne's 2011-2012 Record: 43-18-8, 2.39 GAA, .923 SV%, 5 SO

Advantage: Pekka Rinne. Jimmy Howard's season is difficult to fully gage as he went down with an injury near the end. Twice. It's hard to say whether he would have kept pace or not. Even though Jimmy walks away with a better goals-against-average and more shutouts, Rinne had a Vezina season.

PLAYOFF PERFORMANCE

Jimmy Howard: The Wings have gone down twice in a row to the San Jose Sharks in recent seasons, both of which had Jimmy Howard in goal. All due respect to the Sharks for dumping the Red Wings twice in a row, Jimmy wasn't the reason they lost and his numbers defend this point. In two playoff seasons, Howard has a respectable-but-not-yet-impressive 21-11 record with a bloated 2.63 GAA and a surprising .919 SV%. Having enjoyed watching Jimmy play the last two playoffs I can say that he is the least concern in this series. He will do his job and at times steal the show.

Pekka Rinne: In the two seasons Pekka Rinne has led the Nashville Predators into the playoffs, they went home empty handed once and in the most recent season popped their playoff series cherry, beating the stingy Anaheim Ducks 4-2. Rinne has been pedestrian, sporting an 8-10 record with a 2.60 GAA and a .908 SV%. Those are way down from the Pekka Rinne standard that dominated the regular season. One could argue that too much of a burden is placed on Rinne to dominate games that tend to be tighter, more defensive, and light on goal scoring. I don't think Rinne completely evades criticism, as .908 is a good save percentage number but NOT if you're going to win it all. Goalies, more than anyone, need to be sharp and stingy. Pekka Rinne can do it, but clearly he has yet to perform at maximum ability.

Jimmy Howard's Playoff Record: 12-11, 2.63 GAA, .919 SV%, 1 SO

Pekka Rinne's Playoff Record: 8-10, 2.60 GAA, .908 SV%, 0 S)

Advantage: Jimmy Howard. Jimmy help bring Detroit to within five minutes of overcoming San Jose's 3-0 series lead. Jimmy has taken over playoff series and won them. Pekka Rinne, despite providing the Vancouver Canucks with a nail biting series, hasn't reached the level he should be at in the postseason. Neither have world-beating records, but the numbers show Jimmy has been better.

SO WHO IS BETTER?

There isn't much else to analyze, so I'll cut straight to the heart of the matter. Having watched both goaltenders play in the regular season and playoffs the past two seasons, it's clear who the better goaltender is. Pekka Rinne has been on the outskirts of Vezina talk for some time now and if he doesn't get the nomination, maybe even the win, this season, there's something wrong. He is a great goaltender. He stymies opponents every time he's on the ice. He takes advantage of a defensive system built on playing stingy hockey with no holes. Where there are holes, Pekka Rinne plugs the leaks. He has an immaculate gift for winning those one goal affairs. It's something that gets ignored come trophy season. On the other hand, Jimmy Howard has stepped into a role that has seen legends like Terry Sawchuck, Roger Crozier, Dominik Hasek, Mike Vernon, and of course Chris Osgood, dominate the position. The difference between all of these goaltenders (exception being Crozier, who was with the Wings in tougher times) and Jimmy Howard is that they all stood behind teams that had an endless parade of Hall-of-Fame forwards and defensemen who consistently shellshocked other teams into submission. This iteration of the Detroit Red Wings that boasts the likes of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Nick Lidstrom, are not the 2002 Red Wings. No, this is a team that needs great goaltending to succeed. All due respect to Osgood, who didn't shock the world into thinking he was great until his final two playoff seasons, Jimmy could become the better of the two, and may already be there. Rather than have the Fedorovs and Datsyuks take over the game, it's now Jimmy leading the charge. It's a refreshing change. Is Jimmy Howard a great goaltender? Not yet. He is on the step before the top step in the staircase of goaltending greatness. Pekka Rinne is a half step ahead.

Rolling into Nashville on Wednesday night is going to be the biggest challenge the Detroit Red Wings have faced in the first round of the playoffs in a long time. I have much respect for our division rivals, even though the constant use of the term "SCUM" to describe the players and fanbase is enough to turn me away from reading their websites. This series is THE one to watch in round one. If not for the fantastic rivalry that is growing, then it is for the outstanding goaltending dual about to happen. It's going to be a seven game slugfest decided by overtime and one goal games. Hopefully, by series' end, Detroit will be walking away the victor, but I have no illusions of grandeur that it will be easy.

The Wiz Biz: Retiring an NHL Number

How does a franchise decide what numbers to retire? What is the criteria? How much of an impact does it have on players currently playing?

These are all interesting questions that come up when hockey enthusiasts talk about the importance of a number. Some numbers are now immortalized by outstanding careers of certain players. For example, no one can ever wear #99 again. Not even you, Wilf Paiement. Below is a collection of fun facts related to retiring NHL numbers. Enjoy!

• Currently, the Anaheim Ducks, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Florida Panthers, the Nashville Predators, the San Jose Sharks, and the Tampa Bay Lightning are the only teams without retired numbers. It seems inevitable that Anaheim will hang forward Teemu Selanne's #8 in the rafters and I suspect Tampa will consider retiring Dave Andreychuk's #25 now that he is VP in charge of fans. In due time, the remaining teams on this list will find their immortal player to raise to the rafters. Perhaps in due time Rick Nash in Columbus or Patrick Marleau in San Jose. Only time will tell.

• As rare as it is to have your number retired, only six players have their number retired on more than one team as a direct result of their service. The Silver Six:

• Bobby Hull: retired with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes
• Gordie Howe: retired with the Detroit Red Wings and the Hartford Whales (now defunct)
• Wayne Gretzky: retired with the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings (league wide)
• Raymond Bourque: retired with the Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche
• Mark Messier: retired with the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Rangers
• Patrick Roy: Retired with the Montreal Canadiens and the Colorado Avalanche

• The first number retired among NHL teams was Irvine Wallace "Ace" Bailey of the Toronto Maple Leafs. On December 12th, 1933, Ace was hit from behind by Eddie Shore and his career ended in an instant. An "all star" game was held on his behalf in 1934, where Shore and Bailey shook hands. The #6 remains in the rafters at the Air Canada Centre today.
  
  
• Aside from Gretzky's #99, the #77 of Raymond Bourque is the next highest number, followed by #66 Mario Lemieux, and #35 of Tony Esposito and Mike Richter. The number most frequently retired number is #9, which has nine players on eleven teams including defunct teams:
• Maurice Richard, Montreal Canadiens.
• Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers.
• Johnny Bucyk, Boston Bruins.
• Bobby Hull, Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets.
• Lanny MacDonald, Calgary Flames.
• Clark Gilles, New York Islanders.
• Glenn Anderson, Edmonton Oilers.
• Adam Graves, New York Rangers.
• Andy Bathgate, New York Rangers.
  

Now that I have polluted your mind with an excess of facts about retired number, it's time to discuss the questions posed at the beginning of the article. If you take a glance at all of the names that are listed here and on the "List of NHL Retired Numbers" page, at least 90% of the names belong to players you know about. The scorers, the legendary goaltenders, the multi-time Stanley Cup Champions, and the legends of a time no one can remember. Some names that appear on that list are unrecognizable to even the most hardened hockey buffs. Who is Barry Ashbee? Bob Gassoff? Michel Brière? The latter two had their careers cut tragically short from accidents, while Ashbee was struck by in the eye and later died of leukemia.

The criteria for retiring a number is entirely dependent on context. Players who have been mediocre scorers or had only menial impact on the ice, all due respect to them, have had their numbers retired. Statistics do not matter as much as you would think they should. The retiring of a number is about more than the game itself. Men who have been deemed the "heart and soul" of a team, those who have died tragically or had their careers cut abruptly short, and those who served their team loyally have earned their place in the rafters of the home team arena.

The perfect example to demonstrate my point is New York Islanders forward Bob Nystrom. Dubbed "Mr. Islander" and beloved by Long Island fans, Nystrom's career statistics are not by any means mind boggling: in 900 regular season games, Nystrom scored 235 goals, 278 assists, 513 points and 1248 penalty minutes. In 157 playoff games, Nystrom had 83 points and 236 penalty minutes. His statistics are somewhat comparable to Tomas Holmstrom with the except of Nystrom's seemingly fearless attitude towards taking penalties. But he will always be remembered for the goal.

Skip to about 1:30 to get to the good stuff. Tonelli to Nystrom, back of the net. The beginning of a dynasty. Nystrom would remain a central piece of the Islander dynasty that would go on to dominate the NHL for four years before the Oilers finally toppled their empire in 1983-1984. Nystrom's play would peter off after the successful run of the Islanders until he retired in 1986. Nystrom was a power forward who was not afraid to get physical, but more important to his legacy are the four playoff overtime winners and his dedication to the Long Island community. After retiring he remained with the team in a number of positions, including Director of Special Projects, Director of Community Relations, Director of Amateur Hockey Development & Alumni Relations, and finally Director of Corporate Relations. His jersey was retired in 1995.

Nystrom wasn't the power scorer like Mike Bossy, but one could argue no one was or will be. He also wasn't the two way dynamo that was Bryan Trottier. He may not even have been as strong a power forward as Clark Gilles. Yet all four men have their numbers retired by the Islanders, rightfully so, and Nystrom will not be forgotten by Islanders faithful for being the man who put the puck in the net for their first championship. It's players like Nystrom who belong in the rafters alongside the Potvins and the Bossys. The easy choices are always the trophy winners, the all-time scorers, or the legendary defensemen. The best choices are the players who represent the heart of a team and the soul of the community.

The Wiz Biz: Summer Edition!

Hello all, it's good to be back writing about the NHL again. The recent stir of Chris Osgood's retirement has me burning with the desire to write about hockey before the season begins. I've received some praise from friends and family over my recent mention on the Puck Daddy Blog (Thanks again, Greg, even if my argument is zany!) and I think it's time I jump back into the blogging business, at least on a weekly basis. For now, a few quips and quotes from around the NHL that interested me:

• As reported by Jared Purcell over at MLive, a fantastic place to find all things Michigan related, and according to the distinguished Hockey News website, Pavel Datsyuk is hosting a hockey camp over in Russia. I'll leave the in depth stylings of THN writer Rory Boylen and instead take the time to marvel at the continuous generosity hockey players seem to show. It might not seem as though it takes a lot of effort for a pro to set up a camp and pop in now and then to see the kids in action but to put forth the degree of effort hockey players do for local communities is something that I believe deserves recognition. Not just for the players but the league itself. Everybody wins and everybody feels good about these kinds of stories.
• I've already written a small piece on the prospect of the Winnipeg Jets return (before they were announced to return) but I have to say the wait to see the new uniforms is killing us all in the hockey community. The new Nashville Predators jerseys over at On The Forecheck look pretty slick. Will they stack up to the Preds' new duds? I still think they should go with their retro jerseys, but I can understand wanting to modernize the new team since they are...after all...the former Atlanta Thrashers. RIP.
• Finally for today, from Kukla's Korner, some great quotes from Ozzy and Ken Holland regarding the career of the Red Wings' beloved goaltender. My favorite quote, from Ozzy himself:
  "“If I could sum up my career in Detroit, I was a perfect goalie for the team at the perfect time.”
  
  Couldn't have said it better. Through the tough losses in 1999-2001 to the glory of 1998 and 2008, Ozzy, you were our guy and we're going to miss you. I hope someday that we see #30 in the rafters at the Joe. You've earned it.