Howard for his 1st?

[Maxum]

I am in a 9 team salary cap keeper league. We keep 13 out of 23 players. a GM has offered me his 1st for Howard. Goalie points are Wins=4,Losses=-2,GA=-1.6,Saves=.2 and SO=5.

There are many better goalies that will be available in the draft in all other stats than wins( Miller,MAF,Hiller and a few others) but are 2 to 4 million more in salary. In our league good expensive goalies are available throughout the year with a FA move. I could pick up one of these goalies in a later round and use the first to upgrade my F or D with a long term keeper.My backup is Pavelec.

Howard is the #1 guy in Det for now, a very good team but they are getting old. Will Howard bounce back to his Rookie year or put up the same stats as last year good in wins not so good in all else? Is he worth keeping because of his salary or do i move him and take the first round pick?

Help as the deal is there now may not be in a day or 2

Thanks

[SeaDawg]

I'd make that deal. I know the salary issues are a factor, but I'd take the 1st and Miller/MAF/Hiller, etc. over Howard regardless. I trust that Howard will remain a solid goalie option long-term, but those other goalies are "safer" and will have better numbers than Howard. I also wouldn't assume Howard gets more wins than Miller and MAF, who both should have improved Win totals this coming season.

Make the salary issue a non-factor by saving money somewhere else. Upgrading your D or F with that 1st round pick AND being able to replace Howard with a better (albeit more expensive) goalie is an easy choice for me.

[dyzfunctioned]

I'd take any of those goalies over Howard regardless of salary. Getting a 1st on top of it is icing on the cake.

[Pengwin7]

If you are confident that you can get Miller ($6m) or MAF ($5m)... you should definitely ditch Howard ($2m). People who follow the Red Wings know that Osgood fell out of favour with Babcock in 2010. Babcock didn't feel he was trying. I think he knew that Howard was going to give it his all every game.

Conklin is a different story.
I can entirely see Conklin getting 30-35 games... even taking over as the #1.

Link to a telling Babcock comment (end of Jan, 2010):
http://blog.mlive.com/ottoman-empire...is_osgood.html

Osgood got only 3 of the next 30+ starts after that point.
And last year Osgood got only 10 starts.

This is important because Howard's starting gig had a lot to do with Babcock's lack of faith in going with Osgood at the end of his career. Of course, as the classy organization they are, Osgood was allowed to ride out his contract and get his 400th win.

Conklin could steal starts.

[NinjaKiller]

...to add to Pengwin's comments...DET tried to go out and pickup Nabokov last year. That is not the sign of a team/coach who is confident in Howard. When it comes to goalies, I highly value goalies who have a lock on the number one job.