howard, rinne, pavelec, rask

[Saku_Koivu]

Someone mentioned Ellis. I would like have more feedback about the guy, as far as who is closer to hte NHL and potentially making more of an impact between Ellis and Rinne. Howard is another interesting prospect!

[mapletreemarty]

First of all, to say that Ellis has stunk it up this year in Nashville is the most ignorant thing I\'ve heard all day.

The guy is 23-10-3 in 35 starts this year. He has a .926 save % and a 2.28 GAA. If anything he\'s been Nashville\'s saving grace. If not for Ellis the Preds would be a few points ahead of the Kings for last place in the Western Conference. In his last 4 games he\'s 3-0-1 with a 0.47/.987 facing 37.8 shots/game.

Out of the 4 guys mentioned in the topic thread however, I think that Howard will have the most impact next season. The Hasek experiment in Detroit is over. Osgood has been resigned for two years, and he\'s too old to play 65 to 70 games a year. So look for some form of platooning situation between him and Howard next year. Something where Osgood plays around 50 games, and Howard gets around 30 some starts. If he succeeds it could be as much as a 50/50 split. Osgood will be around to mentor the kid and get him used to the grind of the everyday NHL.

Next will be Rinne. He\'ll be up playing behind Mason next year. Ellis will resign elsewhere in the offseason. Unless the Preds in another cost cutting move (wouldn\'t surprise me) decide to trim the payroll by Mason\'s $3 million salary by trading him away at the draft and resigning Ellis and going with a Rinne/Ellis combo and let the two challenge one another for games.

I like the team infront of Howard a lot better than the team that will be in front of Rinne, which may lead to more success early on next year. However, only time will tell.