Jimmy Howard retiring after 14 years with Red Wings

Goalie Jimmy Howard will be retiring from the NHL after 14 years with the Detroit Red Wings.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report Howard’s intention to retire during “Hockey Night in Canada” on Saturday night. Friedman said Edmonton GM Ken Holland even reached out to Howard about signing with the Oilers, but Howard is content staying with his family and coaching minor hockey.

Howard, 36, was drafted by the Red Wings way back in 2003 at 64th overall in the 2nd round. He became the starter in 2009-10 and spent most of his career posting impressive save percentages including a career best 0.927 in 2016-17.

The historically bad 2019-20 season for the Red Wings was particularly unforgiving to Howard, whose save percentage was sub-.900 for the first time in his career as a starter. He finished with a terrible record of 2-23-2 with an 0.882 save percentage.

He signed a 1-year contract with the Red Wings in 2019. When the Red Wings did not sign him to a new contract this past offseason it was speculated he wanted to keep playing somewhere else, if not a contender.

Howard is cemented in Red Wings history with the third most games played (543) and wins (246). He’s behind only Terry Sawchuk and Chris Osgood in both of those categories.

More: Red Wings news