New Chapter
Jimmy Howard is enjoying life after his retirement from the Red Wings.
Story and photo by Mark Newman
When Jimmy Howard looks back on his professional career, he can’t believe where it took him.
“It was 15 years and it went by in the blink of an eye,” he said recently as he contemplated his time in the Red Wings organization, which started with four seasons in Grand Rapids.
Howard officially announced his retirement on Jan. 28, 2021, closing the books on a successful career that included a 246-196-70 record with a 2.62 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and 24 shutouts in 543 games.
His games-played and win totals rank him third in franchise history behind only Terry Sawchuk and Chris Osgood. A three-time NHL All-Star, Howard also appeared in 48 playoff games for the Red Wings and led them to the second round on three occasions.
“When I went on TV with Ozzie, John Keating, Mickey [Redmond], and Ken Daniels after retiring, I didn’t even know all that stuff,” said Howard, who was humbled to be mentioned in the same breath as Sawchuk and Osgood. “I told Ozzie, ‘I think it sounds like one of the names doesn’t belong.’”
Howard, 37, spent his entire career with the Red Wings after being selected in the second round (64th overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Few players with longevity get the opportunity to play for only one organization in their career, a fact that played a part in his decision to retire a Red Wing rather than seek to extend his career somewhere else.
“One hundred percent,” Howard said. “It gave me some satisfaction that I could retire with the team that drafted me, that stuck by me and gave me the opportunity to play in the NHL. To be able to do that feels amazing because you don’t see that very often.”
Howard was still training after the 2019-20 season as he contemplated continuing his career. It was reported that the Edmonton Oilers, under former Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, had expressed some interest in signing the veteran.
“The decision became easier as the pandemic stretched on,” Howard said. “I started thinking, ‘Was it worth it to put myself in quarantine for the five or six months and be away from my family? Was it worth it to chase the dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup?’ That may never happen.”
Howard said his epiphany came during one of his on-ice workouts.
“Honestly, one day at the beginning of December [2020], I was on the ice, working with my goalie coach, getting hit by pucks, and I thought, ‘This isn’t fun anymore.’ I was always keen on the belief that once it wasn’t fun anymore, it was probably time.”
“It was a Friday afternoon and I called him over and told him that I had to go home and talk to my wife and think about it over the weekend. That was the first time in a very long time that I was absolutely miserable out on the ice.”
His wife, Rachel, was very supportive.
“There was a lot that went into the decision,” he said. “Obviously, COVID meant that I would have to be by myself and not be able to see her or the kids for an extended period of time. But the biggest thing was that it wasn’t fun anymore.”
Howard confessed that watching the NHL the following season helped reinforce his decision.
“My first year of watching wasn’t hard because I felt bad for the players, knowing what they had to go through every single day to be able to go out on the ice – all the hoops they had to jump through, how they weren’t allowed out of their hotel rooms, how they weren’t performing before fans. It had to be lonely for a lot of the guys.”
If anything, Howard experienced the feelings of restlessness more this fall.
“The emotions of missing the game came back more so at the beginning of this season when I saw the buildup going to Traverse City, seeing guys sending photos of themselves golfing together and having a little bit of fun. Then came the preseason and the buildup to opening night. That is when the emotions came back and I thought, ‘Gosh, I miss it now.’
“What I miss most is being in the dressing room with the guys, going on the plane for road trips, going to dinners. I miss going out and performing in front of 20,000 people. When it comes to the mental and physical aspects of the game … not so much.”
Although he struggled statistically in his last season, Howard said he felt like he could physically still play.
“It was more mental than physical,” he said. “I had such a mental block. Just when you think you’ve turned something around, something else happens and you have another below-average game and you’re back to square one. The last year of my career was very hard mentally.
“Yes, my last year was frustrating, but everything happens for a reason. As players, we all have expiration dates, so I guess my expiration date was called.”
And so it was over, as he says, in a blink of an eye.
Howard continues to look back fondly at his time with the Griffins and what his development in the AHL meant for his career.
“Grand Rapids means the world to me,” he said. “It’s where my professional career started and the city will always have a special place in my heart.”
When Howard joined the Griffins, he was a 21-year-old prospect from the University of Maine. Highly touted at the time, he skipped his senior season to turn pro.
His rookie pro year was the memorable 2005-06 season when he went 27-6-2, splitting time in net with Joey MacDonald. The Griffins, who won the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy with the AHL’s best regular-season record, were paced by Donald MacLean’s 56 goals, Jiri Hudler’s 96 points, and nine other players with goal totals in double figures.
“That was a very special team,” said Howard, who became the first Griffin named to the AHL’s All-Rookie Team. “It was a close-knit group with a lot of special players. Even though Travis Richards was in and out of the lineup a lot that year, he was huge for the young guys playing on the back end like Derek Meech and Kyle Quincey.”
Howard saw action in four games with the Red Wings that season, recording his first NHL win on Nov. 28, 2005, when he shrugged off a penalty-shot goal to stop 22 shots in his NHL debut, leading the visiting Red Wings to a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
The Detroit lineup that night included Chris Chelios, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman and Henrik Zetterberg.
“I remember looking around that dressing room and being in awe of all the guys who were going on the ice,” he said. “That I was going to be part of their team was just a tremendous feeling. To get the win was just a cherry on the top of the whole experience.”
If his first NHL win felt like validation that he was on the right path, Howard might have been a little anxious the following year when he spent the entire 2006-07 season in Grand Rapids without seeing any action in the NHL.
“Looking back on it, I’m very thankful that Ken Holland, [Wings assistant GM] Jim Nill, and [Wings goaltending coach] Jim Bedard had a plan for me,” Howard said. “As a dumb hockey player in his early 20s, when you see other young guys playing in the NHL, you wonder why you’re not getting that same opportunity. Why am I not being called up?
“That was the thing about Kenny [Holland]. He was very patient with his young players and I benefitted from that. All the time [in the AHL] served a purpose. Every young kid playing in the AHL wants to get to the next step and play in the NHL. I’m very fortunate that they allowed me to stay in GR and work on my game and fine-tune my play, so when they finally called me up, I could make an impact right away.
“When I got my opportunity, I was able to take the reins and run with it. Looking back at my career, I now recognize that.”
Howard posted 37-win seasons in his first two full years in Detroit, starting in 2009-10. He finished in the top five in goals-against average and save percentage during his rookie year, when he was the runner-up for the Calder Memorial Trophy, which is given to the NHL’s top first-year player.
“Having those successful seasons early in my career helped with my confidence and my maturity,” he said. “It reinforced that I can play in this league and I can have success, too. It doesn’t matter if you are a goalie, defenseman or forward, playing in the NHL is all about confidence.”
His third full season, 2011-12, saw him win 35 games and earn his first NHL All-Star appearance. He also was an all-star in 2015 but was injured and could not play. He was Detroit’s lone representative at the 2019 NHL All-Star Game in San Jose.`
“Being named the first time was special,” he said. “Our oldest [James IV] was only four months old, but he was sitting there with my wife, my mom, and my dad behind the net. Obviously, he wouldn’t remember, so to be selected again when the boys were old enough to understand what an honor and privilege it was to be recognized by the NHL meant the world not only to me but also to my wife Rachel and family.”
The Howards’ youngest, Louis, was not born yet, but their oldest boys, James and Henry, remember the experience as more than a vacation for the family, which also includes daughter Olivia, now age 3.
“Man, did they have a blast out in San Jose,’ he said. ‘To them, I was just their dad, but they still talk about meeting Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby. Just the other day James was talking about how he was playing Xbox with Henrik Lundqvist and his daughter. Those are memories that will last a lifetime for the two older boys. It’s something I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
Like most hockey parents, Howard now gets to live vicariously through his boys. He is the head coach of James’ team and helps out when he can as an assistant coach for Henry’s team. “There’s still a little bit of the urge to be out on the ice, but I get my hockey fill now with my two older boys,” he said.
“Being a youth hockey coach is a lot of fun, to be able to give back everything you’ve been taught by your coaches along the way. It makes you feel really good when the light bulb goes on and they get something that you’ve been trying to coach. It’s very gratifying.”
Both James and Henry play forward, but that is subject to change.
“James, who is 10, has zero interest in being a goalie, which I’m totally fine with,” Howard said. “Henry, our 7-year-old, is talking about it a lot more. We let him play goalie in a game this year and he said he liked it but he liked playing forward more. But now he’s asking, ‘Dad, when can I play goalie again?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. That’s up to your coach. Your team has a goalie already.’
“So Henry’s a wild card right now.”
Howard said it’s been fun to watch the boys develop their passion for hockey.
“Early in his young hockey career, James liked to retire and then make a comeback. He’s done that a couple of times,” Howard chuckles. “Henry has been on the ice since he was three. He loves the game of hockey.
“I think Louis, our youngest, is going to love hockey the most. Every morning, he wakes up and he has to play mini-sticks in his brothers’ bedrooms or as soon as he wakes up from a nap. Last night I had to put him to bed with a hockey stick in his hand. He’s been traveling around watching the boys since he was a baby, so he already loves the game of hockey.”
Howard is clearly enjoying being a dad and embracing every moment.
“For such a long time, as long as I can remember since I was 13 or 14 years old, I had a regimented schedule,” he said. “I’m still getting used to the idea of having a lot of free time. Now the kids are probably thinking, ‘Dad is around way too much.’
“I love being a dad. I enjoy going out on the road with James and helping with Henry’s team. But I can see how hockey can be very taxing on young families, especially families with multiple children, because you’re going in every direction. Hockey takes a lot of your free time and it takes a lot of sacrifice from the parents.
“My dad laughs. “He says, ‘It’s come full circle, Jim. It’s come full circle. Now you know how I felt.’”
Early in his career, Howard mentioned that he might eventually want to coach college hockey, something that remains on his radar.
“I’m not ruling anything out,” he said. “The biggest thing right now is that I have to finish my degree in order for me to be able to coach college hockey. I have one year of school left, but COVID hit and everything online through the University of Maine got turned upside down. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get on that again soon.”
While the Howard family returns to Maine every summer, they will likely call Michigan home for a long time.
“We’ll be Michiganders, at least until the kids are off for college or universities,” he said. “The people here welcomed me and my family with open arms and I am very thankful for the fans in Michigan. It feels good when people appreciate what you did.”
Howard was always happy to return the favor when he could. He sponsored the Griffins’ Howard’s Heroes program for his entire career until he retired, buying four season tickets so families with patients at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital could attend games.
“For me to do something like that was very small but could have a big impact,” he said. “Grand Rapids was awesome and living there was a pleasure, so I was happy to give something back.”