Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard's all-star nod is perfect acclamation

DetroitJames Russell Howard III waited long enough. Not so for James Russell Howard IV, however.

The 3-month-old son of Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard already has his passport. He got his first pair of skates when he was born — slightly ahead of schedule, and in a bit of a hurry — in late October. And though he's not big enough to wear them yet, the plan was for father and son to go skating this weekend on the historic Rideau Canal that runs through Ottawa, Ontario.

"Oh, yeah," Howard said. "We're going on the canal. I can't wait."

Canada's capital city is host to this weekend's NHL All-Star Game. It's also less than an hour's drive from Howard's hometown of Ogdensburg, N.Y. And it's where Howard — making his first All-Star trip in his third full season as a starter after years of biding his time in the minors — played summer hockey as a youth, attended goaltender school one night a week as a teenager and eventually played Junior A hockey.

"So it's a pretty cool homecoming for me, being in my backyard," Howard said.

Howard's wife, Rachel, handled all the family ticket requests to help her husband keep his mind on hockey. Keeping his mind off hockey is his son's trick, though. And if you're looking for a hidden secret to Howard's success this season, that just might be it.

"It's unbelievable," said Howard, who was married — he and Rachel met at the University of Maine — in August 2009. "You go down after a game and there he is and everything else just sort of goes away — no more hockey.

"Even on the road, if a night doesn't go well, my wife will send me a photo of him and it'll change my mood completely. I'm not really thinking about the game anymore. I'm not really stewing over anything."

Wednesday was one of those nights, obviously, as Howard and Red Wings were embarrassed by the Canadiens, 7-2, in the final game before the All-Star break. Howard was lifted after one period, but not before he allowed four goals on 12 shots behind a surprisingly indifferent defense that was missing Nicklas Lidstrom.

Confidence pays dividends

Still, Detroit headed to the break with the best record in the NHL. And so did Howard, whose league-leading 30 wins in 42 starts have him on pace to break the season record of 48 wins (Martin Brodeur in 2006-07; Terry Sawchuk set the Red Wings record with 44 in 1951-52.)

Howard's .924 save percentage would match his franchise best for a full-time starter, set in 2009-10, when he was Calder Trophy runner-up as the top rookie. And his 2.03 goals-against average — fifth-best — would be best for a No. 1 Red Wings goaltender since Sawchuk in the mid-1950s.

"He's more consistent," coach Mike Babcock said. "He always had the ability. Now he's very confident and soft — the puck hits and sticks to him — and he makes saves you don't even think are saves anymore. He's become a good goaltender in the league. Now he's just got to do it for 15 years — that's the measure."

And that's the goal, as Howard tries to establish himself as one of the NHL's elite.

Last year's playoffs were a good first step, as Howard posted a 2.50 GAA and .923 save percentage, helping the Red Wings sweep the Coyotes and then rally from an 0-3 series deficit against the Sharks before falling in Game 7.

"I thought in a lot of those games — especially games 4, 5 and 6 — he was the difference-maker," goaltending coach Jim Bedard said.

Asked what he took from that experience, Howard says, "Just how mentally tough I'm capable of being. It's a confidence builder. I think it paid dividends for me in the summer and coming back here and knowing that I can do the job. ... I mean, I knew I could. But I wanted to do it at a higher level, on a more consistent basis.

"I want to prove I'm not just one of those one-hit wonders, that I'm not going anywhere."

Good to make it

It helps that the Red Wings finally said as much last winter, signing Howard to a two-year, $4.5 million contract extension in February. Howard's weight and his conditioning might've been a concern earlier in his career, but he admits now the wait was an issue last season.

"It does weigh on your mind," he said of the negotiations. "I didn't think it was going to at all, just because of my nature. But then when you find out your wife is pregnant and you feel like, 'I've got to provide the best for my family,' next thing you know, you're going out there and trying to be perfect.

"That's when stuff starts going wrong for you. Pucks start squeaking through and going into the net, funny bounces start going in. You're not just playing loose out there."

Funny thing about this year's All-Star nod, though, is Howard wasn't even listed on the ballot. And while Red Wings fans might've been outraged, Howard shrugged it off.

"My stats last year, I totally understand that," he said. "They weren't All-Star material."

But not even All-Star ballotmaterial?

"Well, you definitely use it as motivation," he said. "But at the same time, I understood why I wasn't there."

And now that he's here, he understands what that means, too. Howard spent three years playing college hockey at Maine and then four full seasons with Grand Rapids in the AHL wondering if he'd ever get a real shot at the No. 1 job in Detroit.

Now he's intent on holding onto it.

"I mean, what you hear people say in the media — for instance, I've heard, 'He's nothing but a glorified AHL player' and stuff like that — so for me to be selected to the All-Star Game, it means a lot to me," he said. "It means a lot to me, just from where I've come. It's sort of an exclamation point."

john.niyo@detnews.com

twitter.com/JohnNiyo