The Red Wings are in a place many teams would love to be. When it comes to goaltending, their depth runs farther than most, and while current starting goalie Jimmy Howard may not be a name you’ve heard or expected to be playing ahead of Chris Osgood, he’s not only doing it, he’s doing it well. The Red Wings rookie has a 24-14-8 record this season, which is incredible considering a year ago at this time, he was expected to be battling for the back-up role with Ty Conklin.

In order to be considered a rookie, the player must have played less than 25 NHL games in the previous season or less than 26 NHL games combined in the previous two seasons. He must also be 25 years of age or younger by Sep. 15 of his eligible season. Howard meets all of these criteria. He’s only 25 years old right now, and in the last three NHL seasons, he played in nine total games. Despite this, he was given a Stanley Cup ring in 2008 after playing in just four games.

Howard has come a long way during his time in Grand Rapids. He lit it up in 2005-06, gathering a 27-6-2 record, which put his name on the map, but his play fell off in following years. He’s been battling for net time with fellow Griffin Thomas McCollum, but Howard got the call to Detroit first and has certainly made it seem like GM Ken Holland made the right choice.

From Terry Sawchuk to Glenn Hall to Dominik Hasek, the Red Wings have a history of good goaltending, and it appears they might have found another one in Howard. While it’s still very early in his career to tell if he might be the next great one, he’s definitely on the cusp of exploding. Howard is getting a lot of “firsts” out of the way in what seems to be a mini-rebuilding year for the Wings, and if he can continue playing hot, it won’t be long before he finds his name on the Stanley Cup; and he’ll have earned it.