Howard (groin) is expected to practice Monday, MLive.com's Ansar Khan reports. General manager Ken Holland previously said that the Red Wings didn't expect to have Howard back in the crease until the first week of February, so it seems likely that he'll require several practices before his activation would be considered. The Red Wings haven't seen much of a performance dip under the stewardship of Petr Mrazek, allowing the team to wait until Howard is 100 percent healthy before he's given the go-ahead to return.