Last season, Jimmy Howard and the Detroit Red Wings struggled throughout, as much with injuries as well as him playing up to his career averages. Howard had in fact won 35+ games three straight seasons and also won 21 games in 42 starts in the Lockout season.  Clearly he would have won 35+ for a fourth straight season if not for the Lockout.  Unfortunately for fantasy fans, Howard had an off-year the following season where he struggled to match the previous season's, the Lockout season of 48 games, win total of 21. This season, Howard is a huge part of the Red Wing's success. Howard sported numbers of 2.66 GAA and a .910 SP, not his worst but close to it. In fact his worse season was his second full season where he posted a 2.79 GAA and a .908 SP.  Yet, he still managed to win 37 games that year.  So, after last year's step back, poolies gave up on the Red Wing net minder figuring he was near the end even though he was only 30-years old, or more likely that they were just suspect of his abilities and shied away from him in the draft.  With the way Detroit handles their players, and that they are perennial participants in the playoffs, you should have had a feeling that they would stick with Howard knowing that he just had an off-year sprinkled with a few minor injuries.  They really had no other options, and they probably weren't even considering other plans. Patience, and perhaps a calculated gamble, has paid off for fantasy owners as Howard has returned to more common levels in his game.   The Detroit goalie has gone 13-5-4 with a 2.21 GAA and a .917 SP with one shutout.  Howard usually starts 4 to 5 games in a row before getting a breather by either Petr Mrazek or Jonas Gustavsson. Mrazek is up with the big club while "the Monster" recovers from his injury and has won all three starts.  Howard's play, along with the backups, has the Red Wings tied atop not only the Atlantic Division but the Eastern Conference with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Congratulations who stuck with Howard or took a shot in the draft as you have been rewarded already and should continue as he is in store for perhaps a record season awaits with a little bit of luck. POST MARKS: MILLER'S TIME--I'm sure Ryan Miller is quite happy that his hockey life has settled down this season after last year's trials and tribulations. First, he had to deal with playing on a poor Buffalo Sabres team and then moving on to St. Louis where they were counting on a savior.  Well that didn't happen and he signed with Vancouver as a free agent in July.  Stability counts for a lot when you're an NHL goaltender. Just look at Miller's stats this season: 16-5-0, 2.60 GAA and a .904 SP while posting 3 shutouts.  Although not his best numbers, he is winning as that is all Canuck fans are concerned about this year....HOLT IT RIGHT THERE!--We believed that last year Braden Holtby was going to take it up another notch and put himself right up there with the top goaltenders in the NHL. That didn't happen.  This year, with Barry Trotz taking over behind the bench, we believed that Holtby would benefit greatly from his presence and his system.  So far, the results are mixed.  His GAA has improved a bit from his career average of 2.56 to 2.34 this season but his SP, at .915, is around his career average of .918. There is no excuse that Holtby should not be posting better numbers and the coaching staff has shown faith in him as he has started the last 9 games. He has only allowed one goal in each of his last two starts, that's a good sign, but he needs to string along a lot of quality starts and put together a long winning streak to be considered a top NHL goalie.