Howard will be protected from the Golden Knights in the upcoming expansion draft, Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports.

EDGE Analysis

Many thought that Howard would be made available to Vegas and not complementary goalie Petr Mrazek, but the opposite held true. It turns out that Red Wings GM Ken Holland prefers to keep the more experienced of the two goalies versus a younger, cheaper option with more upside at this point in their respective careers. Howard struggled with knee injuries this past season, but was undeniably Detroit's best choice between the pipes when healthy. His final output was a 10-11-1 record, 2.10 GAA and .927 save percentage over 26 games.