Report: Red Wings and Jimmy Howard Sign Extension

[Updated 1:50pm on 04/16 - The team has officially announced Howard's extension. We'll have official platitudes later.]

Here we go:

Sounds like Detroit Red Wings and Jimmy Howard are on the verge of coming to terms on a 6 year deal paying in the range of 5.3 M per #TSN

— Aaron Ward (@aaronward_nhl) April 11, 2013

If the report is true (and let's not forget this is the same guy that said Iginla to Boston was a done deal) then the Wings will have locked up their MVP (yea I said it) for the foreseeable future.

Jimmy Howard

#35 / Goalie / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 6-0

Weight: 210

Born: Mar 26, 1984

I don't get the outrage from some fans on the Twitterz. It's a good cap hit (only $300K over what most people expected him to get) and only year longer than what most fans thought he'd get, so I don't understand how this is a bad deal. Goalies are expensive, whether you want to believe that or not, and ensuring Howard (he of the career .917 SV%) is a Wing for the next half-decade means the Wings can focus on spending money to improve the team in other areas.

Behind a non-Nicklas Lidstrom defense, he's posted a .917 SV% and that was after a slow start. He's proven that his past performance (his second season notwithstanding) was not a fluke and that he's a legitimate starter who is among the league's best.

And as I was typing this up, here's an update from Pleiness:

Hold off on Howard signing soon. GM Ken Holland texted and said sides aren't any closer than they were a week ago.

— Chuck Pleiness (@wingsfrontman) April 11, 2013

[Update: Capgeek seems to think it's a done deal]