Much has been written about the goaltending partnership of Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek, but as Mrazek goes from strength to strength, are there dark clouds on the Detroit horizon?

In a recent article on the Detroit Red Wings’ website, GM Ken Holland explained “I think we’re going to have a motivated guy in Jimmy Howard and I think we’re going to have a motivated guy in Petr Mrazek. So I think we’re going to have a good 1-2 punch.”

Since being dropped for Mrazek in the playoffs, Howard’s future with the franchise has been called into question, especially as he’d make a good sweetener in any potential trade deal, and there are plenty of teams in the league who could do with a goalie with Howard’s experience.

That said; I think it’s unlikely that we’ll see either Howard or Mrazek leave Detroit any time soon, which leaves us with another dilemma: who is Detroit’s number one goalie?

If you’ve not already read Nicole Mainardi’s article about this, do it now, I’ll wait.

OK, Nicole’s article shows that Detroit have two great goalies, but is there room on the roster for two players who can easily make claims for the number one job?

Cast your minds a few years back, when Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider were battling for the number one spot in Vancouver. Two capable and talented goalies, one with experience, the other with youth and enthusiasm (sound familiar?) The Canucks had been trying to trade Luongo, to no avail due to his high demands, this resulted in the shock trade of Schneider to the New Jersey Devils and a lot of negative media coverage.

Luongo only stayed with the Canucks for another season, before being traded to the Florida Panthers. That left Eddie Lack as starting goalie in Vancouver. The situation was handled so badly that the Canucks lost two great goalies and are now struggling to find consistency.

Is this likely to happen at Detroit? It’s not impossible. Holland says “To me, it’s a two-goalie league. I’ve got to have two goalies.” And he’s not wrong, but with the Howard and Mrazek combo, the team now has two number one goalies.

In theory, having two skilled goalies in the squad is great, but in reality it doesn’t work out. There has to be a clearly defined first and second choice. Holland and new head coach Jeff Blashill will no doubt be discussing this, especially when free agency opens on July 1st. It’ll be interesting to see how Blashill interprets the situation.

What do you think? Should Detroit keep both Howard and Mrazek? Or is it time for the Red Wings to start trading? Where does this leave Jonas Gustavsson? Join in the discussion below and let us know your thoughts.