DETROIT - Jimmy Howard is eight years older than Petr Mrazek, but he appears to be the goaltender they want to keep moving forward.
The Red Wings opted to protect Howard and expose Mrazek for the expansion draft.
The NHL released every team's protected list Sunday morning.
In addition to Howard, Detroit protected forwards Justin Abdelkader, Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Mantha, Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Henrik Zetterberg and Frans Nielsen, who must be on the list due to his no-movement clause.
The Red Wings also protected defensemen Danny DeKeyser, Mike Green and Nick Jensen and goaltender Petr Mrazek.