The renewal of an affiliation agreement with the Detroit Red Wings means the Toledo Walleye will likely have a quality goaltender for the upcoming season.

The Walleye reached the affiliation agreement with the Red Wings Tuesday. Toledo has had the same contract with Detroit for the first two years of the Walleye organization's existence.

The Walleye will once again serve as the Red Wings' ECHL affiliate. The Walleye also will work to develop prospects with Detroit's American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

"It's a first class organization," Walleye coach Nick Vitucci said. "They take great pride in building from within through the draft and developing through their [minor league] system. It's a great opportunity for us to be a part of a Stanley Cup contender."

The current agreement likely means that Detroit, which has five goalies in its system, will assign one of its netminders to Toledo.

"If you do the simple math it looks like we would get one," Vitucci said. "They haven't said at all who we would get. There will be a great battle throughout the Grand Rapid camp. It's certainly in their hands. Whoever we are going to get is going to be a good, quality netminder."

Jimmy Howard is slated to start once again in Detroit while recently signed free agent Ty Conklin will back him up. Grand Rapids currently has three goalies on its roster and most teams keep only two. Joey MacDonald will likely start while Jordan Pearce and Thomas McCollum will battle for the back up position.

Either Pearce or McCollum will likely filter down and end up being the No. 1 goalie for the Walleye. Both have spent time in Toledo the past two seasons.

Pearce, who started his career in Toledo in 2009, spent most of last season in Grand Rapids. Pearce had a 2.89 goals against average for the Griffins.

McCollum, a first round draft choice of the Wings in 2008, has spent parts of the first two seasons of his pro career with the Walleye. McCollum played in four games in Toledo as a rookie. He appeared in 23 games for the Walleye last season and had a 11-9-2 record with a 2.76 GAA.

McCollum became the first Walleye player to play in an NHL game when he started for the Red Wings in March. He is 13-10-2 in 27 games with Toledo.

Detroit also was the NHL parent club for Toledo's ECHL team for several seasons when it was the Storm (1991-99 and 2000-07).

"Toledo and Detroit have had a long history together and we are very excited to continue this through the 2011-12 season," Vitucci said.

The Walleye also renewed an affiliation agreement with the Chicago Blackhawks in June. The team will once again have two NHL affiliates.

Vitucci declined to provide names, but he said each affiliate is expected to send five to six players to Toledo.

Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill said Toledo has a strong minor league hockey tradition.

"Toledo's been a great partner for us over the years and they've proven to be a strong ECHL franchise since re-entering the league," Nill said.

Contact Mark Monroe at: mmonroe@theblade.com or 419-724-6354.

First Published August 17, 2011, 5:31 a.m.