Z and D for the C

I've missed Mike.

Go Sharks. I don't want anahiem to win, because that hurts the rest of the central teams. I don't want that.

In some ways I actually agree with micah. I would love to have a captain would does show some fire and is outspoken and would yell at his team if they're not playing like they should. I'm not ragging on Lids, Dats or Zetterberg, but I never bought into the whole "lead by example" thing.

How do you keep posting hyperbole posts in every thread yet still make it funny?!?! We're on number 3,454 from you in the past week yet it's STILL FRESH! Ozzie has said things like this multiple times this season. I hope he backs it up finally, but I doubt he does.

Babcock is an idiot. Am I the only one who was screaming TIMEOUT after we got the second tying goal? I saw them scoring from the second we scored it. Babcock is so stingy with his timeouts. Anyway, I'm sick of losing, but I don't mind losing to the blues to help them in the playoffs race. I like the idea of all 5 central teams getting in very much.

I'm actually mad at arbys, I think they're jixing our players. I'm not sure who will win, but I know someone will. Mark my words.

LOL @ "original gender" and "former men".

I think if a team doesn't have confidence in their goalie they try to do to much and they actually make it worse.

God I don't care who plays goalie I just want a 60 minute game.

We all know what happened more than a decade ago. How is that relevant to Conklin?

I actually noticed a week or so ago maybe that after ovechkin score a goal he didn't go bats***, he just lifted his stick ala Hossa or something. It was nice.

Agreed.

The sharks seem have pretty good depth, but the Wings are by far the deepest team in the league. That said I do agree with the Sharks fan, that it is a team to be reckoned with this year. A wings/sharks WCF matchup seems likely, though we'd mop the floor.

I'm not sure about what you meant really. What rule am I saying osgood is the exception to? But how is this: pretend I never brought stats up. Just going by how they've played overall from a coaches's viewpoint, overall Hasek played much better than Osgood overall this year. Yet he still folded in the playoffs. Seeing that Osgood is playing worse overall this seaon than Hasek did last season, I think it's unrealistic to expect that what happened to Hasek last season will not happen to Osgood. Also, just because a goalie didn't win the cup means the "folded". Ellis didn't "fold" last year in the playoffs, but his team still got eliminated in the first round. (Haha @ #19forPresident)

I don't feel like reading all that, but if what I think you're saying is in fact what you're saying, then I agree. A lot of times this team hasn't given a serious effort or worked hard or been motivated but WHEN WE DO/ARE, we are unstoppable (provided our goalie, whoever it is, can play solid at the least). I forget who the game was against, but recently a broadcaster said something along the lines of "The wings are putting work ahead of skill, and when you have that much skill you can't beat them in a 7 game series". That is entirely true. There is no problem with our defense, or our offense. The problem lies in our motivation. I have no doubt when the playoffs start we'll be those unbeatable wings that the broadcaster talked about. We have the #2 spot clinched, I say we just rest our players, call it a regular season. The only deciding factor for us this playoffs will be our goaltending. If we have good goaltending, we'll win the stanley cup. If we don't, we'll be out by the 3 round.

That is exactly what I mean! Hasek in 08 is in the exact situaion as Osgood is now, EXCEPT OSGOOD HAS PLAYED FAR WORSE ALL YEAR LONG. YET SOMEHOW YOU DON'T SEE THE EXACT SAME THING THAT HAPPENED TO HASEK HAPPENING TO OSGOOD? THAT is what I am talking about when I bring up stats. If this was the Red Wing's first year of existence I would be saying this right now. I wouldn't have brought up stats AT ALL. I am NOT saying that because Osgood is #40 in GAA he won't perform in the playoffs, I'm saying because a legendary goalie ranked #3 in GAA didn't perform in the playoffs, how do you expect an above average at best goalie who's play this year got him ranked #40 in GAA to perform in the playoffs? This year is the same as last year and I'm pulling it all together into one conclusion, I'm not isolating this year. And if you think a goalie, one that has played horrible from the start of the seaon, who is only playing a little less horrible at the end, can suddenly become a great goalie in the playoffs, especially given what we saw first hand last year, you're delusional. You don't play s***ty in the regular season and win the cup in the playoffs. A goalies job is the same in the playoffs as it is in the regular season. It's everything else that changes. If Osgood starts in the playoffs, he is guaranteed not to be playing in the third round (and that is either because a. he got pulled in favor of conklin or b. we didn't make it that far, most likely due to his goaltending). Quote me on that when the time comes.

Were you around last season? EVERYTHING people are saying about osgood they said about Hasek last season, that it was the team's fault and not hasek's. I'm just drawing parallels between last year and this year. Believe it or not, Hasek was right behind Osgood in GAA last year. He was tied for #3 in GAA, ozzie was #1. So the #3 goalie in GAA got pulled last year in the playoffs, what do you say about the goalie ranked #40? Osgood's wins come from the offense scoring to cover his GA. Yes, wins are wins, but we won't be able to win games 6-5 and 5-4 like we have so often this season. That's the whole point. The regular season isn't the playoffs. The amount of points we have now verses what we had last year means nothing. It's how you get the points. By your logic the 95-96 red wings should have gone 16-0 in the playoffs because they had so many wins. What don't you understand?

And that worked so well with Hasek right? LOL Are you for real? Are you so completely in love with osgood whether he plays good, bad or horrible that it has skewed your memory so horribly to make him fulfill your username? Let's not forget that Dom did win the first two games and was not pulled until game 4.

Two things. His cup wins mean nothing. You might remember a similar situation last season where one of the best goalies of all time got replaced in the playoffs. Secondly, if it's just the team that's playing badly, how can you account for Conklin's enormously better stats?

Were you not here when Hasek got pulled? My god people acted like it was god who came upon the earth and gifted the world.

Wow, you talk about black and white and then you say that? Because I am critical of Osgood's play all season which has NOT CHANGED from the start (if you don't think he has sucked this season you're delusional, look at the stats difference between Conklin and Osgood, it's not the team), I am now an "Osgood sucks" poster? Because I'm critical of his s*** play all season, I don't wish our goaltenders, whoever they are, they best possible? I'll admit, I never liked Osgood, but believe me when I say I wish him all the best possible, I want him to play as amazing as he did last playoffs, but at this point it's entirely obvious that he won't. Everyone in the world can wish all they want, it's not going to change the fact that Osgood will not bring us a cup this year. It has nothing to do with the team's play. And hey guess what, I would love to be proven wrong as well. It's not like I hate osgood so much (I don't hate him at all, I just don't particularly like him) that I want him to fail and bring the team down with him. If I could press a button that would make Osgood play like he did last playoffs I would. I praise players when they play well and am critical when they don't, it doesn't matter who they are. Eariler I mentioned in verbatim that I don't think Conklin will guarantee us the cup (although I do feel with a good goaltender this team this unbeatable in a 7 game series), he's certainly the better choice. Both goalies have been inconsistent. But Conklin has looked, overall, MUCH MUCH MUCH better than Osgood. Re-read what I posted earlier. I really can't spell it out better.

I haven't insulted you. There is nothing wrong with being a casual fan.

At this point in the season, with osgood no better than he was at the start, and given the things I said in my previous post previous post, HOW IS IT UNREALISTIC?

I'm going by what you've said. I don't think, given what I previously quoted from you, that it's SO OFF BASE to say you don't care whether we win or lose. You said the only thing that matters is there is always a next game. Okay, so maybe you think the wings have a cool logo or you think zetterberg is cute and you just like to watch games, and winning is nice if we can. That's okay with me, but don't judge those who have a geological tie to the wings and want to see them succeed. Passionate people get angry when they're team losses like we have this season. You wouldn't know. It's irrelevant how long you've been a fan. Will conklin ensure us the cup? No. Will he give us a better chance? Yes. We JUST saw this a year ago, yet people are blind to it. Let me draw the comparisons between 07-08 and 08-09. In 0708, when our starter struggled, our backup was there to win games In 0809, when our starter struggled, our backup was there to win games In 0708, our starter did look good at some points In 0809, our starter did look good at some points In 0708, our backup struggled In 0809, our backup struggled In 0708, our starter started the playoffs, was out by round 1, and our backup won the stanley cup In 0809, ???

Even Nick Lidstrom at 50% is a pretty good defenseman. The red wings at 50% is still a DAMN good team, better than the islanders. Lets play a game, in your mind, put osgood in net for the islanders and put mcdonald in net for us when we played them. Do you think that game would still be a 2-0 loss for us? The point I'm making is this..like someone else mentioned earlier you shouldn't be a goalie in the NHL if you need your team to play perfect every night. Osgood expects his team to bail him out all the times he f***s up, and they have a lot, and they haven't a lot. but osgood never bails his team out when they f*** up. Conklin has.