TheOwl

I hope the goalie thing was a joke. Did you watch the world championships last year, Russia owned Canada, a lot thanks to Nabokov. Bulin is one of the best goalies this year. D wise, your right I can't name more then 3 guys, but they can probably find 6 pretty decent guys. Canada just doesn't look that strong to me. Their well balanced in every category, but aren't the best in any, (and no Luongo is not the greatest goalie on the planet). I would take Russia, Sweden and even Finland to finish better then Canada. Backstrom is a lot better right now then any of Canada's goalies. 1998, one man was able to completely shut them down (Hasek). They obviously won in 2002. 2006 they were dominated by horrible teams, and couldn't score to save their lives against the better opponents.

Great great game by all. Huge improvement over that Avalanche embarrassment. Conklin doesn't need to be great, but he's very solid.

hahaha Hossa!!!!

Hossa is better with Datysuk, but Z, D, Hossa is too stacked. Holmstrom, Z, Dats, then Franzen, Hossa, Flipulla/Cleary, is the most balanced IMO.

No arguement intended, but Franzen scores very different "types" of goals then Hossa, Z and Pav. Hopefully he'll stay with the Wings!

THE MULE!!!

^ Well it is a good roster! Team Sweden will be nice as well. I don't see Canada beating Sweden or Russia. Russia will have the best team by far on paper. Canada hasn't really performed well at the Olympics.

This is exactly the same roster Pierre McGuire proposed.

4th best defensive forward? Maybe. Although no stat shows that. Flipulla sucks. 8 forwards have more points then he does. Now obviously, Flipulla isn't on the power play. So all his points are at even strength. That being said, shouldn't he have an insane +/- if all his points are 5-5, AND he's such a great shut down defensive forward? He's +11, with 6 forwards with a better +/-. So how exactly is Flipulla such a great defensive forward? I'm not even going to bother with this anymore. Flipulla is over-paid, and could be easily replaced with someone who scores double the goals, the same amount of points, for half the salary. He should be traded for a draft pick to make room for Hudler and Sammy. Two guys who can actually put the puck in the net once and awhile. Flipulla getting second assists on Hossa goals doesn't impress me, nor should it impress you. Flipulla sucks. I can't stand the obsession with defense anymore on this forum, we must have defensive forwards, we must have elite defense men. Everyone must back check! Everyone must be defensively sound! We have the 3 Selke finalists, 2 Selke winners, a 6 time Norris winner, a two time Norris winner, Rafalski, and on and on. All these great defensive players mean nothing. The Wings lose on a regular basis 5-4, 7-6, 4-3. It is all bloody meaningless when the guy you got in playing goalie can't stop the bloody puck to save his life. Defense is meaningless when Osgood is in net. And everyone harping about how great our forwards are at D is a waste of everyones time. The forwards don't stop the puck, the goalie does. And no matter what the situition, it's the goalies fault the puck goes in the net. With all these great two-way players, Osgood still lets in 6 goals, seemingly every night. The other huge problem the Wings have is no one blocks shots. How many times do you see a Wing on his stomach or back, blocking a shot. Once and awhile perhaps? Some teams block 20-30 shots each night. That's 20-30 goals Osgood may of let in! It's obvious Osgood can't stop the puck any better then myself, or you, or your family members. So the only option is to block every single shot, so Osgood doesn't even get the opportunity to try and make a "save". In fact, I propose that Babcock leave the net empty the entire game. I will bet any amount of money that the Wings will not only win that game, but give up less goals then Osgood would've predictably let in. Let's say 5, that's a conservative number. Not too high, not too low. 5-4 Wings, with the empty net. That's good coaching.

^ Perhaps the thinking is that after next season, Lidstrom will either retire, or sign for much less, possibly next to nothing? That's wishful thinking, but more then likely we'll get around 7 million of cap space open. So a goalie could be bought etc. But really next season may be real messy if we re-sign both Franzen and Hossa, or even just Hossa at 6 million. Leino and Hudler should both be signed, and if Sammy will take what he's making now, keep him. Too many "big" contracts will hurt this team severly, I'd much rather see them sign all the secondary guys for cheap, then Mule and Hossa for a discount. But really, how many years are we away from Larrson and McCollum being NHL ready? Maybe after next season? Conklin can tide us over, but getting a 2 year goalie at the trade deadline would ensure Hossa stays. Let's face it, Detroit winning the cup this year is some what unlikely, it was unlikely last year too. If Detroit wins the cup this season, it'll probably win it next season too, since all the major UFA's will sign for cheap. But an early exit this season because of goaltending will ruin both this year and next year.

Gaborik is mad over-rated. Basically the second coming of Yashin.

If Detroit is knocked out in the first or even second round because of poor goaltending, I doubt Hossa will stay. Think about it, if Hossa stays, the Wings cap will be air tight, and a decent goalie couldn't even be added anyways. If Osgood costs the Wings in this years play-offs, why would Hossa even think about re-signing? The goal-tending situition will be 10x worse, the cap will be filled, Franzen and possibly Hudler may be lost. Detroit will be one sorry team next season if Osgood fails, which is more then likely to happen. Why would Hossa want to play for a team with the worst goalie in the league by far, and zero cap room to get a decent guy in? Osgood will cost us Hossa. You'll all see. Anyone want to take any bets? I'll bet anyone 10,000$ that the Wings will be eliminated in the first round if Conklin isn't the starter. Oh yeah. I don't know what kind of guy can feel any confidence after letting in 6 goals in versus the worst team in the league. Not to mention the dozen other games he's single handedly blown.

All things considered, in my opinion, Backstrom is the best, most consistent, goalie in the league. The Wild don't win a lot, but nearly every game they play, it's 2:1, 3:2, 1:0. He is extremely solid. And stats alone (of the starting goalies), Backstrom is the best. If the Wings could get this guy long term, they'd win Cups year after year. Even giving up someone like Franzen, or Flipulla and Kopetsky, or basically any player minus Z, Hossa, Dats, Lid and Rafa, it would be well worth it if they could get him long term. Seriously, Wings with Backstrom, Z, Dats, Hossa, Rafa and Lids? This team would never lose. Not one game. Ever. That's an exaggeration, but the Wings are a solid goalie away from a nearly unbeatable dynasty. All this bs about cap space, cap space, D, D, D, scoring, scoring. Backstrom at just over 3 million a season is a bloody steal, and losing 2 guys off the current roster would be a serious upgrade basically no matter which way you work it out.

Leino, Franzen and Hossa will be fun to watch. Or Franzen, Hossa, Cleary.

Yes, but it's now February, what's next? March? And Hasek was one of the greatest goaltenders of all time, he kind of turned it around. Will Osgood? All I'm saying is, get a 3rd goalie going, either a GR guy, or a cheap guy at the deadline if Osgood doesn't turn it around (likely) or Conklin struggles (much less likely).

W-L is meaningless. All it means is when Osgood is playing, the forwards have to score more goals or they'll lose. Save% is the measure of the quality of a goaltender. Osgood is the worst in the league. The W-L ratio is meaningless, and is a measure of how well the team is playing. Save% is a measure of how well the goalie is playing. Now please, explain how Osgood has even played close to as good as Conks. Now remember, the stats show Ozzy as the worst, by far, goalie in the league. Get to work.

Well if he wants to lose, then he'll go with Ozzy. But if he wants to win, it'll be Conks. The fact is being the Wings goalie is the easiest job in the league. You face half the number of shots as the goalie across from you, and you basically can let in 3 goals every night, and 90% of the time, your team will win. Think of it this way, more or less, if Conks or Ozzy let in 3 goals in every single play-off games, no more no less, then Wings will probably win the cup. Now, who do you trust to stop 17 of 20 shots every game in the play-offs? Ozzy, or Conklin. Experience is meaningless to the Detroit goalie. Just don't let in more then 3 goals. How hard is that? The majority of the goalies in the league could do it. But Osgood can't. And he will fail in the play-offs. 100%. I'll bet you 10,000$.

This sucks, I was hoping for the Penguins to totally miss the play-offs. Now they have a chance

Ozzy is not the #1, and I doubt he'll play more then one or two play-off games this season. Hasek played very well last season, him and Ozzy had the top 2 GAA. Then Hasek melted down in the play-offs, and he was benched. Now, Ozzy has completely melted down in the regular season, why shouldn't Conklin, who is playing pretty well, be the go to guy? Loyalty to players will end this season for us too early. Osgood, and even our 4th line is awful, bone dry bad. It's time to move on, and get new people to fill some of these positions. Where? Did he play well after the Christmas break? After the all-star break? As he had 2 games starting in a row where he has played well? No. No. No. How does this game give you any confidence he's just around the corner from where he was last play-offs? Remember, the Av's are one of the worst teams in the league. WORST. Bad goalie, no real super star forwards. A pretty crappy D. And Osgood lets in 5 goals. What do you think he's going to do against teams which will trap the hell out of our forwards? What's he going to do against San Jose? If you have any faith Osgood is going to play well in the play-offs, you need a therapist. It's black and white. Osgood is playing terrible, he has played terrible-mediocre in every game this season, often against HORRIBLE teams. Osgood is done. And if he starts in the play-offs, were just going to lose Game 1, then it'll be Conklin then on out. He won't get better. He hasn't got better. And theirs not one game that he's played, that should give you any hope that he will get better. We have a real chance at getting #1 in the West if Conklin plays 20-25 games left this season. That's what the Wings should be aiming for, not just hoping the worst goalie in the league magically gets better. Buy. Him. Out. Now.

No, actually it's the perfect time to call someone up. Conklins back-up needs some practice before he can be ready. Call him up, let him start 5 or 6 games down the stretch, Conk can start the rest. Osgood isn't worthy of a back-up position, send him down to the minors, and bring someone with some PASSION, up.

If you would think past this season, you wouldn't think it was such a bad idea. 6-5 with Osgood in net against the worst team in the west surely makes you think we need more then just Conklin. And as I clarified, we could get one of those over-achieving back-ups from Nashville or Florida for someone like Flipulla, or picks, froget the whole Franzen thing. If we don't win the cup this year, we have no goalie for next year anyways. Osgood has to be bought out, since he's un-tradeable.

Osgood sucks, been saying it all season. No hope, need another goalie at the trade deadline or were screwed. lol no reason to call him a bad person, he's just the worst goalie in the NHL, that's worse enough.

PUT CONKS IN FOR THE SO!

Ain't that the truth. All hope in Osgood should be gone. Should of benched him MONTHS ago.

Yes, after watching todays game against the worst team in the West. Osgood can't stop a basketball.