Carman

Should be Sedin/Crosby depending on who won the Hart.

I'm never nervous about sports, unless I'm directly involved with the outcome.

Disagree completely. Typical fan perspective and riding the blame train after the second guessing. No one can win this debate. Should Osgood have played more? Probably. Did Howard deserve all his starts? Probably. It's a fine line that people will stand on either side and throw things at one other claiming they "know better". No one knows the relationship between Osgood and Babcock. And it doesn't matter. Howard is not the reason for the struggles of the Wings. Relying on a goaltender making $800,000 to steal games and make more then 40 saves a game is not a realistic expectation. The Red Wings need to get back to their game of controlling the puck and drawing the penalties rather then being on the defensive. We didn't put our resources into having a 8 million dollar goalie like Ryan Miller play lights out every game in the playoffs and never give up a bad goal. The plan for this team is to control the play and only have to rely on Howard making 20-30 saves, and that's not happening. Blame the players in front of the goalie for once Detroit.

Hope for a speedy recovery!

I don't see how obvious sarcasm is trolling. If I wanted to troll I would go on a diatribe on how Holland is the worst GM for not signing Hossa over Franzen etc. Come on Drake

Hossa is the best player in red wing history. Stay jealous.

Matthew Lombardi would be interesting. Him, Miller and Helm on a line would just be sick.

He's been in the Wing's organization for the last couple years though. He gotten great examples from Osgood the past two years.

Have to give the rookie a shot eventually don't ya gcoom?

How many "elite" goalies are actually in the NHL. You don't need to be "elite" to win in the playoffs. You need to be streaky and be consistent. Is Fleury "elite", was Cam Ward "elite", was Marty Turco "elite". Hell the some of the "elite" goalies in the league statistically haven't even been deep in the playoffs. I have faith that Howard is good enough to get the job done in the playoffs. He didn't get there this year, but I believe he can.

That's fair, Howard's a big boy and does deserve the criticism. But to give up on him and say trade for a real goalie is just mind boggling to me after the year he's had. The Wings system has really tried to have a solid low salary goaltender and play a puck possession style game which didn't require a goalie to make 40+ stops. Unfortunately we ran into a team that can do it better. Now about Osgood this year it's tough and a debate no one is going to win. Did Osgood deserve more chances? Probably. Did Howard deserve all the starts he got? Probably. There is no clear answer for it, but personally I'm hopeful for the future. Howard kept the Wings in games in the playoffs and carried them in the regular season. I'd love to see how Howard would do in front of a better Wings line up that could execute the puck possession strategy more. There aren't many goalies that pull a Patrick Roy and dominate their first time in the playoffs. Miller/Luongo/Nabakov all have had labels at one time or another. Goaltending is a fickle position and how a goalie is viewed can be changed in a milisecond, a goalie can go from the top (Kippersoff) to the bottom (Theodore). Overall Howard has been very consistent this year. Playoffs did leave something to be desired without a doubt, but he didn't get completely bombed and embarrassed, and considering the Wings team in front of him I personally give him a break. He kept games close and made some big saves while the Wing's players have been outplayed.

It's ok Finnish is just a biased Finland fan. Can't blame him, Rask is the real deal and I'd cling to him like a god too if that's the only thing good to ever come out of my country.

Man I wish we got Moen instead of Williams...

And Howard has barely any experience now? I love Osgood. I think he should be a Hall of Famer, he's been great and I couldn't have more respect for an NHL athlete. That said what good does that do now? My point was if you are going to compare Osgood to Howard it's much fairer to compare their first forays into the post season rather then picking a year out of Osgood's prime.

It's Howard's fault that the Wing's took many more penalties than the Sharks? Look Howard let in some bad bad goals, but the Wings didn't do him a hell of a lot of favors either. He's not the main reason, he kept the games close when the Wings have been completely outplayed.

Ask yourself how Osgood did in '93-'94 that's a more fair comparison.

Like I said, that's completely fair. Comparing the '98 Wings team to the '10 Wings team is a even match. He'll I'd take Lebda over Fetisov any day of the week.

HAHAH You know nothing about coaching. You can't roast your team in front of the media, especially with the players we have on the Wings. Babcock just plays the middle ground in interviews, if the Wings have a good game he'll tell you what they need to improve, if they have a bad game he'll tell you what they did well. It's not rocket science, and expecting a coach like Babcock to take off his pants and s*** on Lidstrom's jersey in an interview is just ridiculous.

That's completely fair. Not like Osgood played in front of a great team or anything.

People act like Howard came out of nowhere. This guy has been among the elite goalie prospects since '03. The potential is there, this was a very successful first season. He's clearly not had the best playoffs, but the Wings just aren't a Stanley Cup caliber team and that can make it look like it's Howard costing us more then he probably is. It's not like he is putting on his Cloutier mask and letting in 60 footers. He's made some huge saves, and has kept the Wings in close games. He may not have out dueled Nabokov, but for a first playoff experience it could have been far far worse. It's not time to give up on him, he's going to get better. Now I wouldn't give him a whole lot of string to work with, but he's earned a good chance to be the goaltender for this team. He was far and out our regular season MVP and we should all look forward and cheer for him, because the sky is the limit.

Put Osbad in game 4 so we can blame it on him. He's always been awful and would be the perfect way for him to end his s*** career.

Can't be the best forever. No one player cost the team this game. We were not the same team the last two periods, way too many mistakes. I'm not going to blame the refs, the Wings were chasing a lot more than the Sharks. That said officiating has been brutal for both teams. Howard had a bad goal on the 3rd goal, he needs to work on some things. But overall I'm happy, he did not choke he kept them in games and that's all I can ask for a rookie goaltender. This Wing's team just isn't the same caliber as the past. Kinda disappointed with the 3rd and 4th lines. They've been our strength all year and so far in the playoffs really haven't contributed physically as much as I'd expect.

I blame Darcy Tucker.

Well then hopefully the pens win as well

Looks like I'm still crushing Mindfly in the red number contest.