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Osgood's presence on the team was the biggest factor in the Blues having made the playoffs in 2004, according to the Blues players. The 2005-06 Blues had a comparable forward corps; the defense was without Pronger, but the top four did include Team Canada's Eric Brewer as a replacement, and Alexander Khavanov was replacedby Dennis Wideman. Still a competent top four. What hurt the Blues the most was bad goaltending and injuries, but they likely wouldn't have made the playoffs healthy. EDIT: Spelling and grammar.

But this is not an effective use of color, and my point was that just because colors are complementary, doesn't mean they always look good together.

The Isles were bad enough to have been the worst team in the league before Ozzie got there. The Blues were bad enough that they became the worst team in the league when Ozzie left.

Other uniforms using complementary colors: Purple and Yellow: LA Kings 1980s. Red and Green: NJ Devils 80s and early 90s. Both are generally agreed upon as ugly.

I think the team would have done worse had Shanny stayed. Players like Filppula and Cleary wouldn't have gotten as much ice time during the regular season, and would not have been relied upon offensively in the playoffs. Bertuzzi also would not have been acquired. Bertuzzi's performance was a disappointment, but it was still an upgrade over what Shanahan was doing, despite playing fewer minutes. And the Wings were eliminated in the first round under Babcock, and with Yzerman and Shanahan, so your argument doesn't work. Yes, the reason they were eliminated was Legace. No, I don't believe Legace should have been playing in the playoffs.

The Wings lost Stevie and Shanny, true. But they had an impressive roster even losing those two. Babcock took over a President's trophy winning team that had young, rising stars as key players. It's not as if the Wings were succeeding because of Stevie and Shanny, with a roster of third liners.

Babcock hasn't been pinned down by anything. I would argue Babcock's job is easier than other coaches because he has a good roster. The Wings spend to the cap, and had several key players making significantly less than they are worth, including Hasek, Zetterberg, Cleary, and Schneider. HOLLAND has been pinned down by the salary cap, and has done a remarkable job in assembling a very talented roster. Babcock has done a good job with what he was given, but he was given a great deal.

Since the Wings won the Cup in 2002, they have won three playoff rounds in four seasons. Now what exactly was the reason they went further last season? Was it Babcock? I don't think so. I would rather Babcock to Lewis, but I don't think our fortunes would have been significantly under any number of other coaches. Babcock's inability to adapt the PP to the loss of Schneider is a glaring point in my mind. He just stuck Sammy on the point and figured everything would work as normal. He didn't try running a different formation to compensate for the fact that Lidstrom was now the only effective point man on the unit, which is what should have been done.

You bolded ten teams that you said Ozzie would start on and said he wouldn't on 20 others. That ranks Ozzie as the 21st best goaltender in a 30-team league. In other words, it means he's a starter. It's also similar to the range I provided with my three tiers of teams, which ranks Ozzie as somewhere between 12th and 21st.

Of course Neale is going to praise those guys...he coached the Wings in the mid 80s. Wait, didn't Calgary sweep the Wings? /sarcasm

Well, look at it this way; If you rated all the players' looks on a scale of 1-10, then even if every other player were a 10 and Ricci were a 1, that would only increase the average by .013 points.

Every time I see a Russian player interviewed by Russian journalists, it always seems like they are trying to convince them to stay in Russia.

What? Babcock has averaged a second round departure in his two years (two series wins in two years for an average of one per year). Let's take a look at something: In the ten years before Babcock was hired, the Wings went to the finals FOUR TIMES, attended the conference finals an additional time. They made it to the second round three more, with two first round exits. That's 20 series wins or an average of two series wins and a conference final appearance. You're going to tell me that Babcock's one good playoff run is a vast improvement over the Wings' previous playoff fortunes? Even going back 20 years, the Wings still average better than a series win per season from 1985 to 2004. While I don't disagree that the Wings will be contenders this season, I think your credit is misplaced.

My list wasn't intended to show teas I think have interest in Ozzie. I was compiled to show teams that, if you replaced the backup with Ozzie, what role would Ozzie play on the team. Backstrom has played 41 games in his career with a team known for being very kind to goaltenders. The fact that the Wild have been able to have a goalie-go-round of journeymen and no-namers and yet still have moderate success and great defensive statistics makes me view Backstrom with a bit of skepticism until he can prove that it was more than just good defense. Toskala has never started full-time, Budaj is inexperienced, Ward is inexperienced and hasn't proven capable of handling the load over a full season. Kolzig is overrated and washed up, Emery is good but still inexperienced, Huet is overrated, and Manny is not better than Ozzie. While all of those guys are clear-cut starters on their teams right now, if Ozzie were around he would at the very least contend for the starting job in those cities. That's not a losing record. OTLs were not a separate part of a goalie's record until 2005-06. Until 2003-04, OTLs were included in the L column. I don't think you'll find anyone anywhere who agrees with you that a goaltender who over three years wins 102, loses 81, and ties 26 has a losing record. And BTW...Osgood has NEVER had a losing record. Ever. As far as his performance in NYI and StL...if you remove the one season where he had a major injury and came back significantly early because his team needed him and then traded him, his save percentage is .910, he averages a 32-25-7 record, and 2.36 GAA. Those are solid numbers in any season. Hasek was brought back because he's one of the five best goalies in the world, and Ozzie is willing to take a lowball salary to make the team better. This team still contends with Ozzie, but nobody is going to sit here and say Ozzie is better than Hasek.

Fleury has not improved significantly since the lockout. Osgood is as good as he was at the end of the lockout. And Pittsburgh was on the list of teams that were interested in Ozzie as a starter at that time. After looking at the numbers, I guess I hadn't realized Lehtonen had played 70 games last year and for some reason thought he had only played maybe 40. They still fall into the middle group though. [/font] What about Carolina, Colorado, Philadelphia, St. Louis? And that's just from the list of places Ozzie would PROBABLY start, not even mentioning the places that I put in the second category where he would have a reasonable shot at starting.

Was in Round 2, Game 7, second overtime in 1996, shortly before the Wings were eliminated by the Avalanche.

As compared to this one? Take off the blue piping and maybe simplify the sleeves a little and it would look a lot better. The top half of the sleeves should be the same as the body color, like the classic Isles jerseys. If they made those two changes, the jersey would be virtually identical to the classic one.

Is your ten year old a point per game player in the NHL? Allison is.

I've played for over a decade. I've tried aluminum, graphite, and borrowed a friend's composite a couple times. I have always come back to wood. It just has a better feel.

Teams where Ozzie likely couldn't start ahead of the current starter: Anaheim, Buffalo, Calgary, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, San Jose, Vancouver Teams where Ozzie would have a shot at starting: Boston, Chicago, Edmonton, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, Ottawa, Toronto, Washington Teams where Ozzie likely would start: Atlanta, Carolina, Colorado, Columbus, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa Bay [/font] That's 19 teams Ozzie would at the very least have a shot at starting on. Also known as 'most.' Nobody should be shocked by that number, because nobody here is claiming Ozzie is a top-ten goaltender, merely disputing the tag of 'backup' that is being applied as pertaining to his ability rather than his role. As far as teams that would actually be interested in Ozzie as a starter? Atlanta, LA, Columbus, Phoenix, Pittsburgh would all probably love to have Ozzie. Osgood was Chicago's first choice in 2005, AHEAD of Khabibulin.

While I don't usually think it's appropriate to bash a player's performance because of their personal lives (or vice versa) I think in this case an exception can be made, and I'll tell you why; Vick is a poor passer, but a gifted rusher. Yet he plays QB. Why? My guess is that it has to do with ego; quarterbacks get the glory. QBs are always regarded as the heroes. Vick could likely have been one of the best running backs ever had he chosen to utilize his gifts properly, but instead he let his ego choose his position.

The Habs logo is nice, and it's in my top ten, but it just didn't feel right putting it above the five I listed. The next five are probably Bruins, Habs, Penguins, Minnesota, and maybe Carolina.

Nashville would instantly have the best logo if they made one minor change...

Did he get dragged by the back of his jersey?

Best logos: 1. Wings 2. Hawks 3. Sharks 4. Senators 5. Thrashers What they all have in common: Complex, sharp looking logos that don't have crazy color combinations and aren't too cartoonish. Worst logos: 1. Sabres 2. Ducks 3. Blue Jackets 4. Predators 5. Canucks What they all have in common: Logos that are an attempt to look cool and modern and as such disregard normal aesthetic values. Color schemes often questionably used.