sliverck

I think my sarcasm was obvious enough. This post is the reason people might run Howard out of town, how can someone serious blame what's happening on Howard unless they don't watch the games? Sure he has been shaky at times and he needs to invest in pads that don't catapult pucks off of them but I guarantee that if Osgood was in goal for this last game the Wings get destroyed. I just don't see enough heart in the team right now and I don't think there is a way to coach around that.

You know what, I like his thinking here. Putting Osgood in net now would lessen the likely of Howard getting railroaded out of town when they get swept by the Sharks. There are a few reasons the Wings lost this one. They can't win a face off to save their lives, they can't stay out of the penalty box and these fancy sticks break when somebody looks at them funny. Notice that Howard is not one of the reasons, not even close.

The best TEAM won that game, not the team with the best individuals. Still, I haven't been happy with Babcock's coaching all year and he's not doing any favors for Team Canada. I just hope the USA doesn't let this go to their heads, not that I'm not happy to see Canada knocked off their pedestal in their "own" game. That being said, I do feel sorry for Germany.

Howard stood on his head for the past two games. Doubt he'll be able to pull that off tonight, Wings are gonna need to win this one for Howie.

I agree 100%. Things were supposed to get better with players coming back, not worse. Maybe Howard hasn't been as good as he was earlier, and Osgood certainly isn't showing any reason for the team to have confidence in him. But where did the defense go? I have no idea what is going on with this team. They seem to try and coast through third periods except last night where they clearly didn't show up at all. I don't think it's fair to blame the goalies, but I also am not getting a good feeling about Osgood.

Ozzie can be labeled a scapegoat for one reason, because he's a goalie. When a forward or defenseman has a bad game it's up to the other players to pickup the slack. But a goalie is on their own out there, much easier to label them. Howard could get you 5 great wins in a row, but as soon as he screws up or the team has a bad game it's under the bus for him. No goalie is going to go out there every game and be perfect all the time. So almost by definition the position of goaltender is inconsistent, that's just how it is. At least in Detroit.

I don't see Howard winning this. I'd love it if he did, we all know the Wings star rookies have been screwed out of the Calder for years. Even Yzerman lost out to freaking Tom Barasso.

While I kind of agree with what Osgood is saying, he shouldn't be staying it to the press. Maybe he has talked to Babcock about it but it didn't go anywhere so he felt the need to take it up a level. But it makes him look like he's whining about suddenly being a backup goalie, I agree he needs shut his mouth and shut his 5 hole. That being said, he shouldn't be sitting for a month and then thrown into a game against one of the leagues top offenses. I'm not liking the way Babcock is handling this, Ozzie should have played one of the weaker teams so that Howard would have been in for this game.

I've seen it twice. The first time was back in maybe 1994 or 95 at Westland mall. I remember some kid in an Avalanche jersey walking past the line of people waiting to have their picture taken with it. You can imagine at the time he almost incited a riot. The second time was when Carolina won it. Chad LaRose brought it to the Compuware Sports Arena, that time I actually got up enough courage to touch it.

I don't see how they can not start Howard, but really the guy needs a rest. The Wings are getting better but they aren't quite there yet. Sorry, but I'd have to say the Caps win this no matter who's in goal.

Ok, everybody needs to settle down about Howard. No rookie goalie can win a Stanley Cup. Just ask Key Dryden, Patrick Roy and Cam Ward. Oh, wait...

See, I wouldn't say Howard had a bad game against the Ducks. He had a bad start and reverted back to the shakiness he had at the beginning of the season, but the whole team had a bad start. He played well enough the rest of the game, and that is a good aspect in a goalie. Had that been Osgood I feel like he would have been down on himself the rest of the game.

Right now that was Chris Osgood, are you sure it still is? Like I said, I'm not ready to pull Osgood from being the playoff goalie just yet, but if you were Babcock what do you do if Howard remains hot? Do you start Osgood and if he blows the first couple games switch to Howard, that doesn't always work so well. Of course the Wings have to make the playoffs first.

Why does that matter? If he continues to improve and Osgood continues to fumble his starts I don't see a reason to keep Howard out of the playoffs because he's a rookie. He's gotta get playoff experience at some point and from what I can see this team does not have a very good chance at winning a cup this year. Howard gives the team the best chance at winning right now. I'll take a nervous rookie goaltender this year if it increases his chance at winning us a cup in another couple years.

I said that Howard would eventually steal a game for this team and that it was only a matter of time. And there you go. He just seems to get better in almost every game he plays, sure he makes a boneheaded play every once in awhile but as long as he's winning I couldn't care less. He has to be strongly considered for the Calder at this point, he just needs to keep it up. I still lean towards Osgood if we make the playoffs but I'm not so sure of that anymore.