gcom007

You guys who keep talking about this playoff switch are out of your minds. Your basing this on one season, and even so, you blatantly have little understanding of the circumstances and context. What you really ought to be calling it is the "Ken Holland Fixing Babcock's f***-Up's Switch."

There's a very reasonable middle that can be had here. It's called "what 90% of the other teams do." I don't think we'd have lost some of the games we lost if Babcock had Osgood playing just a little bit more. Howard has played poorly in some games, but I don't even think those games would've happened if he had a bit more rest, physically and mentally. So let's think about that............ We play Howard just about non-stop and he s***s the bed every now and again and a loss is on the goaltender. Or... We play Howard the majority of the time while he's hot but give Osgood starts on a semi-regular basis as well to break things up for Howard. Maybe we lose a game because Osgood's rusty, but hey, we're going to lose a game playing Howard into the ground every 5 or 6 games it seems, so why not try to keep Osgood a little fresher in the process. You as well as many others are seeing this situation in such a polarized, black and white manner. It's absolutely not that simple. No doubt that Howard's been the hot-hand and you'd be a fool to not keep him in often, but I still think it's stupid to let a backup get rusty on the bench. When your backup's name is Chris Osgood, we're getting into "foolish" territory again. Hey, don't take my word for it, ask Ken Holland. Look up how things were going last year and what Ken had to do to fix Babcock's mistakes with Osgood. It's no mystery. It's in the press. Look it up.

From the last 20 years, who are the guys who I'd say have been defining Red Wings? Yzerman, Lidstrom, Draper and Osgood. Zetterberg and Dats are on their way. There are other noteworthy guys as well, but we'll skip them for now. Who of those players had to deal with being shipped away from the team they loved? Only Osgood and Yzerman. Yzerman never ended up leaving, but Osgood actually got the boot. Who came back at first opportunity though? Osgood. Who's done everything asked of him and played into the system throughout his career? Osgood. Who won a Cup for us after an All-Star season after starting the playoffs on the bench? Osgood. And who stood in the hot sun for 3 hours after the rest of the team retreated to Cheli's on Parade Day signing autographs and taking pictures with fans? Osgood. And who's had to put up with more s*** than all of them combined from fans, the media and coaches? Osgood. Who's still here, fighting for this team and playing into the system? Osgood. He may be questioning things lately, but I don't think anything he's saying is outrageous either. I think he's frustrated and I think ultimately he's been fairly accurate in his assessment. I won't say that I think it's the best idea discussing it with the media, but at the same time, we don't know how the questions or quotes were framed. We don't know the context. We know how someone edited in a paper. Osgood is a fierce competitor and he wants to play. The guy is 4 games away from 400! Can you imagine how that must be eating away at him throughout this whole mess? So if you think it's fair to put him out as a Red Wing up there with the likes of Yzerman and Lidstrom because of a few quotes in a paper, I think you're way off the mark. I don't really expect you and so many others to get it now, sad as it may be, but I fully expect most of you to realize how important Osgood has been to this team a few years after he retires. I have absolutely no doubt of that in my mind. "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone... They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot..." -Joni Mitchell Some things never change.

I think the '85 Oilers comment is over the top as well, but Osgood was playing well in the games leading up to the Toronto game. He had a rough start and followed it up with some great efforts. No one at the time blamed him for the Toronto massacre as the team in front was TERRIBLE that night in addition to illnesses involved. Not even LGW's was pissed at Osgood that night. Dig up the GDT.

Where did he complain about starting? Maybe I missed that. There's a difference between complaining and pointing out some "interesting tidbits" revolving around the situation. And when you consider the idea that what Osgood's saying might actually be what's best for the team, in not letting any one guy get rusty on the bench for a month, is it really such a horrible thing? Again, Osgood's not pissing about being the starter or about Howard at all. He's saying the length between starts is ridiculous. As countless people have said it, and based on what we've seen in the past, I think it's fair to say that he's probably right.

I am laughing quite hard at what so many are saying in this thread. Classic stuff.

Right...and I don't say that to take away anything from what Howard's done, but anyone who actually thinks this just boils down to Howard's play is either lying or delusional. That's just laughable at this point.

I think you are really missing the mark on this one. Profoundly so.

If you're going to say that Osgood's creating controversy, you better put Babcock right there with him. But, if you ask me, I'd say Osgood is merely responding to the controversy that Babcock has created, plain and simple. I'm not saying I think it's great that Osgood is responding in the press, but I don't think he's wrong in what he's saying either, and I think it goes right back to Babcock's mishandling of the goalie situation.

He's a good guy. My parents knew him and his wife when he was in Detroit and I met him numerous times. The fighters really tend to be some of the nicest, classiest guys off the ice. He was really comfortable speaking as well in any format so the lawyer thing didn't surprise me at all.

See? I drank champagne out of it. 2002. GLORIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't tell if this guy (OP) is ever being serious.

That kinda stings but we can play with these guys. And Eaves is the greatest value in the NHL.

I love Todd Bertuzzi is my hero.

Floater!!!!

ThAt was one of the best overtimes I can recall this season. Wow...

Damn...damn...damn...

Hey, look at us! That puts us in 8th, right? I'm sure some people will be happy about that.

Damn, bet that slash stung...looked like he flipped the stick just right to catch that bare area.

Beautiful pass by Bertuzzi there...they don't get more perfect than that...

BANG!!! NICE!!!

And as much as I hate Howard giving up rebound goals, part of me doesn't mind it as it really forces him to realize how important of an issue it is for him to address. We all know he can stop a lot of shots, but can you imagine if he's able to really get the rebound thing down? I don't want to get ahead of anyone, but if he gets that down and keeps his head cool, the kid's going to have a long and likely a very successful career.

The guy does a lot for this team and it's never bad to have hard working vets around when they play for as little as Maltby. When guys like him, Draper and Holmstrom retire in the next few years, it'll be sad, and it'll also leave a huge experience hole in the locker room. I hate Draper's contract but even he provides a ton of experience and leadership which is more and more necessary as these GR kids come up.

A) Love seeing Miller finishing what should've been a dead play in a scramble. You gotta be on the ball as you never know what will happen with those blocked passes... B) BS call there with no penalty shot, not sure how that got justified other than we're up 2-0 and just scored. I bust Flip's chops for not having much "finish" in terms of really making the plays that score goals, but I'll never knock his work ethic and it paid off their in drawing the penalty. Should've been a penalty shot, but oh well...

I don't blame it entirely on the injuries. Some nights we just don't show up and some nights we make a lot of stupid mistakes. That's frustrating, but I process that frustration in a broader context than those single games. It's clear to me this team has the tools to win big games despite injuries. That makes me feel pretty good about getting healthy and into playoff form. I am far more focused on that end than the game to game stuff. I still think you underrate our position in the standings. You have to account somewhat for injuries, and despite that, I'd still be happy if we were in the same place with no injuries. It's a tougher season this year with all of our turnover and every team getting better around us while we lose key guys. But that said, we're still very much in the hunt and putting up points at a pace that could easily see us hit 100 again and we've done that despite injuries. That to me is a huge accomplishment not to be minimized let alone overlooked completely.