gcom007

Joey MacDonald has really looked good in the last couple of games. That's exactly what we need from a true backup right now. I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that he should be the starter like some will because until you play with the true pressure of being THE starter, you don't know anything about a goalie. Just ask Howard. On that note, I think an injury is the best thing that could've happened to Howard right now. Honestly. The guy needs a mental break like nobody's business. If MacDonald can just keep us in games, we'll be fine for awhile and thus far he's done far better than that. Hopefully by March we'll have Howard and Osgood back playing at their best and pushing each other for the playoff starting spot. Good game by Flip and Miller's goal was fun to watch. I would've loved 2 points out of this but hey, there were some positives to this game. I'm not going to complain.

Howard needs breaks for his head more than his body. As much as it'd be easy to pin some of this stuff on the physical toll of overplaying, I stand by the opinion that the mental toll is far more of an issue right now. He played this much and more last year and never flinched. He didn't flinch until the reality of being the starting goalie really set in come playoff time. It's carried into this season as well especially as the season's gone on. The guy has got the skills to be a starter, no doubt about it, but rushing him into it obviously hasn't done him any favors. Look at the last few games and the outcomes for him. In Vancouver, he wasn't expecting to start and got surprised, and on top of that, with all of our injuries and the Canucks recent strong play, most were expecting us to lose. He was facing a different kind of pressure than usual and he responded exceedingly well. Might that not also be compared to last year when no one expected him to be the starter and he basically just fell into it when Osgood went down? He's just out there playing last year, just like he was out there playing Saturday night. Compare that to last night and countless other games lately. He comes in clearly as the starter and struggles. He looks frazzled, he gets no bounces. Sure, last night and many other times he didn't get any help and the level of blatant softies is not at all equivalent to the goals against numbers, but does anyone honestly think that the Howard we saw Saturday night and the Howard we saw the majority of the regular season last year would give up 4 goals against of any nature in the first 15 minutes? No way. And to make the point clear, compare Howard's time in net last night to Macdonald's. Macdonald wasn't given many new favors, but he went in with no pressure. You're already down 4-1 and you're just the Grand Rapids call up. This game isn't likely to add a loss to your record let alone is anyone going to hold it against you. He was just a kid out there playing hockey. It made a big difference, and let's be clear, Joey Macdonald may be a good kid, sure, but does anyone really believe that he's 1/10th the goalie Howard is? Of course not. Well, I hope not. I have one word for you if you do: Legace. Jimmy looked like a different goalie in the playoffs. The calm, loose demeanor on his face showed more frustration and fear. He also played like a different goalie. This year, it's no different; he just looks more and more scared and frustrated out there as the season's gone on. Again, we know he's physically and technically capable of being a great goalie. He's been given time off to relax, rest and work with Bedard. But upon returning, he still allows 4 goals against early on in a game. He finished strong, but it was too little too late. Next game he plays great when he wasn't expecting to play at all. The following game, back to Jimmy having to be the starter again and suddenly it's 5 goals in 15 minutes. And it's not that Jimmy Howard should have stopped those 4 goals last night, it's that he's more than capable of stopping 3-4 of those goals and he simply isn't these days. Again, this isn't a physical thing, nor is it a new thing. Just look at the last 2 months to see the pattern. I really believe that the only logical explanation is that Howard's mental game is a mess right now. As I've been saying since last year, I just think we put too much on him too early. The mental element of being a starting NHL goalie is not something that's learned overnight or in a rookie season. It takes time. He hasn't been given that time and I believe that to be the reason he's now faltering. All that to say, I have plenty of faith in Jimmy Howard's ability to be a solid if not great NHL starting goalie. Unfortunately though, I have more than a few doubts about the Wings management being able to reverse what they've done and get him back on a developmental path that will allow him to have a career in this league as opposed to becoming yet another goalie living up to the cliche of "great rookie year followed by sophomore slump." Babcock and/or Holland seemed to be realizing the need to give him some space to relax, watch and work on his game lately, and I hope that despite Osgood going down, they try to keep up with it a bit. I'd rather lose some games with Macdonald to help Howard long-term rather than continue to burn him out early. It'd just be an absolute shame to if we drove him to the point of no return. And if you don't believe it's possible, just look at the long list of young goalies who have 1-2 strong years before crumbling into mediocrity and oftentimes falling out of the league. Some struggle with injuries, some with consistency, some get burned out, some crumble under pressure while some just make no sense any way you look at it. Just to name a few... Brian Boucher, Roman Turek, Corey Hirsch, Blaine Lacher, Roman Cechmanek, Darren Pang (Calder finalist) and last but certainly not least, the king of the one season wonders, Jim Carey. How's Steve Mason's (Calder winner) career going? How about Pascal Leclaire? Where's Martin Gerber playing now? And how many other goalies didn't come out of the gates looking like stars only to eventually develop into solid NHL goalies? Hell, Hasek was a backup for 3 seasons before he ever got a chance to be a starter. And he started in the NHL at 25 too. Who's to say whether Hasek could've done all that he did if he had to carry the starter weight early? Maybe he would've been fine, but maybe he would've crumbled under the pressure. Only one thing can be said for certain: sitting back and watching other successful, proven starters do it for a few years certainly didn't hurt him. Not one bit.

Datsyuk is absolutely better. Zetterberg's great and a true superstar, but Datsyuk is just better, plain and simple.

Honestly, I'm wondering if Babcock isn't already thinking Osgood might be the playoff starter. Howard's not playing well and it's been going on for awhile and during that time, Osgood's improved and we know that it's despite injury. I think they sent him to surgery so he's ready for the playoffs and this doesn't become a lingering issue. He even said last night, "we did this now so we can get him back with 20 games left to get him warmed up and ready to go."

Damn. Interesting.

Coffey was the same way...

He'll be fine. I don't think this is going to be a huge deal. He's been playing well with soreness and ideally he'll come back in much better shape. I think this has more to do with addressing this issue all the way now instead of letting it fester when it's looking more and more like Osgood is as likely if not more likely to be the playoff goalie.

If we can score in the first five of the third, I think we'll win this game. Might be in a shootout, but I just wouldn't be shocked to see an ugly win come out of this.

Too many no look passes to no one tonight.

Would've been a lot more excited if not for a certain shot that went wide a few minutes ago...we need a 4th sooner rather than later if this is really going to be a game.

So...iPhone, Verizon, tomorrow...some good news for me.

Anyone not see that coming after the shot?

Osgood fan? Sure. Defender? Sure. Also... Red Wings fan and defender. And... Jimmy Howard fan and defender. Imagine that, right? Difficult to process? Would you like to try to make it any more unnecessarily personal before you get back to constructively and objectively replying to anything I say, or are you just going to keep it cheap?

Who gives a s***? It's not about the goals tonight. Obviously not a giant Howard fail, but demonstrative of just how screwed up his head is. Again, I don't care what anyone says, if Howard had his head halfway straight right now, he'd stop 3 of those goals, defensive fault or not, great play or not. He's lost, and he just got pulled for the 2nd time in how many games??? More good food for his thought process. It's a s*** situation with Osgood down, no doubt, but this mess started last year.

I don't care what anyone says, I won't believe for a second that it's been smart to put so much pressure on Howard both mentally and physically. I've been complaining about it since it started and I called this happening. I'm no genius, it's really pretty damn simple to figure out. Goalies take a lot of time to develop and Howard's development went slower than most already in the AHL, but the NHL is a different game. It was absolutely insane to play him night in night out last year and then kick into the same habits this year after he clearly struggled in the playoffs. WE KNOW JIMMY HOWARD HAS THE SKILL TO BE AN EXCELLENT GOALIE!!!!!!! What's going to make that a moot point real fast? His head. Say what you want, but they've done nothing but set Howard up for failure early on in his career. No way I'm going to buy that this guy isn't capable of being better. His head is a mess. You can see it in his eyes; it's anger, frustration and more than anything, fear. He never should have been put into this position this early on. It was a stupid, absolutely idiotic coaching decision. Fans didn't have any patience and Babcock didn't have any patience; no foresight. Now the team is paying for it and more than anyone, Howard is paying for it...and it was never fair to him.

I was so happy for Howard after Saturday night but I immediately couldn't help but worry about how the next game would go. It seems like this has just become the norm for him this season. One great game followed by mediocre-average play. He's gotta be better than this given our current situation. Whether you could say this is a bad game for him so far or not, you absolutely can say that he needs to be better and that's all that matters. Everyone has to be better, but for the love... And I wrote this after 3rd goal, 4th goal can't be blamed on Howie at all. Now Macdonald...why, Osgood, why?!?! Stupid groin...let's hope tomorrow's surgery goes beyond well and they find only the mildest of issues.

On the upside, he's been playing pretty damn well in general let alone for someone who's been bothered by a lingering groin injury. Perhaps he'll come back even stronger. We definitely need him to be ready in a few months, so I guess whatever it takes. If Howard can't get it together, it may not be pretty over the next couple months, but I have no doubt we'll win enough games to stay in the playoff race and that's all that matters to me.

Howard would do well to build off the energy he was able to get going for the last 15 minutes of yesterdays game. If he plays at all like he did in the first 40 last night, we're toast. I'd feel better with Osgood in based on how things have gone the last couple months, but Jimmy's certainly capable of playing better. Hopefully he'll get it going. He'll absolutely have to or we will be toast.

Nope. It's becoming less and less necessary everyday despite injuries. We're still winning. And if there's one good thing about Howard s***ting the bed lately, it's that he'll be easier and cheaper to sign up again. I haven't lost faith in him long term, but I'd much rather have him for another couple years at $2-2.5 million. My only concern is Eaves. If he keeps it up, he's going to be due for a big raise. If they need to clear salary to keep him, then try to send Hudler packing if anyone wants him at the deadline. But not now. Most we would see is another Miller-esque move and that likely won't happen until more guys go down, which hopefully doesn't happen!

Shaky Ozzie? He's been solid even in losses since returning from the groin injury. His stats since returning feature a low 2's GAA and I believe a .910+ or more save %. And again, he hasn't had a game where he was letting in a lot of softies. He's making them earn the goals they're getting off of him. Babcock of all people wouldn't be giving him more starts if he didn't believe he was solid, even with Jimmy struggling lately. Right off the bat: http://www.detnews.com/article/20101204/SPORTS0103/12040425/1128/SPORTS/Chris-Osgood-takes-loss-but-looks-solid-in-return-to-Wings

Everyone is going to need to be playing their best tonight. We'll need Zetterberg on his A-game and we'll need to keep getting guys like Eaves chipping in. Our D will have to be extra tight now more than ever with Stuart gone. And Osgood will need to keep up with my "1 softie per game" standard. This game is very winnable if the Wings play mentally tough. It'll be a trial and they could easily lose this game despite having a strong effort given all of our injuries, but it's definitely winnable. Both teams played last night. I give the Wings an edge though only because they have to know they need to be at their best to win this one whereas Vancouver might be more likely to back down against our weakened lineup. 60 minutes.

Not yet. There's just no need for it. They both just need to keep playing regularly and if Osgood's rolling come playoff time, give him the nod, as you know he's proven in the playoffs and capable of elevating his game. And again, he has a lot to prove this year too after last years personal disaster. And honestly, I'm fine with Howard's stock coming down a bit. Considering he's got some weaknesses that have yet to improve and given that they've become a bigger issue lately, it'd be premature to give him a big money contract. He had a great rookie season but he's had a very inconsistent sophomore season. I'm all for keeping him in the fold as I think he's a good goalie who can eventually become the reliable goalie we need, but I wouldn't want to pay him $4-5 million a year, especially after the way this season has gone. If he stabilizes, sign him up for 2 years $2-2.5 million if he'll take it. Unless he comes back and wins us a Stanley Cup, it'd be idiotic to give him any more than that after this year. Sign Osgood up for 1-2 years at around a million and we'll be in good shape again next year with minimal cap hit coming from the goalies. I think Howard will be fine long run, but they need to get back to developing him into an NHL starter as opposed to forcing him into it when he's not ready. Those rookie fumes can do wonders for you, but as the playoffs and his sophomore season has proven, they only get you so far. Even if your a skilled goalie in many ways, over time your weaknesses become more and more glaring and you've got to tighten it up or guys will work you out. He needs to work on the butterfly-happy stuff, the rebounds and puck control/movement. The recent flopping stuff I think is just part of playing down and desperate; I'm not worried that it'll stick. Let him learn from watching Osgood more with less pressure this year and next and I really think a lot of the weaknesses will work themselves out and he'll be ready to be a career NHL starter after next season.

Total bulls***. Stuart's a big loss. I almost wonder if he wasn't head hunting because he knew Stuart already had those stitches. Likely not trying to break his jaw but trying give him a good sting. In any event, the play was bulls*** and the league better review it and serve out a suspension.

Fines coming for Babcock. "That s*** goes on..." Damn. Good for him though. It's total bulls***.

Much better ending for Howard tonight than the start. Hopefully he can build on that. Definitely not the prettiest of "wins," but you take what you get. They'll have to be a lot better tomorrow to win.