gcom007

See, the thing is, I never bought any of it, and I'm certainly not the only one. Plenty predicted rather accurately how this was likely to go down. And I've said the same thing all along that people are just realizing and saying now. The problem is that so many people have selective memories and easily ignore facts in the present. While Jimmy Howard was playing great, Osgood was going weeks to months between starts. Then, according to the masses he's "blowing his chances." Really? One game out of nowhere once in a blue moon is "blowing every chance?" I never bought it then, and I sure as hell don't buy it now. And look all over the map over the last couple weeks and you'll read and hear a lot of comments like these: "Looking back on it, Osgood was never given a fair chance to get going." "It was stupid to let Osgood sit for so long." "Osgood wasn't playing as bad as the year before when he was able to turn it on in the playoffs." "Why on earth didn't Babcock go with the veteran who was the best goalie of the last two post-seasons?" Listen to the radio; hosts are dropping these lines and fans calling in are dropping them. Read the papers and you'll see writers saying it there too. And even here on lgw.com we've got people backpedaling over the matter. If you go back, you'd find that more than a few of us were saying this stuff all along. And I'm not saying that it's rocket science; it just makes all the sense in the world if you cut the "hype" bulls***. Hype rarely ever plays out to be worth all the commotion it causes. And I ask you, in all honesty, what's it worth to ride a rookie goalie to the playoffs only to watch him crumble under the pressure as if it wasn't inevitable especially in this town coming off of two outstanding playoff runs? Not much if you ask me. Some people are calling this "experience" for Jimmy Howard. Well here's something else that people just might be backpedaling on six months: this "experience" might have a profoundly negative effect on Howard. We've seen goalies get burnt out early more often than not in the NHL, and there's no reason Jimmy Howard is going to magically be exempt to the effect. That's certainly not to say that I think he's screwed because of this, but I'm certainly not ignoring the potential given all the factors involved and the history of countless other goalies to suffer the same fate before him. All the risks involved weren't worth it to me six months ago, and those risks look all the more like mistakes now that the regular season fog has cleared. Babcock NEVER gave Osgood anything close to a fair, reasonable chance to get his game going. Someone at his level should be smart enough to know that no matter how well a rookie plays in the regular season, chances are he's going to struggle in the post-season; better to go with the guy who's got the experience if you want to give yourself the best chance to win. And isn't that the point? People seem content to have just made it into the playoffs, and while I don't want to minimize the accomplishment or act like a spoiled brat, but I want to win every year, and I don't think any guy in that locker room will tell you otherwise. If you want to win every year, you need to give yourself the best chance; you need to go with what you know works. Chris Osgood obviously has worked in the past. So what do you do? Simple. Everything you can to give Osgood a chance to get going. He's a champion. If you don't believe he wouldn't have found a way to get his game going with a true to life playoff race on, you must not have been watching this guy the last couple of years in April, May and June. Osgood lives for the playoffs, and he would've risen to the occasion if given a few consistent starts or at least a steady, predictable rotation. I have absolutely no doubt about that, just as I had no doubt that he could come in on the 2008 run and carry this team to a Cup, and just how I had no doubt that he could be that guy again even after an abysmal regular season last year. I had and have no doubt in Chris Osgood because the guy has proven throughout his long career that he has what it takes to be a champion, and when you've got a guy like that in the room, you do everything you can get him going. But Babcock chose to let the champion sit and rot on the bench while setting up a rookie goalie to fail, so again, in my mind, this one's entirely on Mike Babcock.

I get that people are blaming Howard, but who's the guy who made the decision in November that lead to putting all our hopes on a rookie goalie? Mike Babcock. I said it then and I'll say it now, it was never fair to ask so much out of a rookie. You're setting him up for failure. I don't think he gave Osgood even close to a fair chance to get his game going after coming back from illness, and had he done so, we no doubt would've been able to keep a rotation going that kept us in the playoff race and allowed for both goalies to be ready to go in the playoffs. Howard may have s*** the bed, but he's a rookie, and I'm not going to hold that against him. This one's on Babcock.

Per Babcock, no way he's putting Osgood in. "Babcock also shot down any idea he might put in Chris Osgood in place of goalie Jimmy Howard. “I’ve made lots of goalie changes over the years when I’ve been coaching,” Babcock said. “I always do it for a reason. I don’t believe there’s any reason.”" http://freep.com/article/20100505/SPORTS05/100505062/1320/Loose-Wings-might-sub-in-Ritola-for-Williams I don't expect to come out of this with Howard or anybody, but I sure as hell hope Babcock gives Osgood a fair shot next year down the stretch. While I'm not happy at all with Howard's playoff performance this year, I still blame Babcock for putting too much on a rookie, just as I've been saying since November. There's no sense sugarcoating how poorly he's played the majority of the time in the playoffs, but there's also no sense holding it against him at this point. He's got a lot of potential, but probably 99% of the time, a goalie needs a few years in the NHL before they're really ready to carry a team through the playoffs. Next year, let Osgood do what he does in the playoffs and let Howard watch. Then the next season, I'd be a lot more likely to put money on Howard answering the call when the playoffs role around.

Being around the NHL all season, and being a true backup in the playoffs is a far different story than being one of the "black aces" the last couple of years. But again, can't stress enough just how big of a difference being a true NHLer is from being a minor-league call up. If there wasn't, we probably wouldn't have traded good old what's that call up "stars" name? Oh yeah, Ville Leino... And if it's true for skaters, it's 10X more true for goalies...

Yeah, after he watches how a veteran does it for a couple years!

I agree about giving up on Howard. As I've said all along, you don't know s*** about a goalie in their rookie year. That's also why I didn't want him starting in the playoffs! But it's going to take more time for him to prove whether he's got what it takes to be a solid NHL goalie. I think he's got a real solid chance, and this playoff run doesn't influence my opinion on the matter towards the negative either. After all, I expected this which is why it's so hard to stomach on some level. And again, not because I think Howard sucks, but because I don't think you're doing a team or a goalie any good going with the rookie.

I've been calling Babcock's biggest mistake since November: it's a stupid, stupid move to put all your money on a rookie, especially when you've got Chris Osgood on the roster. And I don't give a flying f*** how he plays in the regular season. I really don't. He knows how to get it done when it matters. Worst case scenario, you pull him if he drops the ball in the post-season and go to Howard. Even if Howard flubs up, it's better for his mental development to not have to carry the burden he's going to have to carry now after this playoff run. He never gave Osgood even close to a descent chance to get something going, and not only did he set the team up to struggle behind a rookie goalie, he set Howard up to carry far more extra s*** in his head than he needs to be carrying at this point in his career. Babcock gets most things right, but I've been saying it since his first year here, he makes bonehead decisions when it comes to the goalies...

Osgood was 20 and had to come in for relief for a floundering team and he helped the team get to game 7. He's remembered for a horrible play the ended up costing them the game, and it was a terrible play, no doubt about it. But his overall effort was solid all factors considered. Osgood was a runner-up for the Vezina and an All Star by the time he was 25. It makes comparing them fairly tough. Bottom line, in this Wings era, and it hasn't changed tremendously in the last 4 years, Howard has been the worst goalie (edit: in the playoffs), and he's the guy that apparently was good enough to take a healthy Osgood's spot. Osgood's coming off two outstanding playoff runs. Babcock was playing with fire starting Howard if you ask me and I've been saying it for awhile, and as of a result of that, you have to call it how it is. I'm not going to hold it against him because he's a rookie, but I'm not going to sugarcoat how poorly he's played thus far in the playoffs.

He also played pretty damn well to match his great teams effort and put up an equally great effort. He carried his weight and some. He was 1st or 2nd I believe in every major goalie stat. Bottom line is when you get done playing Phoenix, one of the worst offensive teams in the league, and you're just 3 games into the 2nd round, and you've given up 30 goals already......pretty brutal, and no small accident. Howard hasn't played well far too much of the time. He's not carrying his weight too often. And how do you expect the team to play when Howard gives up soft goals or pairs of goals and surrenders leads in the process again and again? How are they supposed to get any momentum going? People love to make the correlation when the goalies playing well and giving his team confidence, and then what, we're just going to forget how it works when it goes the other way? He hasn't gotten it done. Not even close. That's the bottom line.

He's signed next year. You better believe Babcock will give him more of a chance, as opposed to no chance this year, to be the number one next year... Howard's now let in as many goals as Osgood did on the entire '98 Cup run... I don't know if you take a chance on Osgood now or not, but I know there's no way we're going anywhere with Howard this season. Even if we win this series by some miracle, Howard's not playing well enough to get it done. The part of me thats desperate says "DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!" especially after this game, but who am I kidding? It's unlikely to help. But if being down 3-0 isn't a desperate time, I don't know what is...

You can't get on Howard for the OT goal. It's a s***show when they get a break like that. Maybe you get lucky, maybe you don't. However, that soft goal at the end of the 1st and the soft goal in the 3rd are unacceptable. I feel infinitely more justified in suggesting that Babcock screwed up with the goaltending. It's just stupid to put so much on a rookie when you've got a guy like Osgood there. He never was given a fair shot, and that's a shame. As I've said since November, it's stupid to put so much on Howard. It's not fair to him. He was set up to fail or be Patrick Roy, and the latter was unlikely to happen. He hasn't been good enough in the playoffs and he lost this game for us. I don't blame him though. I blame Babcock. He's been making poor coaching decisions since November, and now we're suffering through the result of those poor decisions, and most unfortunately, so is Howard.

f*** my ******* life.

I forgot how stressful overtime was.

f*** this s***.

Have you been watching the playoffs?

I'm shocked beyond measure.

Seriously? Wait, wait... Seriously? Wow.

This has really been quite the period...

GOOD GOAL!!! As it should be. I get the other one, it was definitely 5/50 if not worse, but that was a goal right there...

No debate about that one! That goal was nothing short of HUGE!!!

I think that'll be a goal. That said, we're screwing ourselves with the penalty issue. I don't know what "nothing" some of you saw, but I watched it on the DVR multiple times and Holmstrom definitely through a healthy slash, no doubt about it. Oh wait, holy f***, no goal. Wow. Next goal is huge. Homer still threw a blatant slash though.

Ugh. This is why I have a hard time blaming the refs. It may have been a lovetap, but it was pretty blatant and poorly timed. COMPOSURE!!!

Damn, we got lucky there...

Well, there's been a contingency suggesting that for awhile considering the defense went to hell after he left and all... But yeah, this is not a good sign to me, and I don't even mean that like a Lebda hater would...

It's really tough to guess. The easiest way to go now is Howard obviously after his strong regular season in the NHL, but we should know all too well by now that early success for a goalie does not guarantee a solid career. Lots of guys come on strong and fast, but they oftentimes fade away even faster. And Howard's no spring chicken either. As strong as he's played this year, it still took him far longer than most expected to develop into an NHL goalie, and even now, the real test will come over the next couple seasons to see if he can sustain his success. That said, I think it's really up to Howard to keep a cool, level head about him and to continue to improve on his weak points. He's certainly got the skill, the rest boils down to making the most of your potential. Some goalies find a way, some don't, and only time will tell. But Howard's got the tools, so if he keeps them straight and refines a few more, he's got a real good chance of being the guy for awhile. As far as the other guys go, it's still too far out. Goalies are head as hell to predict because even if they play well enough to get their break in the NHL, you don't know what their career will amount to until they're well into they're 2nd or 3rd year.