Update from Wednesday's practice

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

I'm a little surprised by some of the replies on this thread. When you have DOMINIK HASEK (who, remember, was one of the best goalies just last season) on your team, he IS, no doubt, your number one guy. It's like sitting Roy or Brodeur, I mean.. it's just not intelligent.

It's a fact that Hasek is struggling right now. If he didn't have the desire to play (or if he was "disinterested" as that numskull said on tv last night) he wouldn't have chosen to play another year. This isn't Hasek's first slump in his career folks. He can not work through it in practice alone. I figured Babcock would be smart enough to know that.

Someone with the natural talent of Hasek's does NOT just lose it during one offseason, and that's a fact folks.

He needs games to work through his slump, and when you have the type of skill and resume as Hasek does, the coach should honor that. I've been a huge Babcock supporter for as long as he's coached, but he's not making the right decision here.

Playing Hasek once a week is just going to keep him cold.

For those who said "just because his name's Hasek we should risk losing games by playing him" -- my answer to you is YES, without a doubt. It is a team sport, and the wings have NOT played as well in front of dom as they have in front of osgood. We WILL need dom for the playoffs, ozzy does not have it to carry us through four rounds. Hasek is our man, and Babcock needs to start treating him like it. Work through his slump as a team, the wings need him, and he needs the wings right now.

So basically, the Wings should sit out Osgood, has been on fire and pretty much the #1 goaltender in the leauge, for Dom just because his name is Hasek? Because that is most definitely what you are insinuating and I think it's a bunch of crap. You say it's a team sport yet contradict yourself by making a comment like that. Yes it is a team sport, and you have to think of what's best for the team, and right now that is playing the goaltender who is getting the W's. Osgood deserves to be starting, and Babs has every right and reason in the world to keep playing him. To say that Ozzie isn't going to take us far in the playoffs is quite laughable. I love how some of you constantly bring up the playoffs as if it's right around the corner. It just seems like a sorry excuse to me. Hasek will get his playing time soon enough. Babs knows what he's doing.

Edited November 28, 2007 by HockeyCrazy3033

[OsGOD 3]

-- Chris Osgood will start again Thursday. Coach Mike Babcock said after Wednesday's practice that Dominik Hasek will start either Saturday or next Tuesday in Montreal. Which game has yet to be determined.

*sniff* *sniff* Absolutetly Beautiful! I heart you BABS!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy

[Learn2LuvIt 245]

I'm a little surprised by some of the replies on this thread. When you have DOMINIK HASEK (who, remember, was one of the best goalies just last season) on your team, he IS, no doubt, your number one guy. It's like sitting Roy or Brodeur, I mean.. it's just not intelligent.

It's a fact that Hasek is struggling right now. If he didn't have the desire to play (or if he was "disinterested" as that numskull said on tv last night) he wouldn't have chosen to play another year. This isn't Hasek's first slump in his career folks. He can not work through it in practice alone. I figured Babcock would be smart enough to know that.

Someone with the natural talent of Hasek's does NOT just lose it during one offseason, and that's a fact folks.

He needs games to work through his slump, and when you have the type of skill and resume as Hasek does, the coach should honor that. I've been a huge Babcock supporter for as long as he's coached, but he's not making the right decision here.

Playing Hasek once a week is just going to keep him cold.

For those who said "just because his name's Hasek we should risk losing games by playing him" -- my answer to you is YES, without a doubt. It is a team sport, and the wings have NOT played as well in front of dom as they have in front of osgood. We WILL need dom for the playoffs, ozzy does not have it to carry us through four rounds. Hasek is our man, and Babcock needs to start treating him like it. Work through his slump as a team, the wings need him, and he needs the wings right now.

Totally agree. The last thing we need is to have Dom not focusing on playing better and have his head somewhere else. Dom has a tendancy to self-destruct when the mental/goalie controversies start. We need to support him and focus on playing better. I'm extremely confident that he'll start playing better.

BTW-I've been watching Ozzie very closely this year in regards to how he expresses to the media the goalie situation. I think the way Cujo addressed the media two years ago really got under Dom's skin and made him loose focus....I think Ozzy has done an outstanding job addressing the media about our goalie situation.

[wingnut03 0]

hockeycrazy, yes, that is what i am saying. Hockey IS a team sport, and I don't feel that I contradicted myself at all. You have to look ahead, what will be best for the team further down the road. And on the goalie front sir, Hasek will be best for our team. I understand if you're a fan of Osgood's then you want to see him play, but if you're more a fan of the Red Wings, you need to play Hasek, period. Anyone who at all thinks that Osgood has more talent than Hasek is just plain wrong, I'm sorry. Hasek has proven that he can carry teams, that he can single handedly win games, he has the stats, the hardware, and the mentality to back it up.. whereas Osgood does not. You respect that, and you play Hasek.

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

Totally agree. The last thing we need is to have Dom not focusing on playing better and have his head somewhere else. Dom has a tendancy to self-destruct when the mental/goalie controversies start.

I'm sorry, but I hate the special treatment he has to get just because he's known to self destruct and what not when not getting his way. That's absurd and shouldn't be the case. He's a grown ass man. I'm sure he and the Wings are working hard in practice to get him to his normal self. That doesn't mean though that we should sit Ozzie back, just to get Dom on track. He's a professional, and he'll find his game soon enough regardless of when he plays. You go with the hot goalie, and that is Osgood. It'd be completely unfair to just yank him out when he's doing great.

[Dabura 12,207]

You can't have it both ways and complain about a lack of fairness and respect in Babcock's treatment of Hasek while at the same time advocating more starts for him at Ozzie's expense, when Ozzie is playing the best hockey of his career and flat-out owning the opposition. Babs is doing the right thing, which is trying to establish at least some semblance of a meritocracy in net instead of saying, "Dom has been bad, Ozzie's been great. The logical solution is to not reward Ozzie. Huzzah." Moreover, while this may not seem obvious, Babs is looking out for Dom; he knows that giving him the nod against certain teams will hurt Dom more than it will help him.

Like Flip-check said: baby steps.

[Mule39 0]

I guess you would have to ask the people in the Wings' organization who are saying it. He's played 11 games this season.

How does one earn starts, by the way? Babcock makes the decision who plays. Hasek's been a good sport, and says I play when the coach says play. What else can he do?

By not giving up 4 goals in a game.

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

hockeycrazy, yes, that is what i am saying. Hockey IS a team sport, and I don't feel that I contradicted myself at all. You have to look ahead, what will be best for the team further down the road. And on the goalie front sir, Hasek will be best for our team. I understand if you're a fan of Osgood's then you want to see him play, but if you're more a fan of the Red Wings, you need to play Hasek, period. Anyone who at all thinks that Osgood has more talent than Hasek is just plain wrong, I'm sorry. Hasek has proven that he can carry teams, that he can single handedly win games, he has the stats, the hardware, and the mentality to back it up.. whereas Osgood does not. You respect that, and you play Hasek.

How do you know that playing Hasek is best for the Wings down the road, and into the playoffs? I don't agree with that at all. You're right Hasek has proven he can carry teams, and has great stats and what not, but that was then, and this is now. While im not a fan of his, I think Hasek has always been a fantastic goalie, but I think he's finally slowed down, and I no longer see him as being whats best for the team so I'll respectfully disagree.

[Wings_Fan_In_Exile 3]

I'm a little surprised by some of the replies on this thread. When you have DOMINIK HASEK (who, remember, was one of the best goalies just last season) on your team, he IS, no doubt, your number one guy. It's like sitting Roy or Brodeur

While I agree that he was one of the better goalies last year, comparing him to Roy or Brodeur doesn't work for me simply because Hasek is getting old. Roy is also 42, but he's been retired since '03 and Brodeur is only 35. I'll compare a 42yr old Hasek to Roy and Brodeur at 42 (retired and 7 years younger). There is a good chance that Hasek has in fact started to slip as he gets older. Or maybe it's a slump, too early to tell IMO, but I don't know what we are expecting from this old man, he surprised me last year, but lightning doesn't often strike twice....

[Dabura 12,207]

By not giving up 4 goals in a game.

QFT.

"What else can he do?" How about, you know, playing well?

[WhiteLightning91 105]

thank you!

You're logic is baffling...

[gcom007 1,465]

With Osgood playing this well we don't need jack squat to replace him. If Hasek can play better, he should start, but by no means at all is Osgood's play need bailing out. If Hasek ends up playing better, this will be an issue of the greater of two greats as Osgood is playing nothing short of great this season and it's not a fluke. Since he's shaken the injuries last season he's been outstanding. He's always been solid and he's got his technique refined better than ever. He's won a Cup. He's probably more suited to handle the pressure than Dom when you think of all he's been through on this team.

Again, I'm all for Hasek starting IF he can earn the right to by his play, but any of you who think we "need" it need a serious reality check. Only in Detroit...

[YoungGuns1340 1]

It always amazes me how people let biases get in the way of the facts. Hasek should be kept on a short leash until he has "better-than-ok" game. If that means starting 1 of every 3 games, so be it. I dont give a crap if his name is Hasek, Leclaire, Roy, Brodeur, Sawchuck, or if hes some bionic combination of all those guys. You reward the guy thats playing well. End of story.

Under no circumstances should a player be rewarded for PAST accomplisments. Period.

[eva unit zero 271]

I dont give a crap if his name is Hasek, Leclaire, Roy, Brodeur, Sawchuck, or if hes some bionic combination of all those guys.

Terry Pascal Martin Patrick Dominik Lebroysekchuck?

Edited November 28, 2007 by eva unit zero

[Guest jaytan]

Living up to the $4M he signed for during the off-season would be a good start (no pun intended).

Or maybe he ought to act with a bit of integrity and just give the organization a few million of those un-earned dollars back.

[Z and D for the C 712]

The only reason why Hasek is getting starts on a semi-regular basis is because of his past glory...not because he is earning them...and yea, I am a little miffed about that.

Yeah, it's not something silly like if given playing time he could be twice the goalie ozzie is. No way.

[chrisdetroit 189]

Dom is uninterested out there this year...

he is not playing like he did last year and seems not to care...

being 42, hes thinking about more than just hockey...

he himself has said after a few games he should have made some of those saves...

i hope to see Osgood start most of our games...

That's a bunch of crap that you are just repeating from the Versus anouncers last night. He came back to win the cup that he almost won last year. Nobody in hid right mind would say that Dom doesn't care. Everybody agrees that he is ultra competatitve. He's not playing great right now but to say it is because he doesn't care is just plain wrong.

With Osgood playing this well we don't need jack squat to replace him. If Hasek can play better, he should start, but by no means at all is Osgood's play need bailing out. If Hasek ends up playing better, this will be an issue of the greater of two greats as Osgood is playing nothing short of great this season and it's not a fluke. Since he's shaken the injuries last season he's been outstanding. He's always been solid and he's got his technique refined better than ever. He's won a Cup. He's probably more suited to handle the pressure than Dom when you think of all he's been through on this team.

Again, I'm all for Hasek starting IF he can earn the right to by his play, but any of you who think we "need" it need a serious reality check. Only in Detroit...

Yea, you're right, Osgodd can handle the pressure becuase HE WON A CUP......wait a minute, so did Hasek. Let's see Hasek won a cup 5 years ago. Osgood's was 9 years ago.

That has to be one of the dumbest arguments in LGW history.

[Booster313 138]

When a forward is struggling the coach just tells them to keep shooting and that their getting chances etc...Goalies need saves to play better...Osgood has been good this season and I don't think we should bench him in favor of Dom but I do think it should be a 50/50 split. When you look at Dom's last start he let in 3 goals on 30 shots I believe. He did not play poorly and at times he looked really good. It was a postive step for him. Not his best game but a positive step. In Osgoods last two starts he has given up 3 goals each time, (he also gave up all three shootout goals) Last night he had 19 saves on 22 goals...That's worse than Dom's last start. I'm not bashing Osgood...I think he has played well. I just think that based on the last start Dom had that his playing time should be increasing a little or at least staying the same, not getting less. I know Ozzie got the win but that's because we scored more than three goals. It seems to me that Dom played a little better and his reward was being sat for 3 or 4 games.

[Mickeyisms Rule! 0]

Yeah, it's not something silly like if given playing time he could be twice the goalie ozzie is. No way.

Why, he definitely COULD be twice the goalie Ozzie is, but the question is WILL he?

Having just turned 38 recently, even though I am not a top athlete by any stretch, I can definitely attest to the fact that as you age you don't move so good anymore. You can make up for a lot of this lack of movement by using your head to a greater degree, but eventually the head may be willing, but the body ain't able.

I am not saying that this is the case for Dom, but I am starting to wonder.

Lest we forget, Ozzie was the Stanley Cup goaltender in '98. He is perfectly capable of "handling it." he has won the same number of Stanley Cups as Dom as the number one goalie.

Osgood leads the league in GAA right now and is tied for third for victories.

Now is not the time to be saying that Hasek should be getting playing time because he is our number one goalie. He has the talent to re-attain that status, but our number one goalie for the time being, is Ozzie. Hasek must earn that status again.

Now is the time to be supporting our number one goalie, Osgood, and realizing that he is not a spring chicken either, so Dom will definitely get the playing time to prove that he has his game in order.

You don't get playing time by playing crappy in Babcock's system, and Dom has been for lack of a better term, crappy.

[gcom007 1,465]

Yeah, it's not something silly like if given playing time he could be twice the goalie ozzie is. No way.

While I don't say this to knock his play last year, since Osgood's returned from injury midseason last year, I had a tough time thinking either goalie was playing better than the other. I thought they were pretty neck and neck last year once Osgood got healthy. This year, I'm giving all the excuses till 12/31. I don't expect him to really improve that much as I think he's finally just hit a point where he can't compete like he used to, but until then, I'm still open minded about the possibility somewhat. I still think y'all are nuts to think he's going to be as good as he was this year even best case scenario. As objectively as I can be, I just don't see it happening. Everyone gets old sometimes. 43 for a goalie is intense. Like I've said, even just a millisecond of lost reaction time can mean everything.

Yea, you're right, Osgodd can handle the pressure becuase HE WON A CUP......wait a minute, so did Hasek. Let's see Hasek won a cup 5 years ago. Osgood's was 9 years ago.

That has to be one of the dumbest arguments in LGW history.

Based on how illogical your reply was on a number of levels, I'm not going to sweat your opinion.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Yeah, it's not something silly like if given playing time he could be twice the goalie ozzie is. No way.

Yeah, its not something silly like him getting to play nearly THE SAME AMOUNT of games as Ozzie is. No way.

At the 22nd game point, Dom and Ozzie had each played 11 games. Their records? 10-1-0 and 5-5-1. Somebody is doing what their supposed to with their starts. The other one is struggling to prove what the other has in nearly the same amount of games. If youre an elite goaltender, you get your team wins regardless of how many games you start.

When a forward is struggling the coach just tells them to keep shooting and that their getting chances etc...Goalies need saves to play better...Osgood has been good this season and I don't think we should bench him in favor of Dom but I do think it should be a 50/50 split. When you look at Dom's last start he let in 3 goals on 30 shots I believe. He did not play poorly and at times he looked really good. It was a postive step for him. Not his best game but a positive step. In Osgoods last two starts he has given up 3 goals each time, (he also gave up all three shootout goals) Last night he had 19 saves on 22 goals...That's worse than Dom's last start. I'm not bashing Osgood...I think he has played well. I just think that based on the last start Dom had that his playing time should be increasing a little or at least staying the same, not getting less. I know Ozzie got the win but that's because we scored more than three goals. It seems to me that Dom played a little better and his reward was being sat for 3 or 4 games.

Osgood gave up 2 goals in the game against the Jackets. Theres a reason shootout goals arent counted against. I cant say whether or not Osgood played a good game on Tuesday, but I did see where Babcock statedly said about the game against the Blue Jackets "if it werent for Osgood, we wouldn't have even made it to the third period." Apparently, Osgood gave his team a chance to win in that game.

As for Doms game against the Preds, yes, he was a little better. But getting a little better after being abysmal is still only mediocre. Honestly, with the way hes played so far, hes lucky to even have played nearly half the game so far. Ozzie has played better times over, yet hes still only played 2 more games than Dom. If anything, Dom has been given plenty of opportunities to reclaim his territory.

[Superman54 91]

If it were up to me I would start Hasek in net. Though I love the way Ozzie is playing I still believe Hasek can pull it together. Its an eastren conferance team so if Hasek plays bad it wont effect us as bad (Not saying that winning doesn't matter). But nothin is wrong with Ozzie starting, he is playing great and deserves it. I just wanna see the goalie that we all wanted re-signed to start playin like the Dominater he is, not was.

[IceMunkee 15]

Tonight I had a very lengthy conversation with my best friend and avid supporter of Dom and I have been up until tonight. I am not saying I don't support Dom but I do support winning.

In our conversation he was saying how crappy it is that Dom will not get the start on Thursday. I tried to explain that I would prefer Ozzy in net against the Lightning and Vinny, becuase well, he is winning. His arguement was that Dom's last start minus the lose was better then Ozzy's in the last two. So we argued and I said it was ONE start. He still let in weak goals, which Ozzy does too. The differance in the two is Oz is making the clutch saves that results in wins and Dom is not which results in a big L. The conversation went on and I won't go into detail but it turned into an arguement which resulted in me being hinted as not being as "knowledgable" about goalies. Which ofcourse I disagreed with and said that he is clearly being blinded by Dom Love and not knowledge. His arguement was that Dom's resume' should earn him the number one job. I said that it did. If I were to get hired by a company becuase I had a beautiful resume is good, but if I come to the job and don't live up to what my resume reads then I should not keep my job or at least be put on probation until my performance warrants.

The bottom line is stats and achievements of the past do not excuse poor performance now. They are in the past and I am not willing to lose games due to past achievments. I am not opposing Dom. He should get his chance but we need to pick and choose when and where that is.

As I told my friend, I am a Detroit Red Wings fan. I am a fan of my team winning. I chose my team over one player.

I was so outspoken becuase the way everyone wantged Dom's head, which I do not agree with. I was also supporting my friend. I do not have a favorite between Oz and Dom. My favorite goalie in the past is Legacy, which still is my favorite. I could careless who starts. I JUST WANT TO WIN. The differance, W/L and clutch saves. I don't need to put up there records to show who it favors. I have faith Dom will rebound, but if he does not, as long as the TEAM is winning is what is important.

Edited November 29, 2007 by IceMunkee

[lfd250 1]

Um, if dom was this great goalie everyone is claiming him to be, why didn't the other teams try and sign him? LA needed a goalie at the beginning of the year, so did other clubs. We didn't have him under contract at the end of last year. Before anyone says the same about osgood, he was signed last year for two years.

[IceMunkee 15]

Um, if dom was this great goalie everyone is claiming him to be, why didn't the other teams try and sign him? LA needed a goalie at the beginning of the year, so did other clubs. We didn't have him under contract at the end of last year. Before anyone says the same about osgood, he was signed last year for two years.

Well Dom was offered contracts by both LA and Florida. Which he turned down becuase it was Detroit or retire for him. Both offers were more then what he is getting now. Something to say there about his character...