Babcock Finally Noticed

[digitaljohn88 4]

Osgood had been scheduled to start Thursday's home game against Calgary, but Babcock said he is reconsidering the every-other-game rotation he has been using.

"Ozzie might have to play on the road and (Conklin) might have to play here," Babcock said. "Just looking at the record and save percentage and how it's going, I haven't really thought about it for sure."

That's a theory I've been thinking about/posting since last year. Osgood was much better in away games vs home games in 2008 (.931 vs .891) and slightly more respectable away than at home this year. Every other Wings goalie (Conklin included) is always better at home comparitively.

Conklin this year:

Home: 14-1-0 .935% 1.74GAA 4SO

Away: 10-7-1 .895% 2.99GAA 2SO

I wouldn't mind Babcock pulling a home/away rotation for a while. Put both goalies where they're best and hopefully they both get going and play great.

Edited March 11, 2009 by digitaljohn88

[Spinner 6]

That's a theory I've been thinking about/posting since last year. Osgood was much better in away games vs home games in 2008 (.931 vs .891) and slightly more respectable away than at home this year. Every other Wings goalie (Conklin included) is always better at home comparitively.

Conklin this year:

Home: 14-1-0 .935% 1.74GAA 4SO

Away: 10-7-1 .895% 2.99GAA 2SO

I wouldn't mind Babcock pulling a home/away rotation for a while. Put both goalies where they're best and hopefully they both get going and play great.

This may not be a bad idea but what's going to happen during the playoffs? Do they keep the rotation if it works or is there an unwritten law that says you have to stick with one goalie?

[jvxp 0]

That's a theory I've been thinking about/posting since last year. Osgood was much better in away games vs home games in 2008 (.931 vs .891) and slightly more respectable away than at home this year. Every other Wings goalie (Conklin included) is always better at home comparitively.

Conklin this year:

Home: 14-1-0 .935% 1.74GAA 4SO

Away: 10-7-1 .895% 2.99GAA 2SO

I wouldn't mind Babcock pulling a home/away rotation for a while. Put both goalies where they're best and hopefully they both get going and play great.

I think Ozzie should just ride the bench like last year. He seems to be a better back up goalie. Conklin has been a better goalie this year.

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

I think it's a great idea besides the fact that if we do it for the whole season, we will never know which goalie will perform better overall for both home and away games in the playoffs?

[55fan 5,133]

This may not be a bad idea but what's going to happen during the playoffs? Do they keep the rotation if it works or is there an unwritten law that says you have to stick with one goalie?

There must be an unwritten rule. Last year I suggested playing both, and got, um, shall we say "scolded".

I just thought that there might be merit to the idea of having a fresh goalie in net as the playoffs wore on, since their regular season stats were about as identical as could be.

I would not be opposed to playing whichever one is better in the given situation, whether that is home/away or against certain teams or against certain styles of play, but as was pointed out to me last year, I have never coached and obviously never will since I know nothing at all about hockey.

[digitaljohn88 4]

This may not be a bad idea but what's going to happen during the playoffs? Do they keep the rotation if it works or is there an unwritten law that says you have to stick with one goalie?

I don't think there could be a rotation in the playoffs. Even if it started that way, if one goalie got hot there was no way you could sit him for the rotation when every game matters so much.

I do think Osgood's ability in away games (for whatever reason) is one of the underrated reasons why he's usually so good for his team in the playoffs. Road wins are very important there.

Conklin has been really good at home this season, but I think we'd all like to see him play better away from the Joe. If he ends up starting the playoffs, hopefully he does.

At this point, who knows who's going to start. I think it really depends on what happens in the last month of the season.

[wingfan1991 221]

babcock finally woke up ... should be a great move. now if he can stop playing meech , and play samuelsson 8 min a game and off the 2nd PP point we'll be ok.

[OsGOD 3]

I think Ozzie should just ride the bench like last year. He seems to be a better back up goalie. Conklin has been a better goalie this year.

good thing he didn't ride the pine last playoffs... ight?

We should use both of them in the PO's then conks at home and Ozzie on the road.... Go 16 and out

[CenterIce 83]

Most teams do not do well when they flip flop goalies in the playoffs. Since it is such a short tournament, you want one guy focused in and on a grove. You usually don't switch to your backup, unless something is really going wrong.

[Ms_Hockey 0]

Hahaha, I love how everybody thinks they'd make a better coach than Babcock does.

On another note, this isn't a bad idea. We're nearing the end of the regular season and we're a serious contender for the Presidents' Trophy. Do what you gotta do to get there.

[jjd06e 10]

problem is even though conklin's stats are much better at home then on road, his road stats are still better than ozzies road stats. Conklin should just be the starter period.

[whitneydatsyukrox 0]

problem is even though conklin's stats are much better at home then on road, his road stats are still better than ozzies road stats. Conklin should just be the starter period.

I agree. While Osgood is better on the road than at home, when you compare the two, Conklin is still best at home, overall, and on the road by a respectable amount (save % and GAA).

However unless Ozzie completely blows the rest of the regular season, he'll likely be our playoff starter. Babcock will have to keep him fresh. As much as Conklin has earned the rest of the starts... Ozzie will likely be in come playoffs.

[Third Man In 2,091]

Hate to burst everyone's bubble, but there was just a wee bit of sarcasm in Babcock's voice when he said that. If the Wings really have to rotate goalies like this in the playoffs, they're done.

[Wingsallwin 0]

I think it is a good point to compare Conklin's Home stats and road stats; his home stats are far better than the road stats. It will be great to start Conklin against the Flames because the Flames are not like Coyotes, they are pretty decent teams. Also, our last two meetings against the Flames, Conklin started and won all 2 games.

However, further in the playoff, there is hell no possibility that we are gonna rotate two goalies during the playoff. To win the Stanley cup, there are 16 wins. It is not like a regular season, playoff is a fight of momentum. If Conklin gets hot on the playoff, there is no reason we put Osgood in net on the road games.

While people say Conklin's road number is not good, Osgood's stats is even worse even though Osgood is better on the road than the home as stats. Two shutouts on the road is very fine and I am happy with that.

If you see the schedule, there is not much time left for the playoff. Almost only one month left and approximately only around 15 games are left. I think Babcock realized that Conklin is playing far better than Osgood this season. At this moment, this is not a time to test which goalie will be our starting goalie because all other playoff teams are starting to build a confidence on their number one goalie.

I think Conklin has to start most of games left for us. You realize when there is PK time, if Osgood is in the net, I never felt comfortable and guessed it would go in, what happened? Realization of the guessing.

Stop saying Osgood has more exprience. Experience should be chemistry with the effort and the performance. According to people's logic, we have to start Osgood along the playoff exprience.

Then, here is my answer. Start Terry Sawchuk.

[TheOwl 77]

This is a very important game. Calgary unlike the rest of the bottom feeders we've been playing for the last little while, could be real competition in the western semifinals.