The Chris Osgood discussion thread

[Guest Lidstromboli]

janik made a few bad passes, but i noticed that he does well keeping the puck in the offensive zone

[Broken 16 381]

Oh I agree, but what I like about Janik is he knows what he is, a #6 Nhl/ top 3 AHL defenseman, he plays within that game and as you pointed out usually avoids the outlet pass as that is not his game.

But as a # 6 I will take him every day over what the Wings have. However I am not going to root against Lebda, just prefer Janik!

I love his stay at home mentality and his work on the PK. You're right, as a #6, he is really solid. His confidence in the outlet pass should grow as he becomes more comfortable. He'll never be a Lidstrom or Rafalski obviously, but I like what he brings.

[clutchngrab 12]

I don't see why everyone thinks Osgood is a lock for the playoffs.

[RedWingsRox 614]

I don't see why everyone thinks Osgood is a lock for the playoffs.

Conventional wisdom would have said Ozzie locked in for playoffs. Last year Conklin played well but playoffs were Ozzie's - unquestioned.

HOWEVER ... if Jimmy Howard keeps playing like this, I think it would be hard for Babs not to give Howie the starts in the playoff.

Should Howie get the jitters and nerves ... then go to Ozzie. JH is making a believer out of all of us.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

I don't see why everyone thinks Osgood is a lock for the playoffs.

And you base that on tonight's game?

I guess if you don't f*** things up then you are an official playoff-ready goaltender. Who knew?

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

I don't see why everyone thinks Osgood is a lock for the playoffs.

No one's a lock, but the guy who has to take off the two Stanley Cup rings (as starting goaltender) to lace up his skates is gonna get some extra consideration over the rookie who's playing well in January.

And before anyone freaks out, I'm not knocking Jimmy. He has been a nice surprise and playing great for this team. But when you talk about playoffs, experience is obviously going to be a factor. Luckily there's still half a season to try and sort this out.

[RedWingsRox 614]

No one's a lock, but the guy who has to take off the two Stanley Cup rings (as starting goaltender) to lace up his skates is gonna get some extra consideration over the rookie who's playing well in January.

Last year, Hiller started over Giggy.

So there are teams that might choose a rookie over another guy who has to take off at least one Stanley Cup ring to lace up his skates.

BUT in the end, they lost to us.

[canadian wings fan 305]

HAHAHAHA all of you are a joke, Howard is our goaltender. He has done something Osgood simply never could, and that is steal games for us. Jimmy Howard is clearly the superior goaltender and thats the way it is. Osgood has his opportunities and he continued to dissapoint with subpard play. GOO JIMMY|!||

[zettie85 106]

HAHAHAHA all of you are a joke, Howard is our goaltender. He has done something Osgood simply never could, and that is steal games for us. Jimmy Howard is clearly the superior goaltender and thats the way it is. Osgood has his opportunities and he continued to dissapoint with subpard play. GOO JIMMY|!||

No need to call everyone a joke.

[Dominator2005 558]

I think that Holland just need to trade Howard... in that case Osgood is a lock for the playoffs

[Pucks 66]

Maybe we can get a really big jersey, like Giguere size big. Then put both Jimmy and Chris in the goal together. Then we'll have size and experience.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

Last year, Hiller started over Giggy.

So there are teams that might choose a rookie over another guy who has to take off at least one Stanley Cup ring to lace up his skates.

BUT in the end, they lost to us.

Well Giggy was playing really bad.

Osgood isn't playing that bad.

[droz 5]

Good article:

If I saw Chris Osgood at a billiard hall, I’d high-tail it out of there. If I met him on the golf course, I’d head in the other direction. I wouldn’t even trust him at the local bowling alley.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s banned from the casinos in town, plus the one in Windsor.

Osgood, if he chose to, would take you for everything you have at the above establishments. The only better sandbagging is done on the Atlantic Coast just prior to a hurricane.

Once again, Osgood has us all suckered. He’s about to fleece us once more. This is hardly the first time.

Remember the beaten down and sheepish look he wore when he returned from exile in 2005? The Red Wings had gotten rid of Ozzie back in the summer of 2001, having traded for Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek so that he may tend goal for them.

Osgood trudged off to the New York Islanders—the Islanders!!— and then ended up with the St. Louis Blues. In neither locale did he thrill the masses. They all but ran him out of St. Looey.

The Red Wings brought him back to Detroit as a soon-to-be 33-year-old backup in 2005. More like they rescued him. He was the prodigal son, only in this instance, the son got kicked out—he didn’t leave of his own volition. But he was back, in the warm and cozy confines of the Red Wings organization, which he’d known since before he was old enough to legally consume alcohol.

The Red Wings had Manny Legace—Manny Legace!—as their No. 1 goaltender, so Osgood was brought on board as a nod to his loyalty to the organization and to function as the veteran mentor.

Oh, what Ozzie must have been thinking when, on the eve of the 2006 playoffs, Legace popped off to the papers and openly wondered about his own qualifications as being the No. 1 goalie for a long playoff run. It was like being led into battle by General Patton—if ole George would have stopped just before they fired the first shot, turned to his troops, and said, “I wonder if I can do this, after all?â€

If there’s anything Osgood is short on, confidence is not one of them. He may be short in other things, like feet and inches—and hair—but he’s got them all beat in the confidence department.

So to have been relegated to backup goalie, then to watch the supposed No. 1 guy wring his hands and turn into Don Knotts just before the playoffs must have killed Osgood.

Legace blew up, as expected, and the Red Wings lost in the first round to an inferior Edmonton Oilers team. In Steve Yzerman’s final season. What a way to send The Captain off, eh?

Again the Red Wings turned to Hasek, instead of Osgood, in the offseason. They signed Hasek as a free agent. Osgood would be No. 2 again.

Hasek played OK, but the Red Wings lost in the conference championship to the Anaheim Ducks, who would win the Stanley Cup.

Fast forward one more year, to the 2008 playoffs. Osgood was doing more sandbagging; he conned us into thinking he would be no more than a backup once again, could be no more than a backup to the great Hasek.

Coach Mike Babcock, after four games of the first round series against Nashville, the proceedings tied at two wins apiece, took his chips off of Hasek, who had been shaky in Games Three and Four, and placed them on Osgood. It was one of the gutsiest decisions I’ve ever seen a coach make in Detroit.

Osgood, poker-faced, shrugged and said sure, I’ll go in.

He allowed one measly goal in a game that was tighter than size 38 pants on a 40 waist. The Red Wings won, in overtime. Osgood was named one of the three stars, and he skated onto the ice at Joe Louis Arena to a thunderous ovation after the game when it was announced.

The Red Wings took off from there. Chris Osgood, the sandbagging goalie, led them to their fourth Stanley Cup—and his third—in 11 years. The fact that they won all the marbles was largely due to Osgood’s play between the pipes.

Then, last season and more sandbagging. Osgood suckered us again.

The apple of everyone’s eye was the backup, Ty Conklin. Osgood played miserably coming out of the gate and Conklin…didn’t. So while Ozzie sat on the bench, Conklin played and played very well. It was around this time last year, in fact, when the hockey denizens around town dared to crow that Ty Conklin, not Chris Osgood, should be the Red Wings’ starting netminder when the playoffs roll around.

It’s easy to sucker the thick-headed. And Osgood, who must never have met a blackjack table he didn’t like, was doing it.

Osgood really poured it on, though. This was going to be a hustle of great proportions. Ozzie was going to be Minnesota Fats, the Cincinnati Kid, and Paul Newman, all rolled into one. He played extra awful in goal. He was so bad, in February his coach sent him away, to “get his head together.â€

HA!

It was like taking candy from a baby; the fans took the bait, hook, line, and sinker.

“Ty Conklin should be the starting goalie in the playoffs!â€

“Chris Osgood is finished!â€

Oh yeah? Place your bets, gentlemen!

Osgood “recovered†and Babcock, who was on to Ozzie’s con, named him the starter for the playoffs, after all.

Osgood almost ran the table. The Red Wings lost Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, by one goal. You can’t get much closer than that. But they lost the Cup not because of anything bad Osgood did. Yet had they won it, it would largely have been because of all the good Osgood did.

So here we are, January 2010. And Osgood is suckering us again, or trying to. This year it’s Jimmy Howard, a rookie , who has some people thinking the Red Wings ought to leave Ozzie on the bench come playoff time—should the Wings qualify.

Why? Because Osgood is sandbagging it again in the regular season, while the kid Howard is doing things like stopping 51 of 52 shots, as he did in L.A. the other night.

I’m not much of a gambler. I can barely figure out how to work a slot machine. But if I saw Chris Osgood at a table, I’d beat it.

You want the rookie Howard in goal, instead of the proven Osgood, when the playoffs arrive—again, should the Red Wings qualify?

P.T. Barnum was right, and this is your minute.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/322813-...fans-once-again

[wingsdiehard13 33]

I read that article yesterday, very good read

[Marty Barry 230]

Sucker me one more time OZZIE! I'll fall for it I promise.

[Blood On The Ice 15]

I have said this in another post. I believe, that if the wings can still make the playoffs, that Ozzie will be the one between the pipes.

[Miller Brew 0]

I don't know anyone who suggested Howard should start in the post season. We all know Osgood gets the nod.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Last year, Hiller started over Giggy.

So there are teams that might choose a rookie over another guy who has to take off at least one Stanley Cup ring to lace up his skates.

BUT in the end, they lost to us.

Which is why I said no one is a lock.

But Giggy won the Cup in 03. Not to mention Giguere played poorly in the previous playoffs, whereas Ozzy won the Cup two seasons ago and played well all the way to the finals just last season.

As I said, no one is a lock. There's still a half season to sort it out. But the goaltender who played in the last two stanley cup finals is probably going to get some extra consideration. That's all.

Edited January 10, 2010 by haroldsnepsts

[Rivalred 630]

Well Giggy was playing really bad.

Osgood isn't playing that bad.

Osgood has not played, well for 8 or 9 games now.

[droz 5]

I have said this in another post. I believe, that if the wings can still make the playoffs, that Ozzie will be the one between the pipes.

I don't know anyone who suggested Howard should start in the post season. We all know Osgood gets the nod.

I totally agree, Babcock just doesn't want to take out Howard during all these injuries, which I don't blame him as many games goal-tending has won us the game. Once we get healthy we wont have to rely on the goal-tending as much and Ozzie will start to play more. Then he can prove once again why he will be the starter come playoff time.

Edited January 10, 2010 by droz

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

When was the last time a team deliberately made their starting playoff goaie into a backup in the regular season only to make him starter once the playoffs began?

To start Ozzie in the playoffs, if we make it there, would be detrimental to Howard's progress as a player. He's earned that right, unless Babcock just gets his s*** together and announces now that Ozzie is the starting goalie now and in the playoffs.

Until then, Howard is the starter in my book. He's playing all the damn games and important ones at that.

This is our playoffs right now, and who's behind the pipes for us?

[Dano33 41]

I don't know anyone who suggested Howard should start in the post season. We all know Osgood gets the nod.

I will. Howard has a future here, and the situation the wings will be in during the playoffs (likely a 6-8 seed) is the best situation to give the rookie some playoff experience. A low seed comes with less pressure and if he struggles we can fall back on Ozzie. We don't want to wait until Osgood is gone to let Howard play because we won't have a proven backup to go to if he struggles then. We have to see what Howard can do now, so we can prepare for the future if needed.

[Broken 16 381]

When was the last time a team deliberately made their starting playoff goaie into a backup in the regular season only to make him starter once the playoffs began?

To start Ozzie in the playoffs, if we make it there, would be detrimental to Howard's progress as a player. He's earned that right, unless Babcock just gets his s*** together and announces now that Ozzie is the starting goalie now and in the playoffs.

Until then, Howard is the starter in my book. He's playing all the damn games and important ones at that.

This is our playoffs right now, and who's behind the pipes for us?

Exactly. We've been 'in the playoffs' for over a month now and Howard has carried us on more than one occasion.

What's more pressure? Playing in the playoffs and maybe losing or playing on a team in the regular season that is playing every night for a playoff spot? This kid has been in the pressure cooker every single game and all he has done is improve.

No comparison to Manny Legace or Ty Conklin is waranted, imo. Jimmy is a Red Wing prospect that is absolutely kicking ass in his first season behind the pipes. Legace and Conklin were hired back-ups.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

Whatever. I don't see it as "suckering". Tough to prove anything sitting on the bench.

Ozzie will be starting again when it matters most.

[Broken 16 381]

Whatever. I don't see it as "suckering". Tough to prove anything sitting on the bench.

Ozzie will be starting again when it matters most.

Uhhhh... it matters most right now. Can't do much in the playoffs if you don't make it.

If the playoffs started tomorrow, who would you want in net?

Edited January 10, 2010 by Broken 16