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ANOTHER ozzie/babs scoffle..sort of

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Most of the info is already known but i thought this was an interesting article.

http://vyous.com/sports/nhl/redwings/2010/...roit-free-press

I'd still start Chris Osgood in the playoffs, but I don't think Wings would

By JAMIE SAMUELSEN

FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER

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Jamie Samuelsen, the sports director for the morning show on WCSX-FM (94.7), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen and read more of his opinions at freep.com/jamie.

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Is there any doubt creeping into your mind about Chris Osgood being the Detroit Red Wings' playoff goalie?

A couple of weeks ago, I would have described it as creeping. After Jimmy Howard started in the back-to-back games over the weekend, I would have upgraded it to “starting to carve out some serious space.†After what happened Tuesday night, I think it’s clear that Howard would be the starter if the playoffs began tonight.

We’ve all seen coach-player rivalries that have boiled over. Scott Mitchell wasn’t thrilled with Wayne Fontes and punctuated his dislike with a botched Halloween costume that made its way onto Channel 4. Paul Coffey and Scotty Bowman had such a contentious relationship that Scotty left Coffey off his ballot for the 50 best players in hockey history -- and had no problem making that fact public. And Ben Wallace had an issue with Rick Carlisle … and Larry Brown … and Flip Saunders.

That’s all context for what we have now with Osgood and Mike Babcock. To be fair, Babcock hasn’t publicly ripped Osgood. But he hasn’t had to. Starting Howard for 12 straight games and benching Osgood for almost a month pretty much said it. Osgood grumbled a bit about losing his edge by watching so many games. Then Tuesday, it went beyond that.

After Osgood had a so-so game in Washington, Babcock indicated that Howard would start Thursday in Minnesota because the Red Wings need points in their quest to get into the Western Conference playoffs. When he heard that, Osgood said, “I've gotten him a lot of points. I helped him to the finals twice and know how to win."

This comes almost exactly a year after Babcock and the Red Wings' brass gave Osgood a mental vacation while questioning his focus during the regular season. I’m not sure there’s a similar scenario in any sport in which a guy is brilliant when it absolutely matters but struggles during the regular season to the point where the team and the coach feel he needs to be disciplined.

And Osgood doesn’t even think he has struggled. He thinks he has been fine but just hasn’t had the chance to play enough to get his focus.

Howard has been better, though. Howard’s numbers are very strong and, more than that, he has made some huge saves during this stretch. It’s a crime that he took a loss in the shoot-out Saturday in Dallas, because I still don’t even know if he let in a goal. The NHL doesn’t, either. His skaters should have at least gotten one for him. Their effort against Chicago in the shootout Sunday was inspired (such as the goals by Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi). Their effort in Dallas was lackluster.

There is still a ways to go. And I still have absolute faith in Osgood. You don’t win a Cup one year and go to Game 7 the following year on luck. Howard has never played in a playoff game. Personally, I’d still start Osgood in Game 1, assuming there is a Game 1. But Babcock’s opinion is more important than mine. And he seems to be leaning toward Howard.

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