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Nev

Babcock: Goaltending the best since I've been here

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Babcock is more taking a shot at Osgood than he is praising Howard.

Howard has been extremely good, but Osgood was a legit Vezina contender despite only playing half the season, and then went on to ramp up his play to lead the team to the Stanley Cup, and was arguably just as deserving as Z of the Smythe.

Osgood's 07-08 season was the best goaltending the team has had since Babcock has been here, whether he recognizes it or not. He can be angry with Ozzie's recent regular season performance, but indirectly calling him out in the media for his current performance by underrating his past performance is a new low.

After this comment, I doubt we see Osgood the rest of the season unless Howie is injured or gives up 3 goals in the first 2 minutes of a game; and even on the second one I think Babs probably keeps Jimmy in, as he did with the multiple games in a short period where Howie was giving up 2 quick ones right away.

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Babcock is more taking a shot at Osgood than he is praising Howard.

Osgood's 07-08 season was the best goaltending the team has had since Babcock has been here, whether he recognizes it or not. He can be angry with Ozzie's recent regular season performance, but indirectly calling him out in the media for his current performance by underrating his past performance is a new low.

In my opinion if the 2010 Howard started for us in 2008 he would have put up better numbers.

Not s shot at Ozzy at all.

My two cents.

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Howard gives up waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many rebounds. There I said it.

Can't say I totally agree with Babs there, but like others have stated, I don't think he put nearly as much stock in that comment than people are taking from it. Just praising his goalie is all.

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Maybe it's because we've had all these injuries and staff. We are relied on goaltending more in this season. Maybe Hasek/Osgood would've won us games like Howard has in the regular season, but they just didn't have to because the team was playing so well.

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The best and most consistent regular season goalie? Yes.

Exactly. That was the first thought that popped into my mind as well.

I don't know why Babcock even needs to make a comment like this. Clearly, Jimmy is playing well enough and his confidence is fine after 21 straight starts. I'm not taking anything away from Jimmy and what he has done -- I just don't quite understand what the point is behind Babcock stating something like that, under than to take a subtle shot at Ozzie.

Ozzie was the BEST goalie in the NHL in the past two playoff runs. It's a completely different environment, one that Jimmy has yet to experience. When Jimmy can duplicate or come close to matching what Ozzie did in the playoffs, I'm not calling it the best goaltending in the Babcock era.

Edited by GoWings1905

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Howard gives up waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many rebounds. There I said it.

You people really need to let go of this. A) Rebounds are a silly stat. B) Howard has improved leaps and bounds and still continues to improve on it. Let it go already.

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Can't Howard be complimented without any other player/goaltender being involved?

Honestly. Enjoy the ride Howard is giving us so far, because we don't know when it's going to end.

And Howard does give up rebounds. Don't ignore it, no matter how well he has been playing.

Edited by Doc Holliday

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Can't Howard be complimented without any other player/goaltender being involved?

Honestly. Enjoy the ride Howard is giving us so far, because we don't know when it's going to end.

Exactly. I don't see why people need to A) Bash Osgood, or B) Bash Howard.

Why can't we all just be happy that we have a first year goalie exceeding every expectation, instead of trying to start a goalie war over a random quote.

And rebounds he could improve on, but making the first save is the most important thing a goalie can do. I could careless about rebounds if, at the end of the day, he wins. That's all that matters, rebound control will come with experience.

People are putting too much stock into rebounds, in interviews Lidstrom/Rafalski all are saying that Howard making the first save is all that matters and it's their job to protect the area in front.

Edited by Carman

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Exactly. I don't see why people need to A) Bash Osgood, or B) Bash Howard.

Why can't we all just be happy that we have a first year goalie exceeding every expectation, instead of trying to start a goalie war over a random quote.

Osgood is lazy and he sucks.

Hasek is old and he sucks.

Howard is young and he sucks.

Cheveldae is vintage and he sucks.

Legace is a choker and he sucks.

Joseph can't score for his team and he sucks.

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My $.02:

I think what we are all missing is that since Babs has come to Detroit never has he had a goalie that has won so many games for the team (not the team winning them for the goalie). While the 07-08 season had some killer netminding, the defense was stronger, and the offense was on a different level. This year the Wings have won games purely due to Howie stepping it up. I was the BIGGEST Howard basher on this site, but, his play has won me over. He has been money most games, whereas in 07-08 there were some games where I was pretty sure Ozzy/Hasek were playing solitaire for most of the game. So I don't think it was a veiled shot at Ozzy, I really do believe this year goaltending has been the best we've had in years.

Edited by Shaman464

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Can't Howard be complimented without any other player/goaltender being involved?

Honestly. Enjoy the ride Howard is giving us so far, because we don't know when it's going to end.

And Howard does give up rebounds. Don't ignore it, no matter how well he has been playing.

I agree with this 100%

I think what a lot of people are missing is that Babs stated, "as good as we've been" NOT "the best we've been". In my opinion, he is saying that Jimmy right now is playing as good as the Ozzie/Hasek duo of '08, albeit under drastically different circumstances. Those two guys put up ridiculous numbers backstopping a damn-near-unstoppable squad on both sides of the puck. Jimmy has had to play under significantly more duress and has still put up incredible numbers and, more importantly, has been leading us to wins.

This was simply a subtle compliment to our rookie goaltender through the media that is getting way over blown. I don't think that it was in any way a shot to Ozzy, nor do I think Ozzy would construe it as such. I certainly hope (and have no reason to believe otherwise) that Ozzy would be able to admit that what Jimmy has done for us this season has been absolutely outstanding.

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Guest Crymson

I mean, I know Jimmy's been good and all that, but really? Better than Osgood/Hasek in 2008 when they won the Jennings and Osgood was the starter at the All-Star game, 1st in GAA and went 27-9-4? Now I know we had a much better team then, but still. Does he really mean this, or is he having another jibe at Ozzie (who would now offically be Hudlers replacement as Mike Babcock's go-to scapegoat).

http://sports.espn.g...cott&id=5034714

Osgood and Hasek faced the lowest number of shots per game of any goalies in the league. Howard played behind a team that is less stacked and was riddled with injuries. When the Red Wings faced tons of injuries in February of '08, the Wings lost an atrocious number of games in the time before the injured players returned. Meanwhile, Howard's play did not suffer.

Edited by Crymson

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How is this a shot at Ozzie in any form? I read it as this goalie tandem we have is the best it's been since Babcock got here. I don't see where people are getting shots at Ozzie from?

Edited by skyphoenix

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Howard is definitely an upgrade vs Conklin.

But he still could be a Legace 2

I like the fact that Howard plays every game now. This way he's already dealing with a lot of pressure. This could help for the playoffs.

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Jimmy is playing well and hope he gets even stronger, yet I can not agree with that statement as he has not played more than 1 full season and never in the playoffs. Osgood has stood tall in the last 2 rounds of the playoffs and regular season's had its ups and down. No one can argue to Hasek's accomplishments either.

Did BabCOCK mean consistent?

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I apologize if I'm just rehashing what has already been said but, I too read this as a compliment to Ozzie as well as Jimmy.

In addition to the stats added to the thread about the Osgood/Hasek combination, it could also be a statement about our goaltending now in relation to where it is headed. When Hasek was here everyone knew it wouldn't be for long. Not only does the situation in net feel pretty solid at the moment but it could very well stay that way, so long as Howard keeps his wits about him and Ozzie turns into the playoff machine we've all known him to be (if need be).

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How is this a shot at Ozzie in any form? I read it as this goalie tandem we have is the best it's been since Babcock got here. I don't see where people are getting shots at Ozzie from?

That's the way I see it too. I read all three pages to find out if anybody else thought the same.

I thought Babcock was talking about the position.

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After living through the Hasek/Cujo, Hasek/Osgood debates, I certainly hope this doesn't evolve into a goalie flame war. Having said that, I think I agree with Babcock. In 08, Hasek and Osgood were awesome, no doubt, but what Howard has done this year is amazing. I've always thought that a goalie's save percentage was the most telling stat of how good they are. Howard's save percentage is incredible and most of the year he played with a team that was severely depleted by injuries.

Plus, I wonder if Babcock isn't doing some psycological work to try to make Howard feel even more confident before the playoffs start.

Exactly. It shows how efficient a goaltender is.

All I can say is Howard may very well have saved Babcock's job. I don't know how in jeopardy it was but I do know that even I used him as a scapegoat this year at times. Jimmy has been our one consistent thing all year and he deserves every bit of praise he is getting. Our team gave Hasek and Ozzie the chance to play as well as they did in the playoffs. This year Jimmy is giving our team a chance to play well in the playoffs by getting us there in the first place.

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