Babcock: Goaltending the best since I've been here

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

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.

Yep. No need to turn this into HOward vs. Osgood, or Osgood is getting his feelings hurt, etc.

While it definitely has been great, it'll be an endless debate on if the goaltending is the best it has ever been since Babcock has been here.

Despite how good it has been right now, like this year there will be big question marks about goaltending just like every other year Babcock has been here.

2005-06 - Can Legace handle being the starter for the first time ever in the playoffs full time (he did start a few games before being yanked for Joseph in 2004).

2006-07 - Can Hasek resemble somewhat the goalie he was in the past despite his age?

2007-08 - See above, and should Hasek be starting instead of Osgood who went to the all-star game?

2008-09 - Can Osgood regain his postseason form from last year's playoffs when he stepped in so admirably?

2009-10, assuming the Wings get in the playoffs - Can a rookie handle being the starter for the first time ever in the playoffs (as it is probably assumed now that Howard will start in the postseason)?

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Yep. No need to turn this into HOward vs. Osgood, or Osgood is getting his feelings hurt, etc.

While it definitely has been great, it'll be an endless debate on if the goaltending is the best it has ever been since Babcock has been here.

Despite how good it has been right now, like this year there will be big question marks about goaltending just like every other year Babcock has been here.

2005-06 - Can Legace handle being the starter for the first time ever in the playoffs full time (he did start a few games before being yanked for Joseph in 2004).

2006-07 - Can Hasek resemble somewhat the goalie he was in the past despite his age?

2007-08 - See above, and should Hasek be starting instead of Osgood who went to the all-star game?

2008-09 - Can Osgood regain his postseason form from last year's playoffs when he stepped in so admirably?

2009-10, assuming the Wings get in the playoffs - Can a rookie handle being the starter for the first time ever in the playoffs (as it is probably assumed now that Howard will start in the postseason)?

Good post.

[Icesurfer 75]

Babcock is right. For the first time since Babs has been here there is no goalie "controversy" heading into the playoffs. Two months ago everyone knew Howie was starting in the playoffs and there hasn't been one single question or qualm about who would start. That's enough for me.

[hokike 1]

I feel like this place over analyzes everything that gets published in the media. Babs most likely wanted to praise Howie for being a strong goalie and wasn't even thinking about Osgood or Hasek when he said that.

ppl are STARVING for information, opinions from lockerroom, thats why fans tend to overreact and try to find hidden messages from quotes filtered via media.

RULE NO 1.

It does not matter what coach says publicly- in many cases it is just PR or representative of the team has no desire to wash dirty laundry publicly.

What matter really is said in the lockerroom and that is it. For instance, for media coaches try to point something positive from disgusting losses but privately with players coaches lash out everything.

in short. r'lax.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Babcock is right. For the first time since Babs has been here there is no goalie "controversy" heading into the playoffs. Two months ago everyone knew Howie was starting in the playoffs and there hasn't been one single question or qualm about who would start. That's enough for me.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Howard's 3rd overall in GAA on a team that's in the bottom half of the league in goals scored. That's significant because it means that Jimmy's won a lot of close games. He's also had only 2 shutouts. Shut outs basically allow goalies to have an equal number of s*** games. Let's say you have four shut-outs. You want a GAA of 2.00. That means you can now afford to have 4 games where you let in 4 goals and the shut-outs will even it out. This is why a terrible peice of s*** goalie like Huet can get away with being raped 8-3 by teams. He gets blown out but his defense saves his ass more often than not by severely limiting shots while his offense scores enough goals to completely break the backs of his opponents. The result? A good GAA but mediocre Sv%. That's why it's usually so important to have an elite GAA and an elite Sv% if you want to be called an elite goalie.

Look at the list of shut-outs: http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20102ALLGAGAll&sort=shutOuts&viewName=savePercentageLeaders

Notice how many goalies there have lots of shut-outs and mediocre GAA? Anderson and Rinne both have 7 shut outs but they've got GAA greater than 2.50. That means they've been blown out far more often than a guy like Jimmy Howard.

Anyone remember the link someone put up on here that had Howard listed as the most statistically consistent goalie in the NHL? That's one reason why. He's got a lame number of SO but a brilliant Sv% and GAA. If I had more info on how many 1 goal and 2 goal games he has I'd be able to break it down in a graph. If anyone knows where I can find that I can throw a quick spreadsheet together.

In conclusion I'd like to say this-- Jimmy Howard is the s***.

[Guest REDWINGSFTW]

ive never felt comfortable with osgood in net ever, he seems like at anytime a goal will just go in on him, and i hate the type of goals he lets passed him. Jimmy is solid.

[13dangledangle 958]

ive never felt comfortable with osgood in net ever, he seems like at anytime a goal will just go in on him, and i hate the type of goals he lets passed him. Jimmy is solid.

True say for sure I feel the same way, the thing I love about Jimmy is, he lets in very few that rent deflections or bad breaks, but when he does let those in he always lifts himself to that next level!

[Opie 308]

NEVER?, I repeat my question, NEVER felt comfortable with Ozzie in net?

Since when has LGW start taking so many drugs?

I mean I knew there were a couple of other potheads on here, but never having felt comfortable with Ozzie in net, really? Not even when he was backstopping the team to back to back SCFs.

Sure his regular season the past 2-3 years has not been stellar, his post season has been, well Stellar. Before that he was a very good to great goalie.

To say you never felt comfortable with Ozzie in net means, to me, one of two things:

You became a fan after '06 or you are an Ozzie hater, this is like the people who claim Crosby sucks.

No, he is an Ass, but a great hockey player, and Ozzie may be struggling lately (at the end of his career I might add) he was a terrific netminder and will go down as one of the greatest to wear the winged wheel!

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

This season, I'm more confident in Howard than Osgood. In 2008, I was more comfortable with Osgood than Hasek.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

ive never felt comfortable with osgood in net ever, he seems like at anytime a goal will just go in on him, and i hate the type of goals he lets passed him. Jimmy is solid.

Never? Wow, that's quite a statement.

Either you started watching last October or you somehow forgot that Ozzie's brilliant goaltending was a huge reason why the Wings played in June the past two years.

[Carman 387]

I enjoy having two good goalies.

[Guest Crymson]

Players get old. Osgood is aging. It's nothing he's doing wrong, and he performed excellently in the playoffs last year.

Jimmy, unlike Osgood, has this year been playing behind a team which could really not protect him much of the time because of all of the injuries. They also couldn't simply overwhelm the other team offensively and so give him a cushion. He stole many games for the team, and he has simply been excellent on a very consistent basis, not to mention a fairly grueling one.

He's a good goalie. I agree that, as with any other goalie---experienced goalies included---he might not do as well in the playoffs as in the regular season. We'll need to wait and see. However, he has proven to be a clutch goalie so far, something that neither Osgood nor Hasek nor Legace had to consistently be in the last four seasons. Playing Osgood in order to warm him up just in case he must relieve Howard in the postseason was not really an option this year, given that the team needed all the points it could get and given that Howard was simply red-hot.

Jimmy has proven to be a very, very good goalie so far. He has excellent lateral movement, he has great reflexes, he knows when to challenge the shooter and when not to, and he's possibly amongst the best in the league at tracking the puck through screens. His areas in which he needs to improve are rebound control and scrambles in the crease, but he seems like a guy with a good work ethic, one who will be working all the time to improve his game. He waited a long time for his shot at the job; Holland vested a lot of faith in him in giving him the go-ahead this season rather than sticking with Conklin; and Jimmy has taken it and run with it.

On a note of random trivia, did anyone know that Osgood was scheduled to replace Legace before game four against Edmonton, but injured a groin muscle warming up?

[Drake_Marcus 890]

On a note of random trivia, did anyone know that Osgood was scheduled to replace Legace before game four against Edmonton, but injured a groin muscle warming up?

Things could have been so different.

[DirtyD 38]

I would also like to point out that Jimmy (in a limited sampling size) really comes across as a rhythm goaltender. At the beginning of the season, the kid looked real shaky because he had not yet been able to get himself into a solid rhythm at game speed. He didn't start playing often enough to get into this rhythm until Ozzy caught the flu in November (???). At that point, he was able to get into a solid rhythm and it was not long before he was cruising at a stellar level......

.....Then came the Olympics.....

If you were like me, you wondered what would become of the Wings' goaltending situation post-Olympics; would Babs start trying to prime Ozzy, our playoff beast, for another deep post-season run? Or would he keep riding the horse that had kept the team in playoff contention during a ridiculous rash of injuries? Well, he went straight back to Howard, and for a couple of games, it really looked like Howard was coming back down to earth (see: getting pulled against Vancouver). However, the fact is that Howie had been off for about three weeks and simply needed an opportunity to get back into that rhythm in which he feels comfortable. Now, it has clearly worked and he is back playing at the outstanding level to which we have all grown accustomed.

This is the reason, I think, why Babs just keeps going back to him, even in a back-to-back scenario. He's still a young kid, so he obviously doesn't tire too easily. I can only hope and assume that there has been steady communication between Jimmy and Babs to ensure that he's feeling good and that he's not going to burn himself out before the end. I honestly don't think that we're going to be seeing a lot of Osgood in the coming weeks even though the playoffs appear an inevitability because the goal, now, is to keep Jimmy in rhythm and cruising along into the playoffs. If he keeps playing the way he has, we could go a long way. And you'd better believe that Ozzy is playing a pivotal role in the background making sure that Jimmy is able to stay tough mentally (by all accounts this seems to be the case).

In the end, I really like our goaltending situation and I'm crazy excited to see what this team is capable of doing once the second-season kicks off in a couple weeks.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

This season, I'm more confident in Howard than Osgood. In 2008, I was more comfortable with Osgood than Hasek.

I think that's a given. Howard is one of the better goaltenders in the league this year and Osgood is an oldie who hasn't played in months.

But you know what, I think we should give Osgood a chance!

[Frozen-Man 144]

I heard Babcock compliment Miller not too long ago. That must mean he was slamming all the rest of the wingers, right?

I'm not sure if Babcock meant his statement as a knock on Ozzy or not (without more context to the statement I'd give Babcock the benefit of the doubt), however your comparison with Miller is ridiculous. You said Babcock complimented Miller and ask if that means he is slamming the rest of the wingers. Reread the quote by Babcock, he did not merely compliment Howard but rather specifically compared him to the other Red Wing's goalies since he has been here and said that he thinks that is as good as they have been in net. The one constant goaltender the Wings have had is Babs came is Ozzy. It clearly a comparison of a very select group which could easily be seen as a knock on the others. There is a vast difference between Babcock saying Miller has played really well and saying Miller is the best that we have had since Babs has been there.