Don't blame Howard.. blame Babcock

[Grim 5]

Osgood should have played more.

We already had a playoff spot in the bag with more than a week to go, and we knew we weren't getting home ice.

Although I agree... the team was gunning for that 5th seed. Probably not going to happen with a rusty Osgood. Besides, I'm not so sure we need to necessarily blame the goaltending at all. The overall team defense has been on/off all year, even in the first round against Phoenix.

[mjlegend 155]

Random collection of three other teams with spots essentially guaranteed, fighting for position:

Kings: Jon Quick played in 17 of last 20 Kings games.

Devils: Martin Brodeur played in 19 of last 21 NJ games.

Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury played in 17 of final 20.

Then:

Red Wings: Howard in 20 of last 21.

We're talking that maybe one or two games down the stretch is the reason he's had a sub-par couple of games now? Sixth to 120 minutes of hockey in two and a half months?

It's a dangerous conclusion. By this logic, the next time the Red Wings are up 3-1 in a series, they should rest the starter and give the backup some time until the next round.

FWIW, I also thought Howard should have gotten a rest against Edmonton late in the season but I'm not going to blame a possible second round loss on that one start.

[Icesurfer 75]

Will someone please tell me why is it that there ALWAYS has to be BLAME??????

Isn't it just quite possible that the reason is because the other team is better?????

WOW.... what a novel concept!!!

Human nature.... always have to blame! Get over it people!

Go ahead keep posting your blaming......

[HappyHudler26 1]

Osgood should have played more.

We already had a playoff spot in the bag with more than a week to go, and we knew we weren't getting home ice.

Instead of riding Howard to become a 5 seed (even though we didn't know who we were facing), Babcock should have looked at the big picture and seen that Howard would need some rest.

Why do people think that playing Osgood for the last week would have made a difference? I don't know if you realize this, but that means Howard would have been sat for three games at most. If you think Howard playing three games less then he actually did would have actually helped, then I guess I can't help you...

[Firehawk 305]

The fact of the matter is nobody wants to admit that this edition of the Wings is inferior to the Wings of years past. Sometimes in the faceoff circle it looks like the center on our team is conceding the draw and just trying to immediately get in the road of the puck, since we've lost so many darn draws. That's pathetic. When was the last time we had such problems clearing the zone? It's the little things this team isn't doing, and I don't care who you have in net, you aren't going to win.

Fans ran Joseph with a 93% save percentage out of town becasue he was losing 2-1 games. Give me a break. People blaming Howard for goals in game 1 where they were point blank with world class forwards having the puck on their stick between the circles scoring on him. YOU are not going to stop a shot by these guys unless you're just lucky, or they shoot it right at you. Sorry.

That 2 on 1 in OT was absolutely horrendous. Howard had to play the shooter. Rafalski didn't even try to stop the pass. He was all turned aorund and didn't even bother to go down to block the pass. There's no way Thornton is thinking 'shoot' in that situation. Howard came out to play the shooter. The defesne didn't take the pass away.

Howard has given up some very bad goals, 2 of them in game 3, but I'm sorry, we have to give him a pass for this year. He's learning and he's a rookie. It's either we try to raise our own goalie, or we go spend a fortune for one, and hope to God they get hot. Meanwhile we're wondering why we have no money for defense or another forward.

We are so used to having veterans in this town that people forgot what it's like to raise your own players. I wish Howard came out like Roy and just shut other teams down, but he didn't. Give him a break THIS YEAR. If he continues this through next year, then we can criticize at that point.

I love Osgood, but there was not much opportunity to get him in to games. Like others have said, we were trying to get the highest seed possible. For a moment, we had a shot to catch Chicago. They were playing poor and we were on fire. We got within 6 pts at one time, after being down 20. Howard got us here, and I think unless he was going to give up 6 absolutely brutal goals or show his confidence was totally gone, there was no way Babs was pulling him. You have to let him learn on the job. If that means losing, so be it. This year the whole team doesn't look that hungry anyway, and the breaks are definitely not going our way.

Why do people think that playing Osgood for the last week would have made a difference? I don't know if you realize this, but that means Howard would have been sat for three games at most. If you think Howard playing three games less then he actually did would have actually helped, then I guess I can't help you...

I agree with you. Saying we had a playoff spot locked up and that should be good enough is absurd. You always want to try to rank yourslef as high as possible. The first round could EASILY have gone the way of the Avs, Kings, and Preds. They were all very close to upseting all 3 top seeded teams. We could have ended up with home ice after round 1. It didn't work that way but you never just flirt with fire like that. So you would have rather played Chicago or Vancouver to start the playoffs? No way. We'd probably be out by now anyways if that happened. The wings didn't play well in round 1, so had they played off and on against a great team, we'd have been long gone by now.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

So you guys think the Wings would've made the playoffs if Ozzy got more starts down the stretch. Apparently people don't remember Jimmy's record after the Olympic break or the fact that he carried the team on his back in December/January.

Did Ozzy even give a tiny indication during the regular season that he was getting in his groove? It was clear he needed lots of starts to get their yet Howard was already in the zone. If this team was a 50 win team I'd agree Babs could've given Ozzy more starts but come on-- they were out of the playoffs by the time the Olympic break rolled around.

[Guest Crymson]

So you guys think the Wings would've made the playoffs if Ozzy got more starts down the stretch. Apparently people don't remember Jimmy's record after the Olympic break or the fact that he carried the team on his back in December/January.

Did Ozzy even give a tiny indication during the regular season that he was getting in his groove? It was clear he needed lots of starts to get their yet Howard was already in the zone. If this team was a 50 win team I'd agree Babs could've given Ozzy more starts but come on-- they were out of the playoffs by the time the Olympic break rolled around.

Stop speaking sense, damnit! People want someone to blame, and you're not letting them mindlessly do so!

[GMRwings1983 8,793]

Are you aware of how many #1 goaltenders play a huge number of games in the regular season? And I'll repeat what I asked, because you didn't answer it: do you know of any coaches who would rest their goalies when seeding for playoff matchups was on the line?

I neither know nor care what other coaches would have done.

I was talking about our situation.

[Flip-check 6]

Stop speaking sense, damnit! People want someone to blame, and you're not letting them mindlessly do so!

Lol. Love it.

[Null 3]

I agree, i blame babcock for game 4...

[CopenhagenWing 38]

Did Ozzy even give a tiny indication during the regular season that he was getting in his groove? It was clear he needed lots of starts to get their yet Howard was already in the zone.

None, whatsoever!

Unlike last year, when Osgood finally rounded into form in the latter part of February, the Wings were not in a position to wait for him to come around this year. They had to play the hot hand.

Blame Babcock, my ass.....

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

Don't blame Babcock, blame the fact that there is 30 teams in a league and that no team can be expected to win every year...

[Reds4Life 51]

lol if Osgood played any more games, Wings would never make playoffs. Osgood sucks this season. It is much better to play Howard as much as possible. Wings may not win it all, but he will get a lot of experience from this run.

[The Secret 304]

Osgood's garbage when he did play helped Babcock make an easy decision to put in the goalie that will help get points on a team that was riddled with injuries to key players. Blame Osgood for putting the handcuffs on Babcock! Or Blame Howard for outplaying Osgood. How soon we forget the difficult position this team was in up until the Olympic break where we had to fight for evey point just to make the playoffs. There are plenty of teams who ride their best goalie more then Babcock rode Howard (Calgary, New Jersey, Vancouver to name a few). Why not THANK Babcock for making the right decision which allowed us to watch play off hockey this season? Why not THANK Babcock for doing nothing but winning since he has been here? ...and although you may not agree with how he coaches every aspect of the team why not look at the big picture through the lens of reality rather then through rosey red glasses!