As Playoffs Approach, Time to Worry About Red Wings Goaltending (Again)

The most recent men who’ve tended goal for the Detroit Red Wings and led them to the Stanley Cup don’t have much in common except for being stark raving mad.

I’ve always felt that way about hockey goalies.

Terry Sawchuk was the maddest of them all (he played mostly without a mask), and the most tormented.

It reminds me of the great comedians throughout history—the men and women who’ve made us laugh so hard but who themselves were among the saddest of folks.

Sawchuk, the legendary netminder and Hall of Famer of the 1950s and ‘60s, was the best goalie the NHL has ever seen, but if they gave out awards for self-fulfillment, old Terry would have come away empty-handed.

Sawchuk rarely smiled, and when he did, it was brief and forced. He was almost a goaltending savant who didn’t really like what he did, but he did it because he had to.

His teammates on the Red Wings tried to get close to him, tried to engage him, tried to get him to lighten up. But Terry always seemed so sad, which in turn saddened them. How much more enjoyable the Red Wings' Stanley Cups of the 1950s would have been, had Sawchuk only been able to relax.

Sawchuk was dead by age 40, after a tragic bout of rough-housing with New York Rangers teammate and roommate Ron Stewart over some unpaid apartment bills.

Sawchuk’s brief life, in my opinion, was among the saddest in all of sports.

It was 42 years after Sawchuk and the Red Wings raised the Cup when the team finally did it again in 1997, behind the clutch goaltending of veteran Mike Vernon.

Vernon was a Cup winner once already, leading the Calgary Flames over the tradition-rich Montreal Canadiens in 1989.

In 1996, you could have driven Vernon off the Ambassador Bridge and no Red Wings fan would have trolled for his remains.

After a brilliant 62-13-7 regular season in 1995-96, Vernon and Chris Osgood’s shaky play against the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals helped drum the Red Wings out in six games.

The Cup-less stretch reached 41 years, and counting.

But one year later, as the confetti flew inside Joe Louis Arena and the Red Wings skated around the ice with hockey’s silver chalice in tow, Mike Vernon was back in the city’s good graces.

Some fan had made a sign out of poster board and pressed it against the glass.

It read, “Vernie: I’m sorry!”

In a postgame interview on the ice, Vernon was asked about the sign.

He chuckled sheepishly and said, “What can I say? Apology accepted, I guess!”

A year after that, with Vernon banished to the San Jose Sharks, it was Chris Osgood’s turn to be the madman in goal who’d lead the Wings to another Stanley Cup.

It was a playoff run with more twists and turns than a corkscrew, and with surprise endings to games that would have made O. Henry proud.

Osgood caused almost as much anguish as he provided joy, making things more interesting than they should have been, usually due to his penchant for failing to stop shots fired from beyond the blue line.

Three times Osgood surrendered goals that came off shots originating in Timbuktu. All three times, the shots either tied the game late or won it.

But Ozzie persevered, and as the champagne flowed in the Red Wings dressing room in Washington following the Cup clincher, Osgood’s mother found him and hugged her drenched son.

“You did it, Chris! You did it, baby!” she cried.

In 2002, the Red Wings goalie was another savant, the 36-year-old Dominik Hasek, the human Slinky.

Hasek was an amazing netminder but a baffling person. You could say that he marched to the beat of a different drummer, except that it was a drummer no one could hear but him.

The Red Wings of 2001-02 were teeming with future Hall of Famers, and Hasek tended goal in the playoffs with a pure brilliance befitting the team’s roster of greatness.

As the final horn sounded on the season, the Red Wings had captured another Stanley Cup, with another goalie.

Six years later, Osgood did it again, rescuing the Wings when the 43-year-old Hasek faltered in the first round. Another Cup won.

And in 2011?

It’s getting closer to playoff time, which means it’s time to trot out the usual blather about the Red Wings goaltending situation heading into the postseason.

The doubters are out, once again.

Other than Sawchuk, who was born to win Stanley Cups, the Cup-winning goalies for the Red Wings all beat back the doubters.

Vernon, despite a resume that had “Stanley Cup Champion” on it, had to win back the fans after the disappointment of 1996.

Osgood alternately made friends and enemies in Detroit in 1998, sometimes shift by shift.

In 2002, Hasek had to overcome an 0-2 hole in the first round against Vancouver, when the fans were about to declare him a fraud in pads.

And Osgood was a 35-year-old backup when he replaced Hasek after four games of the first round in 2008. You could cut the doubt with a knife.

Currently, Jimmy Howard’s ability to lead the Red Wings to the promised land is being seriously questioned, and not just by the hockey denizens around town.

A couple weeks ago, the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN, splashed on its website that the Red Wings were in big trouble and delusional if they expected the second-year goalie Howard to make like Sawchuk, Vernon, Osgood and Hasek.

The talking heads pointed to the numbers, which place Howard toward the bottom of the league in things like save percentage.

Apparently ESPN.com, allegedly so wise, has forgotten that the NHL has two distinct seasons: the regular one in the fall and winter, and the other one in the spring.

Like it or not, Howard will be the target of the springtime doubters, for as long as he shall live—in the playoffs.

It’s understandable, really.

Howard won a playoff series and lost one last year, his rookie campaign. In real plain terms, he hasn’t won diddlysquat for the Red Wings.

So naturally, people are going to say that he can’t. Until he does.

Because this is Detroit, and these are the Red Wings, a premier hockey team that has been typecast as one that has to win championships in spite of its goaltending, not because of it.

History doesn’t really bear that out, but why let facts ruin a good myth?

Hall of Famer Joseph Deserved Better from Red Wings

I wonder if Ken Holland ever apologized to Curtis Joseph. If not, he still owes him one.

Holland, the Red Wings GM, did Joseph rotten back in 2003 and, while he was at it, the team as a whole as well.

It comes to mind again now that the news is in: Cujo is retiring after a brilliant NHL career as one of the game's best ever netminders.

That Joseph's name isn't engraved on the Stanley Cup doesn't lessen his stature; he's a sure-fire Hall of Famer.

But he was treated about as shabbily as the Red Wings have ever treated a player, and they don't do shabby around Joe Louis Arena very often.

Holland actually made two mistakes in two years that were catastrophic: he hired Dave Lewis as coach, and he brought back Dominik Hasek from retirement. Both might have torpedoed any chances the Red Wings had at winning another Cup, or two.

The Hasek decision put Joseph in a bad spot.

The Wings signed Joseph as a free agent in the summer of 2002, needing a goalie after the "retirement" of Hasek, who had just led the team to the Cup a month prior. This was in the days before the salary cap, and the free-spending Holland had carte blanche, pretty much.

So Joseph signed on and the Red Wings cruised through another regular season with pretty much the same cast of characters as the '02 Cup team, with the exception of coach Scotty Bowman, who'd retired and been replaced by assistant Lewis. More on that later.

The Red Wings gathered 110 points and looked to be the team to beat, once again. Joseph did what he was hired to do, winning 34 games, posting a 2.49 GAA and a .912 save percentage.

Then the playoffs came.

The Red Wings were blitzed by the buzz saw known as the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who swept the defending champs away in four games in the very first round. The Ducks were coached by a fiery young man named Mike Babcock.

Red Wings fans did what they usually do---blame the goalie. But Joseph wasn't why the Wings lost the Ducks series. Every game was a one-goal humdinger, but the Red Wings only managed six goals in the four games, after averaging well over three a game in the regular season.

Meanwhile, Hasek was getting restless in retirement. He made it be known through his agent that he'd like to strap on the monkey suit once again and stop some more pucks. Holland's interest was piqued.

Explaining later that he was afraid the rival Colorado Avalanche might snag Hasek, Holland brought Dom back to Detroit, despite having a highly-paid guy already between the pipes---Joseph.

Joseph hardly embraced the signing of Hasek. He felt betrayed, as well he should. This was his job, and the guy who left to create the opening was returning?

Hasek and Joseph mixed as well as oil and water. It was the worst pairing in Detroit since Chrysler and Daimler.


Joseph was a Red Wing from 2002-04


The 2003-04 season droned on, with Lewis, who was in over his head to begin with, unable to broker peace between his two high profile goalies. The tension in the locker room was thicker than pea soup. Hasek only played 14 games before being shelved with a groin injury. He and Joseph didn't speak the whole season.

Holland was to blame for the mess. I hit him with it a couple years later.

"Well, certainly it didn't work out like we thought," Holland told me. "But the idea of Dom playing for one of our conference rivals made it worth the risk."

Tell that to Curtis Joseph, who was ruined in Detroit by the move.

The lockout came and went, and before the NHL resumed play, Joseph, at 38 years of age, had signed with Phoenix. The Red Wings fired Lewis, who never should have been promoted because of his closeness to the players. They made Manny Legace the No. 1 goalie, and then Manny gagged in the 2006 playoffs like he was trying to swallow a puck whole.

It's been my belief that had the Red Wings been coached by just about anyone other than Dave Lewis, they might have won another Stanley Cup, or two. Lewis lost many key players, including Brett Hull and Sergei Fedorov. He didn't handle the Joseph-Hasek drama very well, though his boss placed him in that awkward situation.

Holland's fetish for bringing Hasek back, though, paid off in 2006, when he hired Dom on the cheap and the Red Wings made it to the conference finals.

And as for not having won a Cup, Joseph ought not to feel deprived, though it's easy for me to say.

Meet Hall of Famer Bill Gadsby, Cup-less as well in 20 NHL seasons.

"I had a great time playing hockey. I even liked practice!," Gadsby, the former great defenseman for the Red Wings, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks once told me. "I never won a Stanley Cup but I had enormous fun. I loved my teammates. I loved the camaraderie."

Joseph retires with 454 wins, 51 shutouts, and a 2.79 GAA in 19 seasons. He played five seasons with the Maple Leafs, and he'll be back in Toronto in a few years---in the Hockey Hall of Fame, Stanley Cup or not.

Despite what the Red Wings did to him.

Hasek Done? My October Worries Were Misplaced

It was only six months ago, but it may as well have been six years ago, for as inaccurate as it was. Yes, I, Greg Eno, in a fit of over-reaction, banged out these words in this blog about Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek. The date was October 17, 2007:

But this season, early on, Hasek looks more like a 42-year-old playing goalie than a goalie who happens to be 42.

His GAA is 2.94, with an unsightly save pct. of .874.

...already, I've seen pucks bounce off Hasek's helmet, off his shoulder, through his pads, and they've all ended up in the net. He's been a mediocre netminder, truth be told, in his 306 minutes played.

It hasn't been mentioned, and perhaps it's too early to do so -- especially with the Red Wings doing alright with a 4-2-1 record -- but I don't think it's overreacting to suggest that we need to keep an eye on Hasek to see whether this bumpy start is an anomaly or the start of a trend downward. Again, how quickly does a 42-year-old goalie start to go downhill?

Hasek keeps himself in marvelous shape. Few, if any, goalies work as hard as he does -- on and off the ice. But at what point does the calendar overtake the reflexes, the instincts, the peripheral vision? Working hard isn't the only prerequisite.


Yes, I know; I ought to be paddled with Hasek's goal stick for leaping to such conclusions barely three weeks into the freaking season. While it's true that his start wasn't the best, in retrospect my suggestion that Hasek was perhaps done seems fraught with Chicken Little.

Hasek is not done. Not even close, I'd even say.

Hasek, maybe more so than anyone, was responsible for the Red Wings' 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round series. He was his old self -- and by that I mean his Cup-winning self -- in the first period, especially, and at the end, with the Preds up two men due to a penalty and an empty net. Hasek stonewalled the Preds' furies, and his numbers reflect his play: 1.50 GAA and .932 save pct. after two games.

But one of my concerns still holds, and that's, how DO you know when a 43-year-old goalie is about to collapse like a house of cards? Does it happen suddenly, or do his talent and reflexes dissipate slowly? Is Hasek going to be great during this playoff run, then not good at all next season? Or will he simply retire, thus saving me all these questions?

Dominik Hasek was stellar against the Predators in Game 2. He was pretty darn good in Game 1, though not as busy. He's making my October worries seem ridiculous in their embellishment.

I'm enjoying this crow, though. I could even get into chowing it through June, if you know what I mean.

We'll See If McCarty Is Cut From Same Cloth As Chelios, Or From Redmond

Darren McCarty is making news, sort of, in attempting a hockey playing comeback, with Flint of the IHL. He hasn't played in an NHL game since April 2006, with the Calgary Flames -- who signed him after the Red Wings let him go following the 2004-05 lockout. He's had some off-ice trouble, and one wonders how much that contributed, in the long run, to his current career derailment. Regardless, he says he's going to give it another try. Maybe another NHL team will give him a call.

McCarty is 35 years old.

Chris Chelios has never had to comeback from anything to continue his NHL career. He's managed to keep gainful employment, first with Montreal, then with Chicago, and now in Detroit. It's fitting that he should only have played for Original Six teams in his 22-year (so far) NHL career. Very, very fitting.

Chelios will soon be 46 years old.

It's possible, though far from a slam dunk, that Chelios will challenge Gordie Howe's record for being the oldest man to lace up NHL skates. Howe was 52 years and six days old when he played his last regular season game for the Hartford Whalers in 1980. Howe then extended his career by about a week while the Whalers were getting ousted by Montreal in the playoffs.

But just the fact that we can even entertain the idea of someone approaching Howe in terms of longevity is amazing enough. And I wouldn't put it past Chelios to think about it, if he's still playing his irascible style of hockey a few years from now.

I just thought it was interesting that Darren McCarty is in the same sentence as the word "comeback", when he's 11 years Chelios's junior.


Chelios has not only played a long time, but he's done so without any major injuries


Today, the Red Wings announced that goalie Chris Osgood has been signed to a three-year extension, keeping him in Detroit thru the 2010-11 season, in which he'll turn 38 years old. His partner in net, Dominik Hasek, will soon be 43. All-World defenseman Nick Lidstrom, who along with Chelios helps keep the heat off Osgood and Hasek, will be 38 this year. So the Red Wings' two goalies and two of their best blueliners will be, by the end of the month, a combined 161 years old. I'll do the math for you: that's an average age of 40.25 years.

Mickey Redmond, reliable broadcaster, wasn't blessed with the same genes as the aforementioned quad of players. Redmond was plagued by back problems and didn't play a game past January 1976, when he was but 28. He tried it one last time in training camp of 1979, but he only lasted a few days before he was forced to quit. Also in camp that September was Frank Mahovlich, 42 and a couple years removed from his last game in the WHA. The Big M got into some exhibition games, but couldn't make the final cut.

The 40+ year-old NHL player is becoming more and more frequent. Better training regimens, nutrition, and technology have contributed to this. It should also be noted that flying around the country in a private team jet doesn't hurt, either. When Mahovlich broke into the NHL, for example, air travel in the league was still in its infancy. Many clubs still used the train to get from city to city.


Back in the day: McCarty taking care of business with Claude Lemieux


I wish McCarty well as he climbs his way back into the NHL, which is his ultimate goal. At 35, he's far from washed up, if he commits himself physically and mentally. Someone asked him at last night's Red Wings game if he'd consider playing for the Colorado Avalanche, a longtime rival, if they called.

"Beggars can't be choosy," he said. "I just want to play hockey somewhere, anywhere."

So did Redmond, and so did Mahovlich. But their bodies wouldn't allow it. Fortunately for Chelios, Lidstrom, Hasek, and Osgood -- and for us -- they've been blessed with strong, durable stock.

Almost as strong as, say, a certain man from Floral, Saskatchewan, who wore number 9.

Hasek, I Fear, Is About Done

The Dominator is now The Dominated.

I railed about this last month, and it hasn't gotten any better, really.

The Red Wings need to seriously consider whether goalie Dominik Hasek is done.

Hasek was miserable -- again -- in St. Louis last night, giving up four goals in seven shots in the second period of the team's 4-3 loss to the Blues. A couple were toughies, but the others were highly stoppable.

Like I say, I'm not sure when the end comes for 42-year-old goaltenders in the NHL (Hasek will turn 43 in January). I don't know if they lose it suddenly, or if there's gradual degradation in skill. I don't know because I've never seen a 42-year-old goalie perform. Oh, there was Jacques Plante back in the day, and others in the 1950s and '60s performed into their 40s. But that's before even this oldtimer's generation.

Hasek, to be fair, has been slowed by injury this season. And there's still plenty of time to decide whether an upgrade needs to be sought in some sort of trade-deadline deal. That, and the fact that 35-year-old Chris Osgood has played well (8-1 this season), has cushioned the blow of Hasek's disturbing inconsistency. But his spotty play can't be ignored any longer.

The Red Wings, I believe, are improved even from last spring, when they made it all the way to the conference finals. They were, frankly, a fluke goal away (end of regulation in Game 5) from making the Cup Finals. Still, that team isn't as good as the one that performs today.

But they are not going anywhere if the goaltending that Hasek is providing now is a sneak preview of what he'll give the Red Wings in April. And how much can, or should, the Red Wings rely on Osgood?

Coach Mike Babcock omitted Hasek as one of the guilty parties in last night's come-from-ahead loss (the Wings blew a 2-0 lead). My guess is that such free passes are being handed out now, in deference to all Hasek has done in his career. But they can't go on forever, if Dom continues to battle the puck -- and losing on most occasions.

I hope I'm proven wrong, but I fear that we've seen the last of the great goaltending play from Dominik Hasek. The Red Wings would be best served to start thinking about looking at their netminding as something that needs fixing before the playoffs.

Hasek's Shaky Start A Troubling Sign?

I'm not sure when the end comes for goaltenders past 40 years of age. Though I'm pretty certain that they don't collapse and break into little pieces, like some children's game of Tinker Toys.

One reason for my lack of clarity is that not too many goalies are still card-carrying members of the NHL at such an advanced age. The 40s, for most of them, means lots of golf and a growing paunch. Definitely not sprawling on the ice, flailing at discs of vulcanized rubber.

Dominik Hasek is a couple years past 40, and will be three years past it come January. Last season, returning to the Red Wings after two years in exile, Hasek had an All-Star season, though he was rooked and left off the team. His GAA and save pct. were constantly in the top three of the league. He racked up eight shutouts. He was splendid in the playoffs, and only showed some wear in the Red Wings' final game of the post-season.

But this season, early on, Hasek looks more like a 42-year-old playing goalie than a goalie who happens to be 42.

His GAA is 2.94, with an unsightly save pct. of .874.


Hasek has been a shadow of his 2006-07 self, early on

Now, realizing that numbers can be as misleading as a political ad, it's not all about the stats. But already, I've seen pucks bounce off Hasek's helmet, off his shoulder, through his pads, and they've all ended up in the net. He's been a mediocre netminder, truth be told, in his 306 minutes played.

It hasn't been mentioned, and perhaps it's too early to do so -- especially with the Red Wings doing alright with a 4-2-1 record -- but I don't think it's overreacting to suggest that we need to keep an eye on Hasek to see whether this bumpy start is an anomaly or the start of a trend downward. Again, how quickly does a 42-year-old goalie start to go downhill?

No, there weren't any comments about Hasek's age last year, one of his finest. Nor should there have been. And I bring it up now, only because we're kind of in unchartered territory here. We've seen it happen in other sports -- where the aging veteran can so quickly lose his mojo. Playing such a high-profile position as goalie makes us notice as it's occurring. You don't have bad goalie play and then only notice it at the end of the season. Its impact is immediate, its unraveling very public and potentially very ugly.

Hasek keeps himself in marvelous shape. Few, if any, goalies work as hard as he does -- on and off the ice. But at what point does the calendar overtake the reflexes, the instincts, the peripheral vision? Working hard isn't the only prerequisite.

Maybe Dom Hasek will work his way out of his little funk. Maybe some blame can be placed at the doorstep of his teammates. Maybe there's nothing to worry about, after all.

But maybe not. So then what do the Red Wings do? And when would they consider doing it?

Just something to think about. Watch him and see if you don't agree.