Osgood Must Make Good On Yet Another Promise

Ty Conklin did everything the Red Wings wanted him to, and more, and now he's gone---bugging out of town after just one season in Detroit.

Conklin, the Red Wings' ace in the hole last season in net, is the typical vagabond goalie on tour---taking his act from city to city on a yearly basis, almost.

It began in Edmonton, and then moved to Pittsburgh. Last season, Conklin performed in Detroit, and to rave reviews. This year, he'll do his thing in St. Louis.

If it wasn't for Conklin, who knows where the Red Wings would have been last season---as far as the non-playoff version goes. He outplayed supposed No. 1 netminder Chris Osgood all season, and there was talk that Conklin, not Ozzie, would be the best choice to be between the pipes when the curtain opened on the post-season.

Osgood had, by his own admission, a horrible regular season. Then, in very Ozzie-like fashion, he promised us he would be ready when the playoffs arrived.

Was he ever!

After being shut down, basically, in February so he could mentally re-charge, Osgood was perhaps the Red Wings' playoff MVP. He likely would have won the Conn Smythe Trophy---awarded to the MVP of the NHL playoffs---if he and his teammates could have pulled off one more victory in the tournament.

The Red Wings won't have Ty Conklin and his safety net this season. Instead, unproven, slow-to-develop Jimmy Howard figures to be Osgood's backup.

It could be a dicey situation.



Osgood, for one, has made another promise. And far be it from us to not believe him, for Chris Osgood almost always makes good on his promises and almost always bounces back from sub-par work.

"I will never, EVER, have another regular season like I did (in 2008-09)," Ozzie told us media types before the Stanley Cup Finals, on Media Day. "I found out the hard way that I wasn't prepared---mentally or physically---for the season, coming off winning the Cup."

It won't happen again, Ozzie promised.

I believe him.

Still, if Howard doesn't wee-wee and is thus asked to remove himself from the pot, then the Red Wings will be in a pickle. It would be unfortunate to make Osgood---who'll turn 37 in November---play in any more than 50-55 games during the season, if the team can help it.

If Conklin isn't around last season, or if he doesn't play as stellar as he did, then the Red Wings, with sieve-like Chris Osgood as the No. 1 goalie, likely don't win the Central Division. It's that simple.

Because Conklin was around, providing veteran play and calming folks around the team, the Red Wings felt they could be more patient with Osgood---letting him get prepared for the playoffs at his own, leisurely pace. That's not easy to do when the No. 2 is young and/or shaky.

This year, the Red Wings might have young and shaky on the bench most nights, opening the swinging door for teammates during games.

As a result---barring a trade for a veteran goalie (don't count on blast from the past Dan Cloutier, who's in camp on a tryout)---the Red Wings need Chris Osgood to make good on one of his promises yet again.

The Red Wings don't have that "Cup hangover" this year. Coach Mike Babcock admitted recently it's there, for every defending champion. But he said he wasn't about to share that with his team last training camp---why should he have?

Osgood doesn't have the hangover, either. He promises to be ready, promises not to be a big piece of Swiss cheese in net for the Red Wings.

After all, he'll never, ever let that happen again.

His word's been as solid as the ice on which he plays, so may as well believe him.

No Panic, Just Fact: Osgood Not Right

How's this for a statistical anomaly?

The Detroit Red Wings -- yes, those Red Wings who have the second-best record in the Western Conference -- are among the worst in the NHL in save percentage. They rank 25th or 26th, depending on the day you look at the rankings.

How many teams ranked in the lower 15-20 percent of anything that important in hockey can you consider as Stanley Cup contenders? Yet the Red Wings are, and may still be the strongest of contenders when all is said and done.

Clearly, though, this is not the recipe for success. The Red Wings' save percentage, which is not even at .900, is not going to get the job done in the playoffs, where even one bad goal can cost you a game and ultimately a series. Then there's the penalty kill -- especially the road kill (nice wording, huh?) -- which is functioning at another heinously low rate of success. And what is it they say about your goaltender being your most potent penalty killer?

The save percentage number, and the road kill number, are aggregate; they're team stats, in theory.

But there are only two netminders on the Red Wings' roster, and one of them isn't to blame for all of this.

Look not at Ty Conklin; he can be judged an innocent, for the most part.

That leaves one guy.

Chris Osgood, for reasons that we may never truly know -- for trying to figure out goalies is like monkeying around with a Rubik's Cube -- is a bad goalie right now. He's killing the Red Wings with zany, eye-rolling goals. They are goals that have been allowed in Detroit by the likes of Eddie Mio and Corrado Micalef and Bob Essensa. Nothing that you would expect from Osgood, with his hundreds of victories and two Stanley Cups as a starter.

Osgood's not right. And time is running out to get him right.

This isn't, I promise you, the annual hand-wringing over the Red Wings' goalie situation. You know, the one that gets trotted out around this time of the year because there is, frankly, nothing else to worry about -- because the division has been wrapped up and the playoffs are the A-train that we keep looking down the tracks for as we check our watch impatiently. No, this is the real deal; a real concern.


Osgood has been in search of the puck unsuccessfully too often this season


Osgood was at it again the other night, at home against Phoenix. The Red Wings, struggling mightily to fight off the mid-winter blahs, had managed to forge themselves a nifty little two-goal lead in the third period. It looked, finally, like a game the Red Wings could put away and reclaim some confidence. Then Osgood struck.

There was a goofy, short-side goal that the Coyotes scored because Osgood failed to defend the post in a move that would have earned him a do-over in Goalie 101. 4-3 Detroit. Then, another slap shot from the point eluded Osgood, tying the game -- a goal oddly like the one the St. Louis Blues used a couple nights earlier to tie the Red Wings, also late in the third period. Phoenix 4, Detroit 4.

Nick Lidstrom saved the night, though, with a PP goal with less than a minute to play.

Coach Mike Babcock was at his best afterward, with his ability to call out his own players without embarrassing them too much.

"I think Lidstrom picked Osgood up," Babcock said. Then, he refused to lay the blame of losing the 4-2 lead anywhere but at Osgood's doorstep.

"I just think that the puck went into the net," Babcock said, and his implication was crystal clear. It was Babcock-speak for: our goalie let us down tonight.

But Babcock wasn't done. After word got back to the coach that Osgood, in his own post-game comments, mentioned that the Red Wings don't seem to be as "loose" as they were last season, Babcock pounced.

"There's one way to cure that," he said, "and that's to get better goaltending."

Zing.

But it's true. Osgood is fighting the puck -- another ancient hockey term -- and time's running out to get him to win that battle. Don't be misled by the Red Wings' ability to overcome mediocre goaltending in the regular season. If Osgood doesn't raise his game, then Babcock will have to duplicate last spring's gutsy move, when he replaced starter Dominik Hasek with Osgood after Game 4 of the Nashville series. Only, this time it will be Osgood who will be lifted, Conklin (who's played awfully well) replacing him. That is, of course, if Babcock turns to Ozzie as his starter to begin with. If there's anything Babcock has shown since he's been the Red Wings coach, it's been his lack of shyness when it comes to making bold decisions.

The trouble is, so much of goaltending is the game that's played between the ears. The goalie's cerebellum is unlike that of any other human. That's why a goalie coach might be the most underrated job in all of sports. The Red Wings have a good one in Jim Bedard. No doubt Bedard will have his work cut out for him between now and the playoffs.

Chris Osgood isn't right. That's not panic; it's not overblown. It's fact. This time, you're allowed to worry with impunity.

Tennis Ball Barrage Whetted Conklin's Goalie Appetite

The NHL is about to hold its third Winter Classic -- those outdoor games held in football stadiums and baseball parks. Pond hockey to the extreme.

The Red Wings are half of this year's participants -- set to face the Chicago Blackhawks on New Year's Day at Wrigley Field. And one goalie will have dressed in all three of these pond contests.

"The hardest part is keeping warm," Ty Conklin was saying on the phone the other day. And this from a guy who availed himself to being assaulted with tennis balls as a kid. But more about that later.

Conklin played in last year's game in Buffalo, when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And he played in the classic for the Edmonton Oilers a few years ago.

"I wish it wasn't so cold," he said with a chuckle about last year's contest.

Conklin was the winner, as Sidney Crosby won the match for the Pens in a shootout, as snowflakes the size of quarters spilled onto the ice.

Conklin was the starter, despite being the supposed backup to Marc-Andre Fleury. I say supposed because Conklin played in about 40% of the Penguins' games, thanks to Fleury battling injuries last season.

It was his fine performance in Pittsburgh last year that prompted Red Wings GM Ken Holland to offer the 32-year-old a contract last summer as the backup to Chris Osgood. Conklin was again to play the role of no. 2, as Osgood figured to be the goalie about 70% of the time.

Now injuries have reared their head again. Osgood is battling that goalie bugaboo -- the groin that threatens to go pop.

Guess who's been thrust back into the starting job in net?


Conklin (above) says that Osgood's won-loss record is the only stat that matters


Osgood, prior to the tender groin situation, wasn't posting the greatest numbers in the world. By his own admission, the 36-year-old was fighting the puck; and the numbers were agreeing with him. A GAA of well over 3.00. A save percentage not even close to .900, which is the industry standard for starting goalies.

Ahh, but one number stood out above all the rest, all while Osgood crabbed about his own play.

"I have a hard time with people sometimes when it comes to Chris," Conklin said Monday during an NHL conference call with the media, when I openly wondered whether goalies talk to each other if one of them is apparently slumping. "The number that counts is wins. The guy has lost two games (in regulation) all season. He hasn't had much puck luck."

"Puck luck." Only goalies talk like that, right?

"I've been there," Conklin said of Osgood's internal battle. "It's tough. Once he gets healthy, he'll be fine."

Contrary to popular belief, the expectations of a goalie aren't necessarily greater in Detroit than anywhere else, Conklin reported.

"There are expectations everywhere. All around the league," he said. "But I don't think the goalies here (in Detroit) are expected to stop every shot. That's not how the guys in the locker room look at it."

I also asked Conklin, straight up: Why in the world would any seemingly sane-minded guy want to become a goalie, anyway?

He laughed. "Well, it started when my dad and brothers would shoot tennis balls at me in the basement. I don't know; I just liked it right away."

Maybe not sane-minded, after all. I had a lot of ideas for fun as a kid, but being shot at with a bunch of tennis balls wasn't on the list.

Now, playing goalie on an outdoor rink for the Detroit Red Wings on New Year's Day? THAT'S something I could get into. But I didn't pay my dues in the basement, did I?