Chris Osgood: One Of The NHL’s All Time Best Goalies, Ever.

As surely as the Detroit Red Wings will make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs each year, Chris Osgood will be abused in the media as a controversial figure. It is amazing to me that time and time again the hockey world remains divided on all matters Oz.

I can’t tell you the number of times in these playoffs I have yelled “Pierre McNugget: suck it!!” every time Ozzie makes an amazing save on Geno or Sid or Getslaffedat or ANYONE! I just get so sick of experts and the media (like Pierre who ought to know better) perpetuating the myth that Ozzie is a weak link.

First, find me a weak link on this Red Wings team, I dare ya. Second, it ain’t Ozzie. Ozzie has done nothing but play Conn Smythe worthy hockey throughout last two Playoff seasons (I argued he was as deserving of the Conny as Hank last year). So this is my 2009 Pitch: Chris Osgood for Conn Smythe.

It’s my natural inclination to start with statistics, so let's just take a peak. Chris Osgood sits comfortably within the top ten of the following All Time NHL Goalie statistics:

Wins

Playoff Wins

Playoff Shutouts

Top Ten ALL TIME. Chris Osgood.

Suck it McNugget! And while we are at it, ahem. Mr. Crawshaw, aka LW3H, (statistician extraordinaire and sensational blogger from across the pond, author of the “Springing Malik” hockey Blog here at http://springingmalik.blogspot.com/),

Mr LW3H,

THIS is a gauntlet, it has been thrown….

THE CASE FOR CHRIS OSGOOD

Statement of Full Disclosure: I am personally biased toward Ozzie, I have not only followed his NHL career from the beginning, but I strongly feel he is unjustly maligned and should be revered as a world class, NHL goalie. I firmly believe he is a future Hall of Famer. Most importantly, Chris Osgood is a first class A-1 Steak Saucy human being, a kind person who embodies all of the personality traits and human characteristics we all want our star athletes to possess. He is a great guy, humble, hard working, funny. All around, Ozzie is the sort of athlete and person you hope your kids will grow up to be. Plus, he loves the City of Detroit, her suburbs and Detroit Red Wing fans as much as we love the Wings. Did you know that Ozzie never sold his home in Metro Detroit the entire time he was getting tossed around the league? He knew he was coming back, he worked his azz off to get back. It was all he wanted.

But let’s start with the muck shall we, and end with the feel good???

UNSUBSTANTIATED CRITICISMS

The Press and hockey fans throw a couple of repetitious, but unsubstantiated, criticisms at Ozzie. Let’s break them down and beat them up.

Unsubstantiated Criticism 1: That Ozzie faces less pressure in goal because he takes less SOGs

I have a goalie in my family who argues this is a baseless criticism tossed about by people who have never played the game. Its much more mentally difficult for a goalie to stay focused in a game, to sporadically come up big when needed the way, Ozzie does, than to be constantly peppered with shots and have the play consolidated at one’s own end. Less shots means you still must have the reflexes a cat and the timing of a swiss watch, but it also means you also must have the discipline and control of an android. Great stats like Ozzies on less SOGs are, if anything, an indicator of extreme discipline and incredible talent.

PLUS- less shots often translates to better shots, more desperate shots. Goaltending has to be much more impressive when a desperate team is bearing down on you. And the Wings are famous for giving up a lead in the third, coasting on a 2 goal cushion, only to sleep through an easy one and then find themselves forced to play the last minute 6 on 5. Much harder to fight desperate shots and garbage scrums in your crease, which is a lot of the action Ozzie see.

Unsubstantiated Criticism 2: That Ozzie is only as good as the Wings unstoppable defense.

I love this one. There are a couple of hall of fame goalies (and several other not so greats) who didn’t win big under cloak of this Red Wing Defense.

No disrespect to the Dominator, but he’s the most recent example. Look, its fallacy to suggest that a goalie is not an integral part of a team’s defense. And in the playoffs its lazy and slightly misinformed to suggest the goalie isn’t the most important player. Of the 43 Conn Smythe Awards given, 14 of them have gone to goalies. Only Centers have as many Conn Smythes. And if justice serves this year, the number of goalies will increase to 15, meaning goalies have earned the Conn Smythe more often than any other position in the history of the award.

Further, everyone knows that a team’s confidence in its goalie affects play and each players own confidence level. This Wings team makes it clear that they feel extremely confident with Ozzie in goal and that that makes it easier for them to play their game. They also are inordinately quick to point out how talented and amazing they think Ozzie is. And they would be the best people to know.

Further, any hockey fan worth her skates can see Ozzie’s confidence and strength on the ice. He doesn’t “try to help” like other goalies - you know the ones who try to play the puck behind the net, wind up getting themselves caught up, or chipping the puck somewhere not helpful to the team. Oh to be sure, he has done that a lot in the past, but this year? Ozzie has been executing some very helpful and interesting, timely plays and passes, not just behind the net, but out of the crease, at the faceoff circles- the sort of things that make him valuable as a 6^th man, especially on a PP….Hell he’s one of three goalie in these playoffs to have an assist. He’s smarter than other goalies, staying calm no matter what, knowing when to stop the puck and when to let it stay in play, controlling the puck to control the tempo of the game. Time and time again in these playoffs I have watched him help the Wings just by his puck handling decision making process.

Unsubstantiated Criticism 3: Perception that Ozzie isn’t tough.

A Rumor Gets Halfway Around The World Before The Truth Has A Chance To Put Its Skates On. That is where this criticism comes from, its just more and more people perpetuating innuendo, rumor, and an ill-concieved dated perception from the mid 1990s.

Detractors still make reference to that 1992 loss to the Shark’s where a very young man shed tears, or that ill conceived column after the 1998 Stanley Cup.

My response is threefold:

1. That columnist was dead fricking wrong in 1998, and if I could find the article I’d tear it apart point by point, end of story.

2. The Sharks loss was a bazillion years and 4 Cups ago. Please if you have to criticize and you can’t be logical or supportable, please be relevant.

3. I’ll take a kid who is so broken over his own performance, who blames himself so fully, that he is reduces to tears over the kid who points fingers at everyone else and who whines.

Not tough? Are you kidding me? Here is a guy who played through the most evolutionary changes the league has ever seen and suffered some of the harshest criticism, including from his own. GM, Kenny H. once famously said Ozzie was “an NHL Goalie with High school technical skills”. How did Ozzie respond? He completely reformatted his game and at age 32 took on a new style of play, morphing and coming back bigger faster stronger tougher and winning more Stanley Cups.

Unsubstantiated Criticism 4: Ozzie has let some weak, game/series ending goals in during his career.

See UC 3 above, and think about this: the guy has been playing in the league for almost 16 years (since 1992) and all people ever cite are three soft goals in the late 1990’s- again, timely relevance? That McInnis slap shot from center ice. Nick Lidstrom has done it time and time again these playoffs and you don’t see anyone calling Mason Hiller or Khabibulan the worst goalie to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And by the way: the resiliency with which Osgood comes back from adversity and such weak goals is flawless. Think of how he handled AFTER the McInnis goal against St. Louis. He stood on his head. He doesn’t crack and become a sieve like Patrick Roy has been known to do.

Unsubstantiated Criticism 5: Ozzie was lackluster in the 2009 regular season.

Well, interestingly I was prepared to say that I actually cannot argue the numbers on this one, but as it turns out, His numbers aren’t the worst. Whose to say it’s a terrible regular season when your ranked 17^th in the league for wins and you only played about half of the season? I’m not saying Ozzie played like Steve Mason out there this year in the regular season, but he does not deserve all the criticism he has received when he was being better than average. No one ever accounts for the fact that the Wings faced opponents, who on a nightly basis, all wanted a piece of the Stanley Cup Champs.

Lets face it, the Detroit Red Wings have been the team to beat this year, and every single team that hits the Joe, comes to try and take the Stanley Cup Champs out. Essentially the Wings spent a great deal of the regular season having to elevate their game to playoff levels.

Then again, those of us who appreciate goaltenders may realize that Ozzie knows what matters. Perhaps- just perhaps- its not always such a good idea to let your young defense rely heavily on you as a goaltender. Perhaps it’s a good idea to make sure they can hold up their end of the game.

And then again, there are some of us who believe as long as you can elevate your game in the playoffs, an average regular season is fine, and can be strategic.

THE INDISPUTABLE TRUTH: HEART, CHARACTER AND NUMBERS PROVE CHRIS OSGOOD IS OSGREAT

The Heart and Character

I have talked about Ozzie and his heart and character above, I only add this: if you listen to Chris Osgood speak, whenever he is asked the “tough” (I say “mindless”) questions, he responds simply (and paraphrased), “I don’t care what there rest of the world thinks, I don’t pay attention. I care about Detroit. People there treat me well and love me and know what I can do. Detroit is my home and that is who I play for.”

In both the 2009 playoffs (especially the Thucks series) and the entirety of the 2008 playoffs Ozzie proved that he is probably the Number 1, clutch goalie of all time. He certainly is one of the all time greats at rising to the playoff occasion (see stats below). Time and time again, we hear the media ask “how does Ozzie flip the switch???” Ozzie simply responds: “I’ve been in the league 15 seasons. I play for Detroit, where we will always be in the Playoffs. I know how to do this.”

But as actions speak louder than words, sometime hard numbers hit home hardest….

The Numbers

(Cuz You Knew I Would.)

3 Time Stanley Cup Winning Goalie, on his way to leading his team to his 4^th, and tying the legendary Terry Sawchuck.

2 Time Jennings Winner.

10^th Winningest Goalie of All Time, 389 wins (ahead of Hasek, Richter, Hextall) with a 2.47 GAA. Of the top ten all time goalies, only Martin Brodeur and Jacque Plante have a better Goals Against.

Ozzie’s All Time Goals Against Average is better than Patrick Wah (2.53), Cujo (2.50) and Belfour (2.79).

23^rd in All Time Shutouts with 49. (3rd amongst active goaltenders).

8^th Winningest Goalie in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 73 playoff wins in his career, so far.

4^th All Time Playoff Shutouts- Ozzie got his 14th career playoff shutout moving him into a tie with Belfour, Hasek and Plante.

One of only 9 goaltenders to ever score a goal, Ozzie ranks 3^rd among active goaltenders with 18 career points (1goal, 17 assists) behind Brodeur and Cujo.

Osgood beat Terry Sawchuck’s record last year for playoff wins: In 2008 he surpassed the Legendary Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk to move into top spot among Detroit net-minders in both playoff wins and shutouts. This year Osgood is 14-4 with 73 wins and 14 shutouts in his playoff career.

2^nd in 2009 Playoffs for GAA with a 1.94, stalking Tim Thomas’ 1.85. and maintaining a stellar Save Percentage of .930 (currently ranked 3^rdbehind Hiller and Thomas). He’s had one shut out and credited with one assist.

2009 Regular Season stats: Ozzie cannot be beat in overtime, he is ranked No. 1. Ranked 17th in wins with a decent 26–9–8 record, Save Percentage of .887 and GAA 3.09 which are only slightly lower than last year.

In the 01-02 and 03-04 Seasons he played 65+ games each season and had a GAA under 2.50 both seasons.

1995-96 Season: 1995–1996 season, and he led the NHL with a 2.17 GAA and 39 wins. He also finished third in shutouts (5) and was a Vezina Trophy runner-up to Jim Carey who later retired to Florida to run a pet detective agency.

DON’T YOU DARE LAUGH AT THAT, it was a pathetic attempt, I should be forced to listen to “Mocking Bird” over and over again while Snow and Ice from a freshly zamboni’ed rink is dripped on my forehead…”Hockey Boarded” if you will.

The Intangibles

Oh yea there is more, are you really surprised?

He pummeled Patrick Roy in 1997-1998.

According to his presser and several recent interviews, Ozzie would like to become a bullpen catcher for Detroit Tigers when his hockey career is over.

He has the world most thankless job –a Red Wing Goalie. Hockeytown is supremely tough on goalies- we don’t allow any cracks and we persecute the tiniest oldest mistakes. We ran Cujo out…. Just look at the greats who have not lasted here. Ozzie has spent almost the entirety of his NHL career as a Wing and most of that as a back up goalie. Yet he is flawless when asked to step up makes the big plays the big wins, and to carry the team. He has lasted through almost 3 generations of Red Wings Teams: The Red Army Team, The Lidstrom Era, and now the Eurotwins Era.

Even after 16 years in the league (15 seasons) Ozzie continues to grow his game, his skill set and his talent, evolving as the game evolves. And this game has evolved like mad since 1992 when he first step blade onto NHL Ice. He has come back from adversity stronger and better than before and you never hear any complaints. Instead you hear him say “I love Detroit and the people here, its my home.”

Ozzie embodies humility, hard work and all the attractive personality traits you should want in your star athletes. He knows and live his life, plays his game by these rules: SHUT UP AND WORK. Work harder than you think you can, harder than you think you should and harder than you are being given credit or payment for.

So finally, after all my logic and my theory I ask:

What more do you need to prove Chris Osgood deserves the respect of his contemporaries like Brodeur and Roy and Hasek?

Its time to let go of the Ozzie bashing and recognize Chris Osgood for the future HOFF’er that he is, as important to the Wings successes as Stevie Y, Nic Lids, Hank Z. Perhaps most importantly he is an extraordinarily talented NHL goalie who deserves credit where credit is due.

Ozzie for Conn Smythe, Nobody Beats the Wiz.

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