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Osgood Has Been Better
by Paul on 11/04/09 at 02:28 PM ET
Comments (4)
from Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated,
“Actually Ozzie’s been much better,” Holland says. “His attitude, his work habits, his conditioning. He’s challenging shooters more. Really he’s in a different place than he was at the same time a year ago.”
Bottom line: Holland, who spends on skaters and not goalies, has no plans (or cap space) to tweak his goaltending.
more on the Wings and some Kessel talk plus Kari Lehtonen may be available when he recovers from back surgery…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
Conklin, now 5-0, won 25 games last season as Chris Osgood’s Gunga Din in Detroit…
Actually, Conklin is 2-2-1 in the five games he’s played. Love his .921 SV% and 2.34 GAA, though.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 11/04/09 at 03:14 PM ET
I, for one, have never been on the Jimmy Howard bandwagon. I am of the belief that they continued to look at options like Dom, Osgood, and Conklin not because they thought Howard needed more “seasoning,” but because they just weren’t convinced Howard was ready to play in the NHL.
His play in the AHL was always schizo. He had dominant stretches, and poor stretches. No consistency whatsoever.
I feel his chance this season is about equal parts cap space, and having Howard finally sink/swim at the NHL level, on all his own merits, no excuses left.
I’m not saying he can’t turn it around. I know that goalies tend to come into their prime and find consistency in their game much later in their careers than skaters. I hope this is the case with Howard. I don’t want to make judgments about his NHL future so soon into what is essentially his rookie season. I’m willing to give him the whole year and see what happens, and review his performance as objectively as I can. What I’m saying, is that I think that’s exactly what the Wings are doing with him this season, both out of necessity for the cap and necessity for moving forward organizationally with two nice prospects in Larsson and McCollum.
Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 11/04/09 at 03:22 PM ET
OUCH, thats going to leave a mark.
I saw that and though Howard wasn’t playing well, it was a bit of a ridiculous remark. It would be akin to John Tavares skating down the ice and catching an edge and coming to the conclusion that he shouldn’t be a pro because of that.
Whether he’s fit to be an NHL goalie is up for discussion, but it’s a stupid conclusion (IMHO) to come, especially because there are arguments that are potentially much more legit than catching an edge.
Posted by Garth on 11/04/09 at 03:36 PM ET
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This line, mentioned in the Farber article, from Ray Ferraro really caught my attention:
OUCH, thats going to leave a mark.
Would love to see the video on this.
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Hockey Netherworld on 11/04/09 at 02:45 PM ET