More like Smooshville
Written by Kyle Kujawa   
Saturday, 30 January 2010 15:42

Look, I like Chris Osgood. I just don't understand how anyone thinks there's a goaltending controversy at this point. Regardless of rust or how much he felt like sulking, he just wasn't good against Minnesota. It wasn't just the goals -- there were definitely some sweet shots and flukey goals. Even outside that, Osgood had absolutely no confidence. He was deep in his net, he was slow getting side to side, and he wasn't stepping up when Detroit needed him to. That all definitely led to a few of those goals. Sure, whatever, blame Babcock for him not having confidence. Do whatever. But I don't know how that justifies giving him more starts.

This is new for Wings fans, so maybe they're just not seeing it. In my mind, when you've got a goalie, continually, coming into a game and letting in 3-5 goals on 20-25 shots, and you've got a goalie who twice in a month has come through with 46 and 51 saves, among a handful of other games he's stolen, there's just no controversy. Osgood should be playing more than once a month. But how many more games like Wednesdays do we need to see before we call him a lost cause? There's just no point, with Detroit where they are in the standings, in taking such a huge gamble in Osgood. Jimmy Howard should be playing 75-80% of the games down the stretch. Osgood should get one more chance to take his job back at the end of the year, if Detroit's in the position where they can afford a few shaky games from him.

And that's pretty much the end of it. I understand perfectly that some people like Osgood better than Howard. That's cool, I really don't get it. I tend to gravitate to the one playing better. I'm just amazed that even after a game like last night, people are still thinking about the next time Osgood should start. I don't buy for a second that Howard is wearing out. One bad game doesn't mean he's tired -- by that logic, Osgood has been playing exhausted since early November. He's got that whole Olympic break coming up too. As long as he's winning (and that's the important part), there just isn't any reason to take him out. But I gotta be careful, because that's all heresy.

Other than Jimmy, there weren't too many bright spots yesterday. The defense was... yikes. I don't understand how the team preaches "keeping it simple" and playing so conservatively, but be content to turn the puck over all day. Jonathan Ericsson had a pretty rough night. Everyone was pretty guilty of unforced errors in their own end.

But that win was huge -- and keeping with not being so cynical, there wasn't really a whole lot wrong. The team just didn't come out with a whole lot of energy, but despite being outshot so severely, I thought they turned it on a little more as the game went on. They came up with some pretty timely goals -- though that end sequence was absolutely terrifying. Down a man with a two-goal lead, Danger Helm can't convert on what could have been a clutch empty net. I think I was on edge until there were four seconds left, because I felt that was the earliest time I could feel comfortable with a two-goal lead. But that didn't stop Mick from trying to jinx Detroit about two dozen times during the game, making his little quips about Detroit's two-goal leads.

The pre-game show was interesting because the FSN crew actually started sharing their opinions on players -- who goes, when Johan Franzen comes back in 8-12 days and they make a decision on Andreas Lilja after a conditioning stint that's supposed to start next week. Drew Miller was a name brought up, and responded by notching two points. He's growing on me. Not in the sense that I didn't like him, because I love his hard work, but I was just thinking Detroit might get rid of him for their younger players. Starting to feel like he might be worth keeping around, since he seems to be gaining confidence and is starting to be really noticeable on every shift.

And how funny was it that Jason Williams opened the scoring. Vanilla, Mr. Insignificant, every name he was called (and I'm not acting like I was above that, because I wasn't). Good for him though. He may be insignificant but he's a ton better than Ville Leino and Brad May. He didn't play much, but he looked alright. More noticeable in the first period than the second and third, but that could have had something to do with every other Red Wing turning the puck over in the first period.

I'm all about being optimistic, but it would have been pretty sad to drop that game to a struggling team like Nashville. We're a point up on Calgary with 54 games played each, but they've got Edmonton tonight -- a team who's dropped 20 of their past 21. They're in danger of going 0-for-January if they lose tonight. That would be funny, but it would be nice to be secure in 8th place for longer than 24 hours.


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Comments (12)add comment

Keith B said:

...
Leino gets cut and May gets sent down to Grand Rapids. I also expect Meech to be sent down (is he in a 2 way contract?) and Lebda put on waivers since he can't go back directly to Grand Rapids. He should make it through waivers but if not, oh well, Meech is always there to come up.

I think I like the following lineup. We are back to having 2 amazing scoring lines, a 3rd line that can get really hot and a 4th line that will score more then most 4th lines. I hated breaking Helm and Drapper up but we really needed another center with Abdelkader being in GR and knowing that neither Z, Datysuk or Filppula should be on the 3rd line. Do you think Helm and Drapper should flip?

Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom
Franzen - Filppula - Bertuzzi
Cleary - Helm - Williams
Miller - Drapper - Eaves (rotate in Maltby)

Lidstrom - Stuart (did anyone else notice this pairing last night?)
Kronwall - Rafalski
Ericsson - Lilja/Kindl

Howard is definitely the #1 goalie. I don't care if Ozzie played like this last year and stole the show in the playoffs. That's not normal. Howard is on the verge of becoming a top 5 NHL goalie if he keeps this up. Every year a young goalie steals a round for his team, this year it might be our term to actually be on the lucky side.
 
January 30, 2010
Votes: +1

Horton said:

...
The NHL trading deadline is March 3rd which is just after the Olympics end.
During the 2 weeks Olympic break, expect more trades than in recent years. My sources say the Wings have targeted two forwards and one D.
 
January 30, 2010
Votes: +0

KyleKujawa said:

...
Considering the Wings literally have negative cap space, I don't trust your "sources" any more than I trust Eklund's.

Keith, Leino won't be cut. Cutting is the same as buying out, which eats cap space. The Wings would more likely waive him, and if he's not claimed, send him to GR., That would likely result in him bolting back to Finland, which would take his cap hit off the books. But if they could get any kind of late pick for him, I'd be thrilled.

It's weird to consider Leino, Meech, and/or Lebda all being waived since they'd been regulars so long. Detroit generally holds on to assets as long as they can, but obviously this year forces their hand.

What actually makes the most sense is waiving Maltby and his $883,000 cap hit. But that eats into that whole "Detroit is too loyal" theory. It's going to be interesting to see what is more important to Detroit, keeping Maltby around as a 13th, maybe 14th forward, or getting rid of the worst players. I kinda hope they'd get rid of him, but I'm not expecting it at all.
 
January 31, 2010
Votes: +0

Rob Benneian said:

...
Seeing as you're unfamiliar with the fact that there is a trade freeze during the Olympics, I'm also gonna discredit your sources. Maltby won't be waived. May will be waived, as will Leino (unless we find a trading partner for him). Lebda and/or Meech are likely to be traded.
Our (playoff) line up should look something like:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Bertuzzi-Filppula-Franzen
Cleary-Williams-Miller
Draper-Helm-Eaves

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Stuart-Kronwall
Ericsson-Lilja

Black Aces:
Larsson, Daniel
Kindl, Jakub
Abdelkader, Justin
Maltby, Kirk
Emmerton, Cory
Oulahan, Ryan
Ritola, Mattias
 
January 31, 2010 | url
Votes: +0

waltdetroit said:

...
I cannot see the wings getting rid of Mebdeech before the playoffs, even to bring up Kindl (a rookie D who hasn't played but a few NHL games}, not even if we MISS the playoffs. I think they will keep them for the whole season as insurance for injuries & Lilja, the 7th or 8th D. Don't forget the D was awesome 2 yrs ago, last year not so much and this year seems a collective forgetfulness. Every D man has taken a step back from Kung Nick (until lately) to Ericsson (who plays like a rookie). Ok Stu has stepped up. I have to take my meds in order to watch the 3rd periods of games. The constant flurries around the net w/o clearing the puck have put my nerves on edge. Could Mebdeech be traded, possible if the offer was good enough but I don't see it

That leaves the 5th line of Leino, Malts, & May as the players most likely to be moved. I don't see any likely trades, in fact I think atrade, if it happens, will come out of the blue not the red.
 
January 31, 2010
Votes: +0

waltdetroit said:

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Kyle: I was wondering if on your home page next to the number of comments you might be able to put the date of the last comment. That way one would know if he had read the comments to prior posts (I can never remember how many comments were posted since the last time I had read them)
 
January 31, 2010
Votes: +0

Horton said:

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I know all about the so-called trade freeze. I have a friend who works in the front office for an NHL team so I know what I am talking about. Plenty of deals will be done during the Olympic break. They just cannot be announced publicly until later. He said the Wings are already talking to two teams. The cap space is definitely an issue but there are ways around it.
 
January 31, 2010
Votes: -1

ziggyZach said:

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I have that card....
 
January 31, 2010
Votes: +0

Jonhny754g said:

...
Seeing as you're unfamiliar with the fact that there is a trade freeze during the Olympics, I'm also gonna discredit your sources. Maltby won't be waived. May will be waived, as will Leino (unless we find a trading partner for him). Lebda and/or Meech are likely to be traded.
Our (playoff) line up should look something like:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Bertuzzi-Filppula-Franzen
Cleary-Williams-Miller
Draper-Helm-Eaves


I agree with your statement about May and Maltby. Wings are tired of May already, and he has been a failed experiment, and the loyalty factor will come through for Detroit. I hate to say it, but it Maltby even wants to stay after this year we will keep him. Ahh.. Remember at the start of the year when he scored a couple of goals (1 shorthanded if memory serves me correctly) and we all though he had his scoring touch back?? Too bad he's still brutal as ever.

I think we will trade/waive both Meech and Lebda if Lilja gets back. If not we waive/trade only Meech. No matter what happens we bring up Kindl and Abdelkader in the playoffs, since there is no cap space. And Leino.. Leino, Leino, Leino.. What a tricky subject, eh? At the start of the year he was to be our man replacing Hudler. He was supposed to be even an upgrade on Hudler. Lead the Finnish Elite League in scoring, and agreed to one year in GR. He had 9 points in 13 games last season for the Wings, with me witnessing a couple nice goals. 9 points in 13 games.. Putting him on pace for about 57 points. But he has struggled. He played well with Fil at the start of the year, but he has not played well at all lately.. What to do with him?? I'd would trade him for as high a pick I could get, but we might be reduced to waiving him. Whatever hapeens, I almost hope he doesn't clear waivers and gets sent down to GR. If that happened, as Kyle said, he'd probably go to the Finnish League. Anything would be better then him staying in the NHL and potentially coming back to haunt us.

I know all about the so-called trade freeze. I have a friend who works in the front office for an NHL team so I know what I am talking about. Plenty of deals will be done during the Olympic break. They just cannot be announced publicly until later. He said the Wings are already talking to two teams. The cap space is definitely an issue but there are ways around it.


Ken Holland will be in Vancouver for the Olympics. As will a number of other NHL general managers, thus they will be not making too many deals. I do not deny that there will be some deals made in the break.. But what do you mean 'So-called trade freeze'? It is real. And I am curious to who your source is? Since you obviously have no idea what you are talking about, I'll take the liberty to discredit them as well.
 
January 31, 2010
Votes: +1

KyleKujawa said:

...
Walt, I don't think there's a way to put the date of the latest comment. What you can do is if you register your name at the top of this page, you can have comments e-mailed directly to you if you check the "subscribe" box underneath this comment window. Registration is free and easy, and I'm the only one who can see your information.. And no worries, I won't be giving it out to anyone.

Horton, aside from the fact that no one believes you have "sources" (you don't write under the name "Eklund" anywhere, do you?), I'm also a little hazy on why you think there are ways "around" cap space. There really isn't. Bottom line, Detroit would have to make some serious room to add a big fish. They are already over the cap.

Johnny, while I'm with you, what Horton and you do bring up is every GM will be in Vancouver. There will be some serious trade talk, but nothing will be finalized until after the break. This will either lead to a seriously busy deadline, or maybe the most boring of all time once all the GMs figure out there's only three teams with no chance to make the playoffs (EDM, TOR, CAR).

 
February 01, 2010
Votes: +0

waltdetroit said:

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Thanks Kyle.

The Leafs made some trades already
 
February 01, 2010
Votes: +0

Bill from the city of the current reigning champs said:

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as for the topic of this blog, osgood is old and washed up. fact is he was never that good just benefited from players in front of him... and Rob, thats pretty in depth with the playoff lineups, looks like you put a lot of thought into it. but thats assuming the wings make the playoffs right???
 
February 04, 2010
Votes: +1

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