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Does Detroit have a goaltending crisis?
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Detroit hopes to have this Chris Osgood in the post-season
The Detroit Red Wings currently sit second in the NHL with 105 points. They are the defending Stanley Cup champions. The team is on pace to finish with about as many points as they did during their 2002 and 2008 championships. In fact, Detroit is probably the contending team with the fewest worries of any of the top teams in the NHL. San Jose has been a lion during the last few regular seasons and a lamb during the last few postseasons. Washington and Boston are very young, and neither team has anywhere near the playoff experience of the Red Wings. The Devils have the goaltending, championship experience, but one often wonders if they have the offensive depth to carry them all the way to a Stanley Cup championship. Detroit has everything, depth at forward, depth at defense, they might have the best top 6 forwards in the league, and they could very well have the most well rounded defensive unit in the league. On top of that, Detroit even has arguably two of the top three or four defensive forwards in the league in Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk may even get Hart Trophy consideration for his stellar two way play. But for all of Detroit's riches, they have one glaring concern, a concern that becomes even more glaring under the spotlight of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Red Wings simply do not know what to expect from their goaltending posititon come playoff time. Last night, Chris Osgood was pulled from the team's 5-3 loss at Calgary after having yet another subpar game.
The problem with Osgood has nothing to do with his record, because at first glance Osgood is 24-6-9 on the season, which in terms of win percentage is pretty stellar. What is troubling, however, is Osgood's erratic play as of late, coupled with an average at best save percentage and a goals-against average(GAA) that might resemble my college GPA better than the statistics of an elite goaltender. The problem arises mostly from the fact that Osgood was solid even very good during the regular season and he was brilliant in the post-season last year, yet he has shown no indication that a similar post-season run will occur this season. While Osgood has been a very good player for fifteen years in the NHL, he has also been prone to struggling with the mental aspects of the goaltender position at times. Time will tell whether he will be able to put his struggles behind him as Detroit gears up to defend the Cup.
Detroit might also have a solution to the goaltending situation. In fact, they have a goaltender on their roster that currently ranks 9th in the NHL with a 2.44 GAA and 4th in the league in shutouts. His name is Ty Conklin and he is currently Detroit's "backup" goaltender. The solution is pretty obvious to many, and that is that Detroit should name Conklin as their starting goaltender for the playoffs. However, Conklin, for as good as he has been this season, Conklin has played approximately five minutes of playoff hockey in his career. Seriously. Detroit would be foolish to go with a guy who has a career playoff GAA of 10.71 giving up one goal on three shots over a player with three Stanley Cups on his resume. The Red Wings best course of action, in my opinion, is to start Chris Osgood in the post-season. They could always make a change during the post-season. As we saw last year when Mike Babcock brought Osgood in for Dominik Hasek, it can be a move that pays off in the end. Until then we will all have to play the waiting game.
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