Chris Osgood: Bleeding Red

This off season, as I'm sure you have all heard, Chris Osgood retired. Outside of Detroit, this caused fevered debates about his HOF worthiness. But in the D, we are unable to argue about his abilities, we are left speechless by his retirement, unable to even muster the words to express our shock, sorrow, and the gaping hole in our hearts. Other teams and other fan bases may have trouble understanding our sorrow, after all, we're the Red Wings, we've won so many Cups that it's going out of style. Why then, they say, are we so upset? He was 'just one' of three cup winning goalies we had in our dynasty era, alongside such names as Mike Vernon and Dominik Hasek, he's not exactly the most famous goalie, or the most accomplished, why do we care? This is my answer to that question, and my summary of the career of the Wizard of Oz, Chris Osgood.

Osgood was drafted in 1993 by the Wings, 54th overall. He brought with him little expectations, and was the fourth-string goalie on a weak net-minder line. The first time the Wings gave him a shot, it was the first round playoff series against the Sharks, an 8 seed. Despite being strong favorites, the Wings were taken to 7 games by the Sharks, and many in the media blamed Osgood's lackluster play. Osgood made the worst mistake of his career, one that many believed would define his career; when, tied in the 3rd 3-3, he tried to clear the puck. He left the net to clear, and the puck went directly to Jamie Baker, who slapped it in for the series winning goal. Osgood was heartbroken by this mistake, so much so that he cried in his stall afterward.

Mike Vernon was drafted primarily because of this loss, and Osgood would be forced to watch as Vernon lead the Wings to their first cup win in over 4 decades, and win the Conn Smythe. All of this was despite Osgood's brilliant play in the previous season, which saw him come in second in Vezina voting to Jim Carey. But after Vernon left, Osgood stepped up, backstopping the Wings to their second straight cup. But the reaction in the media was decidedly anti-Osgood. They called him "The worst goalie to ever win the cup", and claimed that he was simply piggybacking on a superior team.

Osgood experienced success after his win, but in 2001, the Islanders got him on waivers. He considered retiring, unwilling to play outside of Detroit, but fought through it to continue. While bouncing around from New York to St. Louis, he had to watch as his former team won the Cup again, this time without him. Osgood finally got to return to the Wings in 2005, where he had mixed results due to injuries that would eventually end his career.

Then came the defining year of his career. In 2008, the Red Wings started Dominik Hasek in the first round versus the Nashville Predators. However, when Hasek gave up 8 goals in two games, he was replaced by Osgood, who won the next two games, giving up only one goal. He swept the Avalanche, and built up a three-game lead over the Stars, but Dallas won the next two games to force game six. In a game riddled with injuries, Osgood kept his cool and the Wings won to advance to the Cup finals yet again. He faced the Pittsburgh Penguins, and their upstart captain, Sidney Crosby. The Pens were shut out by Osgood in the first two games, and fell behind 3-1. But a triple-overtime winner in game 5 made the Penguins believe that they could do it. Osgood kept his cool, and by saving a last minute attempt by the Penguins, he won his second cup as a starter. But, the Conn Smythe went to Henrik Zetterberg, despite Osgood's 14-4 record.

2009 saw Osgood falter in the regular season, but he got the playoff nod ahead of Ty Conklin. Osgood swept the Blue Jackets, and beat the Ducks in a hard-fought seven games, until he faced the arch rival Blackhawks. After losing an overtime decision, he allowed only two goals in two games, getting Detroit to the finals yet again. He once again faced the Penguins, who were back with a vengeance. Osgood gave the Wings two 3-1 wins, but allowed eight goals by the Pens in the next two, and the series was even. After pitching a shutout, Osgood saw the Wings go down in defeat in game six, and barely lose in game seven, snatching the Cup away from him and taking away his last chance to win the Conn Smythe. Osgood's later injuries hindered him, and he had to retire just two years later.

Through the Wings history, there was always one goalie we could look back on and call our franchise goalie. That was Terry Sawchuk, who won multiple cups and Vezinas' with us, and still is our winningest goalie of all time. But through the dynasty of the 90's-00's, we won with multiple goalies, 2 of which weren't really ours. People know that Hasek is a Sabre, through and through, and Vernon will always be a Flame. But the other one, the guy that nobody really thought about, was the only one that we could call ours. The guy that could never capture a Vezina, the guy that could never win the Smythe, the worst goalie to ever win the Stanley cup, etc. He was the one we could call our own.

Of course, none of those things accurately describes Chris Osgood, who most certainly was NOT the worst goalie to ever win the Cup (twice). Chris Osgood is the playoff goalie, Chris Osgood is the eternal underdog, Chris Osgood is the man who made a living off of proving other people wrong. He did it in 1998, and he did it again in 2008. Osgood may not be a household name like Fuhr, Roy, Brodeur, or Hasek, but he was something that none of those goalies ever were, he was a Detroit Red Wing. Osgood was more of a Red Wing than any other goalie we have ever had, including Sawchuk. And he may just be the most dedicated Red Wing ever. Even now, he works with us as a goalie coach assistant.

Perhaps the worst thing about it is that Osgood never got to go out on his own terms. His injuries finally caught up to him, and he had to call it quits. The one thing I wish is that Ozzie could have somehow recovered, come back, and proven the hockey gods wrong about him one last time before he had to go. The retirement of Chris Osgood has left a hole in this city not seen since Bobby Layne left the Lions, and the recovery may well take more than the 50 years it took the Lions. We may never again see someone who enjoyed being a Red Wing as much as Ozzie did, and we will never again see him play a game. But we will treasure what we did see, and what we saw was possibly the greatest goalie this franchise ever had.

2 Cups, 401 wins, and possibly the greatest goalie we ever had. Not bad for a scrawny little kid out of Canada.

Osgood may not have been the best of his era, he may not be one of the greatest ever, and he was almost never the best at anything. But there is one thing that he always was, still is, and always shall be, the best at, being a Detroit Red Wing.