Constance/Sporting News: Chris Osgood’s biggest save is his successor in net – Craig Custance – NHL – Sporting News

He was coming off one of his worst starts of the season. Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard allowed three goals in 20 shots against the New York Islanders on Tuesday before coach Mike Babcock pulled him.

After making the switch to Chris Osgood, Babcock told Howard that the decision had nothing to do with his play. It was a chance to get Osgood some work. Maybe spark the team.

Howard is in that rhythm. At some point, they’re going to need Osgood there too.

“You have to play, obviously,” Osgood said. “You have to get games to play and get in that rhythm.”

“I made it very clear when I pulled him,” Babcock said.

But Howard, a 25-year-old rookie, still felt bad. In part, it was because he couldn’t make enough stops to help his road-weary team finish its trip strong. But also because it meant Osgood had to come off the bench cold, jumping into action for the first time since Dec. 20.

“Yeah, I feel so bad,” Howard said. “You never want to get pulled.”

“We laughed about it after,” Osgood said. “I told Jimmy, ‘Never let that happen again. I’m not 27 anymore.’ “

But Howard bounced back. He passed another test in what’s becoming one of the NHL’s most impressive rookie seasons. On Thursday, his next start, he stopped 37-of-38 shots to beat the Carolina Hurricanes. It was his 17th victory of the season, with his goals-against average dropping to 2.17 — a number just outside the top five and only slightly higher than Martin Brodeur’s 2.14.

After the Carolina win, Howard was unlacing his skates while trying to explain the importance of the bounce-back game. How was an inexperienced NHL goalie able to shake off a rough start so easily?

He stopped messing with the skates and pointed to the veteran to his right who was peeling off mostly dry hockey gear.

There was the answer: Chris Osgood. The reason Howard is succeeding is because of Osgood.

“I’m just trying to stay in the moment and he’s taught me how to do that. He’s one of the best in the league at that,” Howard told Sporting News. “He knows how to let things roll off his back and just continue to push forward.”

And now, Osgood continues to push. Even if it hasn’t been easy.

According to Babcock, Howard will start again Saturday in Dallas. Following the Carolina game, he wasn’t ruling out another Howard start on Sunday.

Osgood, meanwhile, has made one start in the past month.

“The way the league works, the guy who is playing good gets to play,” Babcock explained.

But at some point, doesn’t Osgood need to get some regular action? Don’t you have to get one of the game’s best playoff goalies ready for the playoffs?

“We’re not in the playoffs,” Babcock shot back. “We have to win games.”

When Howard’s string of starts got rolling, it definitely pulled at Osgood. On one hand, he was proud. Osgood has liked the young goalie since the Red Wings drafted him in the second round in 2003.

He used to check in on him in Grand Rapids, offering tips and advice on what it took to be an NHL goalie. They frequently chat on the phone, so much, in fact, that Osgood recently joked he had to tell Howard to stop calling him because he was cutting into family time.

When Howard’s season debut was a flop in Europe, Osgood was one of his loudest defenders in a sea of critics. And let’s not forget, there were plenty.

“I didn’t like (Howard),” admits one NHL scout. “I didn’t like him in the minors, but he’s played better in the NHL than he did in the minors.”

But Osgood was insistent. Howard is going to be good. Really good.

“I was constantly telling people that,” Osgood said.

He was right. And now, the success comes at Osgood’s expense.

That’s the other hand and it pulled at Osgood. This isn’t how he envisioned his career winding down. At 37 years old, he has achievements he still wants to accomplish. He’s coming off a season in which he was one playoff win away from a Conn Smythe Trophy — he was that good in the 2009 playoffs.

That wasn’t that long ago. The extended trip to the bench wasn’t supposed to happen this quickly.

“You have to figure it out, sometimes it’s tough,” Osgood said. “I’ve definitely wrestled with it a lot … I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t push it one way or the other. You have to let things happen. That’s how you finish the right way.”

It’s a balancing act. But if Osgood is going to lean one way, it’s going to be toward the side of helping a young teammate.

“I don’t think if you’re a bad guy, things ever turn out the right way,” Osgood said.

This is still a playoff team in Detroit, but the days of shuffling lines and roles just to see how players respond are gone. Every win is huge. Every point is huge.

Babcock is riding the hot goalie, but at some point he’ll have to make a decision. Can you let the playoff-tested veteran grow stale on the bench? Because that’s exactly what’s happening.

via Chris Osgood’s biggest save is his successor in net – Craig Custance – NHL – Sporting News.

And this is why I think Osgood would be an excellent back-up to Quick. Of course, for that to happen, the Wings would have to be sellers. And I doubt they’ll let that happen.

WHAT ARE THE THREE THINGS?

They are three of these four things:

1) A top-line sniper.

2) A 3rd line crusty playoff-savvy veteran who pisses people off and can say some wise things in the locker room. (e.g. whoever the new Mike Ricci is, or Esa Tikkanen.)

3) A playoff tested veteran back-up goalie. (e.g. Chris Osgood; you laugh, but you also would be very happy to have him as your back-up if Quick were to get hurt in the playoffs; I actually think a trade for him is not unlikely, especially if Detroit becomes a seller [!]; but I also frequently project my own thoughts onto Lombardi, so ignore if you wish.)

4) A legitimate second line center.

Note to players making more than $3 million per year: just because you’re playing the system and it’s all about the team and you’re paying attention to the little things DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN’T TAKE OVER A GAME AND STEAL A FEW

The nice thing about buying-in to the system is that, in theory, if you take the leap of faith, the system works. And, lo and behold, the system does work. For the most part, the Kings are the best team they’ve been since the beginning of the decade, and for the most part the players have committed to Terry Murray’s system. It helps to know that, when the game isn’t going well, you can redouble your commitment to the system, and that’s all you have to think about: your job. Same goes for when you’re up 6-0 and there’s a temptation to sit back. No. You still play the system.

The other advantage of playing with this kind of team discipline is that it helps reduce the anxiety that comes from being a young, inexperienced team with young, inexperienced leaders. The system gives the young players something to hang their hat on.

But I realized tonight that my frustration watching Kopitar and Brown — I’m going to resist characterizing their play and just focus on results — is not so much that they frequently seem to be drifting or uncertain, or that they miss the net when I want them to NOT…it’s really just the small matter that for some reason they aren’t putting the team on their shoulders and winning some of these games all by themselves.

And that’s irrational, isn’t it? Why should I expect that of these two players, and not of Frolov or Stoll or Handzus? (Let’s pretend that Handzus hasn’t been on a tear the last month or so, and that all three of these players aren’t lately putting up better numbers than Brown and Kopitar.) It doesn’t make sense for me to expect the players to buy-in to the team system and ALSO that they should take it upon themselves to be difference makers. Because that’s contradictory, right? That’s basically saying, play the system but don’t. Right?

No. Wrong.

Because the way Kopitar is supposed to be winning games all by himself is not by ignoring the system or going rogue, it’s by buying-in even more, which means doing all the things he was doing at the beginning of the year, moving his feet, hitting, accelerating, driving to the net, crashing to the net, shooting at the net not past it, so that screens and crashing and traffic actually mean something and have an effect.

(p.s. shooting wide is not buying-in; because what happens when you shoot wide is you are trying to pick the corner and use your skill to make the perfect shot; instead of trusting that putting it on net with traffic is going to lead to the kinds of goals the team is built to score. That’s why Smyth is standing there, or Handzus, getting his ass kicked. When you miss the net because you’re special and you can make the perfect highlight reel shot, you’re hanging everyone else out to dry. You miss the net, and they’re just standing there. The other team breaks out. One-goal loss.)

I get the feeling from listening to Kopitar talk that he thinks he’s doing his job if he’s doing the little things, buying-in, back-checking, covering all the x’s and o’s. That’s, as they say, necessary but not sufficient. The platitude that if they keep doing the little things then the bounces will start going their way is wearing thin. Said platitude has the infuriating virtue of being true. As far as it goes. And it’s extra frustrating, at least for me, because I feel slightly mean expecting poor Kopitar and Brown who have given their all to the system to take on the even greater burden of making wins happen out of thin air.

Nevertheless, I expect it. And, frankly, the expectation is built into their salaries. What is the expectation exactly? It begins with the fact that Kopitar and Brown have superior abilities. They are more skilled than many of their peers. They are faster, stronger, smarter — pick your attribute, they have more of it. That’s why they were picked when they were picked. That’s why they get, as they say, the big bucks. When Parse, Richardson, Moller, Simmonds or Segal are as effective as our leaders, it is in fact a failing of the leaders. (I don’t mean in a single game; when it happens every once in a while, it’s called secondary scoring; when it happens for a few months or even a few seasons, it’s called a leadership vacuum.) Because Kopitar and Brown pushing themselves to excel within the system must yield more goals than Parse, Richardson et al doing it. Because they’re better. And they’re paid accordingly.

My guess is that being a 22 year old multi-millionaire superstar hockey player in a foreign country is mildly terrifying on a daily basis. Even more so now that there is an actual expectation that the team is going to win and you are going to lead them. And let’s not forget the pressure created by the fact that you (Brown, now) publicly called out your boss on the need for a genuine top-six left wing, because (boo hoo) it’s hard for you to play over there. Passing the buck, never a good idea. Bosses remember that. Who among them has had the thought that, hey, they went out and got just what we asked for, and we’re having the same trouble as last year. We know that Lombardi did not appreciate the Dustin Brown wish list. He said as much last summer. He made a comment to the effect that those two players should be taking it upon themselves to get the job done.

So far, they have not. And while I’m not really of the belief that this so-far disastrous homestand is the season in a nutshell, I have already said that the mini-season of the 20 games leading up to the break will likely decide whether the Kings are in the playoffs or not, and so will determine where at least one or two of the current Kings play for the next several years.

Back to my point about the pressure they’re under: I think there is a huge temptation to hide inside the system, to let the system (that is to say, the coach) take over the entire burden of leadership. It would be kind of nice if they could get a leadership pass just by buying into the system and letting the system magically win the games for them. That would be easier than the actual job, which is to lead.

And, again, I don’t mean to say they should be “taking the law into their own hands.” That’s not leadership. Leadership would be, for example: playing within the system with all knobs set, a la Spinal Tap, to 11. Because Brown’s 11, Kopitar’s 11, that’s louder, bigger, just plain better, than everyone else’s 11.

I don’t want to see players make themselves smaller within the system. I want them to make themselves bigger. Because they are bigger. They need to play bigger.

Because, frankly — and I mean this in the best possible sense — these guys have not won and don’t actually know how to win. (win=playoffs; win means winning like teams like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, New Jersey, manage to do year after year, not just being “better than last year”) When they have won then they will know. But as it is now we’re basically like Ripley in Aliens in the middle of landing on the alien-infested planet and she asks the squad commander how many missions he’s run and the guy says “forty [pause] all simulated.”

How about this for a Winter Classic? Kings vs. Sharks, here:

How the Kings Spend Their Cap Dollars Compared to Those Losers in Detroit, San Jose, Boston, Washington and Pittsburgh

First, this is Mirtle’s post in full (my Kings-centric notes follow):

This is something I was working on before vacation, a mini-study of how five of the NHL’s best teams are allocating their cap space this year. The five I went with are all right up against the cap, and all experienced a ton of success last year: The Sharks, Red Wings, Bruins, Capitals and Penguins.

Part of the reason I wanted to do this was, in looking at how GM Doug Wilson had revamped San Jose’s roster by cutting depth and adding a top end stud in Dany Heatley, it was really clear how top heavy he had elected to go. And that’s becoming the norm under the cap these days:

In dealing with a 22-man roster, the top 11 players take home 82 per cent of these teams’ salary dollars, with the bottom 11 players (the last seven forwards, three defencemen and the backup goaltender) making the remaining 18 per cent.

In other words, these teams’ top 11 players average about $4.2-million apiece, whereas the players on the low end, filling out checking lines and minor roles, make an average of about $930,000.

Here are a few more breakdowns of these top five teams:

	Avg	%	Avg %
Forwards	$33,220,239	58.5%	4.5%
Defencemen	$18,386,166	32.4%	4.6%
Goaltenders	$4,901,000	8.6%	4.3%
Buyouts	$515,000	0.9%
	Avg	%	Avg %
Starting 6	$33,249,434	58.5%	9.8%
Top F line	$18,380,268	32.4%	10.8%
Top six F	$26,402,768	46.5%	7.7%
Top D pair	$10,610,833	18.7%	9.3%
Top four D	$15,692,500	27.6%	6.9%
Starting G	$4,258,333	7.5%	7.5%
Bottom 11	$10,153,804	17.9%	1.6%

Some of the noteworthy numbers there? These teams spend nearly one-third of their total salary on their top forward line, with another 19 per cent on their top two defenders. Add in the No. 1 goalie and you have what I’m calling the “Starting 6,” a group that takes home nearly 60 per cent of these five teams’ payroll.

The top six players on the NHL’s top five teams average more than $5.5-million each, which leaves only $23.5-million for the other 14 to 17 players on the roster (depending on the number of healthy scratches involved).

I haven’t crunched all the numbers on how this has evolved over time since last season, but I’d be willing to wager that those low end numbers have continued to fall as the “Starting 6″ and top 11 players pull in more and more of the pie. Cap or no cap, the skilled players are getting their contracts; it’s everyone else who’s fighting for what’s left.

And that’s probably the way it should be.

via How the top teams spend their cap space – From The Rink.

Okay. I ran the Kings numbers for comparison.

	Kings	Mirtle’s 5	$$ +/-
Starting 6	42%	58.5%	-11.4MM
Top F line	31.8%	32.4%	-1.9MM
Top six F	46%	46.5%	-2.5MM
Top D pair	9%	18.7%	-5.9MM
Top four D	18.5%	27.6%	-6.1MM
Starting G	1%	7.5%	-3.7MM
Bottom 11	29%	17.9%	+4.9MM

What I make of it:

Starting 6 – Kings are spending $11.4MM less on their “starting 6.” Why? Because O’Donnell is cheap and Quick is cheaper. In two or three years, Doughty will get a raise, O’Donnell will be replaced by someone making $3MM and Quick will get his adult contract, which ought to add about $6MM to this number. Which still leaves the Kings running about $5MM under the top5 teams.

Top forward line – Kings are on a par with Mirtle’s 5.

Top six forwards – ditto

Top D pair – As discussed above, this is due to Doughty’s entry level contract (albeit with bonuses) and SOD being a cheap, old dude. Presumably, Mirtle’s 5 have premium D-men in their prime.

Top 4 D – Difference is entirely due to the Doughty/SOD issue above. One can conclude from this that the Kings’ second pair D are on a par with Mirtle’s 5.

Starting G – Obviously, the Kings goalies are all on entry level contracts or close to it.

Bottom 11 – There are a couple of reasons the Kings appear to be over-spending on their bottom 11. The first reason is: they are. Handzus gets $4MM/year. That’s obviously high for a third line center. The second reason: Murray has the line playing more like a second line; the line as a whole is actually $300K more pricey than the second unit. Either way, the Kings’ second and third lines are quite balanced, which appears at first blush to be somewhat unusual (at least compared to the Mirtle 5). Certainly that fits with my general sense of the Kings forwards, which is that they are pretty balanced over three lines but, as is often noted by everyone, lack that one true superstar talent. Last season, the Kings often seemed to have a second line and two third lines, but no first. This year, so far, it’s better: a first, a great third, and a mediocre second.

For less than $600…

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Los Angeles Kings, opening night roster, 2011-2012 season

Frolov/Kopitar/Purcell
Moller/Loktionov/Brown
Clifford/Schenn/Simmonds
Clune/Nolan/Lewis

(Westgarth)

Johnson/Doughty
Hickey/Teubert
Voynov/Greene

(Deslauriers)

Bernier
Quick

(Jones)

Moller/Loktionov/Purcell at Staples Tonight

My ideal #2 line for 2011-2012. And Bernier’s in goal. I would like to see a 10-0 shut out, please. And a good Clune showing. That’s not asking too much, is it?

Dear Terry Murray or Santa: Please try Loktionov with Moller in camp/pre-season. Thank you.

Kukla’s Corner Explains How the Kings Can Score 20 More Goals This Season Without Making a Single Bad Trade

German psychologists have found that teams wearing red uniforms score 10 percent more than those wearing any other color. Because red equals AGGRESSION, DOMINANCE, BLOOD, DEVASTATION and CRUSHKILLDESTROY.

via KuklasKorner

Therefore, my idea:

From Five Hole Fanatics: Who’s getting deep sixed in Detroit? [From Me: and can we have him?]

HEY WHY CAN’T WE SEE THE GOALIE’S HEAD IN ANY OF THESE PICTURES?

Mouth-watering…

It’s been a rough off-season for the NHL’s model franchise. Hossa bolts to rival Blackhawks. Samuelsson gets signed by the Canucks. Cap restrictions cause them to sign stop-gaps like Williams (okay) and Bertuzzi (yuck). Dead weight like Matlby and Draper are still on the books. And then Hudler bolts for Russia…

…excpet word is the IIHF isn’t going to allow him to honor that agreement. If so, he and his 2.875M cap hit are Detroit property again. That’s bad news, because the Wings have already signed replacements and are already above the cap ceiling.

Holland doesn’t have a lot of options if things play out like this: even if he sends guys like Draper (1.583M) and Maltby (883k) to the minors and replaces them with the likes of Helm (600k) and Abdelkader (861k) AND if they ran with 7 defensemen rather than the 8 listed on cap geek…they’re still under water by about 1.6M with Hudler added in there. Ouch.

Meaning the Wings would have to deep six a couple of the aging vets, promote a couple of kids and give someone away for minimal (read: no salary coming back) return.

The obvious candidate to my eye is Thomas Holmstrom (2.25M). Homer turns 36 in January and has had problems with injuries for years owing to his style of play. He hasn’t played more than 60 games in either of the last 2 years and his production is poised to drop off now that he’s entering the dreaded 35+ club. He’s probably still a useful player (best crease crasher in the league I’d say), but his utility is fading.

Anyways, it’s going to be a tough 5 or so weeks for Detroit whatever happens. I wonder if anyone will be able to take advantage?

via Five Hole Fanatics: Who’s getting deep sixed in Detroit?.

Last year of his contract. Third line left wing. He can be had for a prospect and/or a pick. Give them Cliche and a pick. Sign me up. This is a no-brainer.

Frolov/Kopitar/Williams

Smyth/Stoll/Purcell

Holmstrom/Moller/Brown

Lewis/Handzus/Simmonds

And we know Holland and Lombardi love each other. This is a win-win. Come on, pleeeeeeeease!

Pittsburgh’s Scuderi has been difficult to miss in playoffs – USATODAY.com

Pittsburgh’s Scuderi has been difficult to miss in playoffs – USATODAY.com.