… Ansar Khan reported last night that Chris Osgood is likely to be the starter on Monday against the Blue Jackets. Osgood has been out since November 13th with a broken hand, which was diagnosed on the 21st. He had a setback on December 4th when his wrist did not heal as quickly as expected, and then again a week later, when a rash following the removal of his cast kept him from playing immediately.
It will be good to have Osgood back since it will take some pressure of Hasek and allow the Wings to rest him more often.
… There’s an interesting quote from Mike Babcock in the Detroit News today. Referring to Dominik Hasek’s tirade following being assessed a delay-of-game penalty yesterday, Babcock said,
“He snapped. He just wanted to get face a few shots and get his save percentage up. He wasn’t happy and didn’t react the right way. But I told the guys after the second period Dom will shut the door and to keep plugging away.”
Wait a second. Is Babcock implying that Dom is unhappy with how few shots he’s facing? Wow.
Most people are saying it was a bad call, but the immediate reaction of the FSN crew was that it was a good one, since Dom did have contact with the puck behind the line and outside the trapezoid, despite having legally initiated contact outside that area. What mattered there is where the puck left his stick and it did so outside the trapezoid and behind the goalline.
Regarding Babcock’s comment on Hasek, I think he was just joking. He said something similar about Zetterberg’s wrist problem this summer, saying that Hank was just probably spending a little too much time wakeboarding. It’s tough to pick up in print, but my impression was that he was joking around.
You’re probably right, Dave. I didn’t think of it that way, obviously, but it makes sense.
Would have been nice if one of the two papers had presented it as a joke, though…
Yeah, that would be helpful! I agree with your take on Hudler. I actually like the line of Homer, Filppula and Hudler. They generated some good quality chances yesterday. It doesn’t sound like the Wings have any plans to call up forwards from Grand Rapids so it will be interesting to see how this line does.
I think that line should be a good one for the Wings, with two highly skilled young players on a line with a veteran energy player. They did have a number of chances yesterday and, if they keep that up, they’ll be putting the puck in the net, for sure.