The Mule vs. The Jackass: So this gives me another excuse to use my favorite nickname for Barrett Jackman (not like I need an excuse). I don’t know if the matchup will be this, but whatever. The point is Johan Franzen’s back and they’re playing the Blues, who have that worthless thug Barrett Jackman. I hope Johan can avoid the shots at his knee from that idiot if they happen to share the same ice at any point.
Howard: Jimmy’s in net again. Utterly unsurprising. While some folks might claim he had a weak game Saturday, I don’t see it. That was an honest mistake, one anyone in prime mental condition could make. And it’s not like the Wings wouldn’t found still found a way to tank the game had that wily inanimate piece of vulcanize rubber so mischievously outwitted our hero.
Seriously, though. This is completely unsurprising. Babcock’s giving Howard a chance at a rebound, a chance he wouldn’t give Osgood. Whatever. Howard’s earned the privilege of the benefit of the doubt and Osgood hasn’t this year. I get it. But do you still totally buy the line that this thing between Osgood and Babcock hasn’t become personal and unprofessional? When your backup’s not starting games backups start, something’s going on. Especially, as John W. pointed out, when Howard’s already shown he can rebound.
… I guess that’s what Babs is going for here: a goalie who’s shown he can rebound. Still, though, would it kill you to start Osgood, Mike?
Finally Healthy, Right? No Kronwall due to slow shipping or something (you couldn’t overnight the brace, really?), likely no Eaves, possibly no Holmstrom…the hockey gods aren’t done with the Wings yet. Miller’s expected to play though, so he must have done something right.
Playoffs: A win tonight won’t put you back in 8th due to pesky tie-breakers, but don’t let that (and the “national” audience) be an excuse to not show up down there, okay Wings?
This is a HUGE GAME!!!
(sounds like a broken record, but its true)
I think Mule will score tonight. But I hope the Wings don’t expect himt o end the season with 30+ goals
Either way, I see the Wings winning.
“Especially, as John W. pointed out, when Howard’s already shown he can rebound.”
Ok, so if he’s proven he can rebound, why WOULDN’t you start your STARTER?
Garth, do you read the whole post or do you scan for words and phrases that set off your Howard-dar and then go apoplectic? I said pretty much that exact thing on the very next line.
You’re right, that one line response was positively apoplectic.
“I said pretty much that exact thing on the very next line.”
Yeah. You stated the fact of what Babcock is doing, then followed that with your wish for Osgood to start again. I followed up, basically agreeing with Babcocks’ reasoning.
And I guess THAT is when I ruptured a blood vessel?
What you said was akin to “Well, they put him on a scoring line to see if could score and he can, so why are they keeping him on a scoring line?”
Terrific logic.
Yup 1:1 comparison. Well done.
You’re good with hyperbole, huh?
(And here, I’ll save you the trouble:
hy⋅per⋅bo⋅le
/haɪˈpɜrbəli/
–noun Rhetoric.
1. obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”)
Thanks Garth, for a minute I thought that hyperbole was like a future, space-based Super Bowl.
Oh Garth,
When one of the initial justifications to starting Howard following losses was to see if he could rebound, and he’s shown that ability, it no longer remains a valid reason (in and of itself) to start him after a loss.
Even more so when we’ve been told that the team would ride the “hot” goalie and Howard hasn’t been able to put together a series of wins for a month now. Not laying the blame on Howard, just saying recently he and the team have not been as sharp – but we’re still not seeing Oz get the chance to show anything.
You may use a different explanation for not starting Osgood, but testing Jim’s (mental) rebounding abilities seems off the table. Real rebounding is still up for questioning though.
“it no longer remains a valid reason (in and of itself) to start him after a loss.”
What kind of logic is that? Knowing that he CAN bounce back is EXACTLY the reason to start him.
I didn’t say anything today about testing Jim. This has gone beyond testing him. They know what he can do and have clearly made the decision that he is the starter. Starters start most of a team’s games. That’s kind of the definition of a starter. If Babcock was still weighing his options then he’d be platooning them, but as much as some people hate to believe it, Babcock has decided on a starter. And he has started him like a starter. Just because the norm in the league now seems to be that the “starter” starts 55-60% of the starts doesn’t mean it’s wrong when a starter starts +80% of the starts.
“You may use a different explanation for not starting Osgood, but testing Jim’s (mental) rebounding abilities seems off the table. Real rebounding is still up for questioning though.”
Now, could you please explain how these two statements aren’t completely contradictory to one another? Either he HAS or he HASN’T proven his ability to rebound. You can’t say that it’s “off the table”, then IMMEDIATELY follow that up with it’s “still up for questioning”.
Garth,
I’ll try to restate what I said, hopefully you can follow.
Early the Wings said that they’d ride the hot goalie. Makes sense. Howard proves overwhelmingly to be the better starting option, he starts more and more games. Makes sense. Howard begins to start games where one would traditionally start back-ups, we start to hear about how they’re looking to see how he handles rebounding from losses, etc. Ok, still makes sense. Howard establishes that he can handle the starting role, including rebounding from losses, yet Osgood still sees little game-time. At this point, one can cite many things to justify this, but testing Howard’s ability to mentally “rebound” from losses doesn’t seem to make sense anymore – its known at this point no need to test.
I went on to make a joke about his (in)famous lack of rebound control, as opposed to “(mental) rebounding” which he’s aight at. Either I wasn’t explicit enough, or you need to read more carefully. Judging from your first post, its the latter.
Ah, I see. Very clever of you.
Either way, nobody is saying anything about “testing Howard’s ability to mentally rebound” anymore, so I don’t even know why that’s part of the argument anymore. The present situation is PURELY starting the goalie who gives them the best chance to win. End of story.
I laugh when people like Matt bring up that it’s some sort of “personal” thing between Babcock and Osgood when it is clearly a team in dire need of wins starting the goalie who is less likely to cost them a game. Again, end of story, at least in my eyes.
“Either way, nobody is saying anything about “testing Howard’s ability to mentally rebound” anymore, so I don’t even know why that’s part of the argument anymore.”
You mean besides it being part of the post and your first response?
In the end you’re right, as you point out, at this points its only about winning games in the short term. However, for me, while Howard seems to give us the better chance, there’s going to be a lot to answer for if Howard folds and Osgood isn’t able to step up in time because he’s been riding pine. I think that’s all us “Jimmy-haters” want acknowledged.
I don’t love Osgood, seeing JSG post back-to-back shutouts for TOR after playing about as many games as Ozzie in the last month made me think that Oz could have done more for his (and the Wings) cause. I’m a big fan of Jimmy’s (though not from the start, I’m a convert)…but I think I and others were seeing the long-term drawbacks of Babcock’s extensive benching of Osgood. We are past the point-of-no-return so to speak and no longer have the luxury of easing Osgood back into it.
It pisses me off that Ozzie seems to need this adjustment period, but it pisses me off more that Bab’s (and maybe Holland) who is supposed to have a big-picture view, played a part in allowing this situation to happen.
Its not just Matt and a select few bloggers who have this notion that there’s something personal between Osgood and Babcock either. Out of the blue yesterday my roommate (admittedly not even close to a trusted source for y’all) was telling me about a possible Osgood / Ellis swap with Nashville from one of the trade rumor sites. One of the key factors mentioned was the Babs/Oz hatefest. Might be totally unfounded, but its not like this notion of a feud is limited to Matt and Co.
I’d say the biggest problem Matt, and myself, have is that even if he’s been relegated to back up he should be getting some starts. Only teams with the likes of Brodeur start the same goalie on back to back nights. Are we really ready to put Howard in that class? If you have nothing else, maybe you play the same goalie. But we have one. Ozzie is still a good goaltender, and could be even better if he got starts more than once a month. If Jimmy’s the starter, that’s fine. He earned it. That makes Osgood the back up, so PLAY HIM LIKE A BACK UP. Babcock has never known how to handle goalies, but this has gone too far.
And I’m not saying Howard shouldn’t start tonight. I think this is a game your starter starts. I’m saying when you have back to back west coast games against SJ and ANA, you pick one and play your back up for it. Otherwise your starter is gonna get overworked and overtired.
Please don’t come back with a “he says he’s not tired” argument. Of course he says that. If the coach comes and asks you if you are tired, you don’t admit that you are. You just don’t. Especially to someone as temperamental and demanding as Babcock. There’s a lot riding on Jimmy, and he knows it. He’s not gonna want to disappoint, and he’s not gonna want anyone to think he can’t handle the NHL starter’s role.
The problem with that is that all the, or lack of a better term, anti-Jimmy people (and before you jump down my throat, I know you aren’t anti-Jimmy) are ignoring the reasoning that Babcock is using. And depsite your protests it IS sound reasoning. They’re starting the guy who gives them the best chance at winning. That’s Jimmy. I dare anyone to argue against that point.
Yes, Osgood is still a good goalie. No, Jimmy is no the second coming of Martin Broderu. But YES, Jimmy gives them the best chance at winning. And do you know what? If the Wings squeak into the playoffs in 8th or 7th place only for Jimmy to lay an egg because he’s exhausted, and Osgood can’t help them right the ship because he hasn’t been played enough? I don’t care. It’s still worth it. We’re in NINTH place right now. The playoffs aren’t a foregone conclusion. Last year, when we were averaging 18 goals a game and Osgood needed time to right himself, I was fine with that. We didn’t need Osgood to be really good, we just needed him to stop 85% of the pucks that were put in his direction. But new flash: this year isn’t last year.
I would rather ride Jimmy to the playoffs and lose than to play Osgood regularly and miss the playoffs. If we miss the playoffs by one point because we lose a game in which Ozzie nonchalantly lets in a floater because he tried to blocker it to the corner and it went in under his arm, that is just not acceptable.
Maybe that’s just me though.
And you know what? Maybe Babcock did make a mistake in not playing Osgood more mid-season. But do you know what else? It’s too late to change that now. It’s too late in the season to start giving Ozzie 40% of the starts because we ARE in ninth place and we ARE in danger of missing the playoffs and we HAVE to start the better goalie.
And if there IS a game in which the backup should NOT be playing, it’s the game against the team that’s 4 points behind you.
Just another ridiculous loss but this time to the Blues??? Babcock has really turned this team into a joke. And he still has a job! Incredible. Absolutely, incredible.
Still waiting for that 5 to 6 game winning streak I called for like 2 months ago…no more stressing though…just sit back and support the wings as they battle for 8th. Franzen looked good though!
Let’s not forget about the ducks battle to get into 8th last year…very nearly got past the wings…perhaps our wings could do the same.