Chris Osgood

Christopher John Osgood (born November 26, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently a Detroit Red Wings studio analyst and part-time color commentator for FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. He won three Stanley Cup championships in his career, all with the Red Wings, with his first as the backup goaltender in 1997, and his other two as the starting goaltender in...

Christopher John Osgood (born November 26, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently a Detroit Red Wings studio analyst and part-time color commentator for FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. He won three Stanley Cup championships in his career, all with the Red Wings, with his first as the backup goaltender in 1997, and his other two as the starting goaltender in 1998 and 2008. All together, he appeared in five Stanley Cup Finals during his career, again all with the Red Wings. Between the four Stanley Cups the Red Wings won between 1997 and 2008, Osgood only missed the 2002 Stanley Cup championship. He is currently ranked 13th in wins in NHL regular season history with 401. Osgood spent the first part of his 17-year NHL career with the Red Wings, then the Islanders, and afterwards the St. Louis Blues before returning to Detroit in 2005 after the NHL lockout. Osgood was known in Detroit by his nicknames "Ozzy," chanted by the crowd after a big save, and "The Wizard of Oz." He was the last NHL goalie to wear a traditional player's helmet/cage combo instead of the newer one piece goalie mask until Rick DiPietro briefly wore one of Osgood's in 2011, after he was injured in a fight with Brent Johnson. He is also one of only 17 goaltenders in NHL history to have scored a goal, and one of only nine to have scored by shooting the puck directly into the opponent's net (not an "own goal"), on March 6, 1996 versus the Hartford Whalers. Playing career Chris Osgood was drafted 54th overall by the Red Wings in the third round of the 1991 NHL entry draft and made his debut during the 1993–94 season. Rookie year Osgood became the fourth goaltender to man the crease for Detroit that season alongside Tim Cheveldae, Vincent Riendeau, and Peter Ing. Cheveldae, the team's primary starter, and a former All-Star, along with Dallas Drake, was traded to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for veteran goaltender Bob Essensa and defenceman Sergei Bautin. Essensa did not have a strong showing in a 13-game stint at the end of the regular season, and Osgood was named the primary goaltender for the playoffs. The San Jose Sharks defeated the heavily favored Red Wings in seven games. The most memorable scene of the series occurred in the deciding game. With the game tied 2–2 late in the third period, Osgood went to clear a puck around the boards, but it landed on Sharks forward Jamie Baker's stick, who then scored the winning goal. Overtaken by remorse at his mistake, the young goaltender wept at his stall following the game. Following the season, Detroit management felt the team needed a strong veteran goaltender with Stanley Cup playoff experience. In the summer of 1994, the Red Wings traded defenceman Steve Chiasson to the Calgary Flames for goaltender Mike Vernon, who had previously helped the Flames to the Stanley Cup title in 1989. Initial Detroit success While the 1994–95 season started late due to a lockout, Osgood served as a backup goaltender for Mike Vernon for the season. The Wings reached the 1995 Stanley Cup Final that season, where they were swept in four games by the underdog New Jersey Devils. Osgood received significantly more playing time for the 1995–96 season, and he led the NHL with a 2.17 GAA and 39 wins. He also finished third in shutouts (5) and was a Vezina Trophy runner-up to Jim Carey. He was the Red Wings starting goaltender for the 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs, losing in game six of the Western Conference Final to the Colorado Avalanche. Osgood and Vernon shared the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltenders, allowing the fewest goals in the league. For his efforts, Osgood was selected for the NHL All-Star Game and was also named for the post-season NHL All-Star second team. That season, he scored against the Hartford Whalers, becoming the second goaltender in NHL history to score a goal after Ron Hextall. Former Islanders goaltender Billy Smith was also credited with a goal as the player last touching the puck, but only Osgood and Hextall directly shot the puck in. The next season, Osgood and Vernon shared starting goaltender duties in the regular season. Still, when the playoffs began, Head Coach Scotty Bowman decided to go with Vernon as the starting goaltender for the playoffs, who lead the team all the way to the Cup Final against the Philadelphia Flyers and swept them, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in the process. This was the franchisees first Stanley Cup in 42 years. In the end, Osgood had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as the backup goaltender for the team. After the 1997 Cup win, Vernon was traded to the San Jose Sharks, making Osgood Detroit's number-one goaltender. Again, the Red Wings advanced to the Stanley Cup Final and defeated the Washington Capitals in another four-game sweep to win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, his second championship, and his first as the starting goaltender. On April 1, 1998, he was in a goalie fight with Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy, who also fought with Vernon the previous year on March 26, 1997. Osgood remained Detroit's primary goaltender until the summer of 2001, working alongside Ken Wregget and the young Manny Legacé. Islanders years In the summer of 2001, the Red Wings traded for Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dominik Hašek to upgrade their goaltending, after losing three years in a row to their arch rival Colorado in the second round twice, and afterwards losing to the Los Angeles Kings in the first round in 2001, with Hašek being a six-time Vezina Trophy winner with the Sabres. After numerous attempts to trade Osgood, the Red Wings left him unprotected in the waiver draft, and the Islanders were able to claim a Stanley Cup winning goaltender for nothing in return. Initially, Osgood wore the red pads he'd worn the previous year with the Red Wings before eventually changing his equipment to the blue of the Islanders. Osgood split playing time with Garth Snow for the 2001–2002 season and helped the Islanders to a playoff berth, where they lost a seven-game series to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Osgood split time with both Snow and Rick DiPietro for the 2002–2003 season before being traded to the St. Louis Blues on March 11, 2003, along with a third-round pick in the 2003 NHL draft (which would be Konstantin Barulin) for Justin Papineau and a second-round pick in the 2003 draft (Jeremy Colliton). Stint in St. Louis For the remainder of the 2002–2003 season and the entire 2003–2004 season, Osgood remained the primary goaltender for the St. Louis Blues. Although Osgood posted winning records for both seasons, the Blues did not advance past the playoff quarterfinals, losing to the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks, respectively. St. Louis did not renew Osgood's contract before the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, and he became a free agent. Return to Detroit On August 8, 2005, Detroit returned Osgood with a one-year, $800,000 contract. He was initially set to compete for the starting job with Manny Legace but suffered a groin tear and did not play when the season started. Osgood was assigned to play for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League (AHL) on a conditioning assignment. After posting a 2–1 record in three games, Osgood returned to Detroit to work in a goaltending tandem with Legace again. Osgood also worked with rookie goaltenders Jimmy Howard and Joey MacDonald while Legacé recovered from knee injuries in late 2005. During the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs, Osgood injured his groin preparing for game four of the first round against the Edmonton Oilers. Osgood missed the remainder of the series, and the Red Wings post-season was over after 6 games against the Oilers. On July 1, 2006, Osgood re-signed to a two-year, $1.8 million contract with the Red Wings. He then shared goaltending duties with Hašek, who also returned for another stint with the Red Wings. Though Hašek was expected to get slightly more playing time than Osgood throughout the regular season, it was expected that the goaltending tandem would have shared most of the playing time, with MacDonald expected to be their backup. However, Osgood suffered a fractured hand in practice, placing him on the injured reserve while MacDonald stepped up as the number 2 goaltender in Osgood's leave. Osgood returned to playing by the end of December. Due to Osgood's injuries and the aging Hašek's ability to remain healthy throughout the season, Osgood ended up assuming the backup role for Hašek instead of sharing playing time. The 2007–08 season served as a return to form for Osgood. Osgood and Hašek remained Detroit's goaltending tandem for the 2007–08 season. While Osgood was still expected to be the backup goaltender for the team, Hašek struggled at the beginning of the season and subsequently became injured. Osgood assumed the starting role while Hašek was injured and put up superior numbers. As of April 30, 2008, Osgood ranked 1st in the NHL in GAA with 2.09 during the regular season, 16th in Save Percentage with 0.914, and had an impressive 27–9–4 record. That performance earned him a 3 year/$4.5M contract extension with the Red Wings and an appearance at the 2008 NHL All-Star Game. With Hašek healthy and getting back into his stride, Detroit chose to alternate goaltenders instead of designating either goaltender as the backup. 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs Hašek was selected to be the starting goaltender for team in the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Red Wings met the Nashville Predators in the opening round. Hasek won Games 1 and 2 in Detroit before performing poorly in Nashville in Games 3 and 4. Head Coach Mike Babcock decided to pull him in favor of Osgood midway through game four, and he never left the net after that. He started game five, which was a Red Wings overtime win, and won game six in Nashville to eliminate the Predators, moving on to the second round against the Avalanche. The team swept the Avalanche in four straight games to move onto the Western Conference Final, with their opponent in the series being the Dallas Stars. The Red Wings won Games 1, 2, and 3 to hand them a three-game deficit. With a trip possible to the Cup Final with a game four win, they lost, which was Osgood's first loss in the playoffs after 9 straight playoff wins since he replaced Hašek in game four of the first round against the Predators. Losing game five in Detroit as well, Osgood shone in game six, stopping all but one shot in a game riddled with Red Wings penalties and sealing the win, sending them to the Stanley Cup Finals, his first Finals appearance in ten seasons, to meet the young Pittsburgh Penguins. In Games One and Two of the Stanley Cup Final in Detroit, Osgood posted back-to-back shutouts against the offensively powerful Pens, making him the fourth goalie in NHL history to start the Finals with back-to-back shutouts. Between the two games, he made a total of 41 saves. The Red Wings were up 3-1 after winning game four in Pittsburgh in the series, with a chance to win the Cup on home ice in game five, and were leading 3-2 in the game after letting in two quick goals in the beginning of the game before tying it and taking the lead with less than 40 seconds to go, before Penguins forward Max Talbot managed to bang in the puck and tie it, which went all the way to triple overtime before Penguins forward Petr Sykora scored after saying he would to send the series back to Pittsburgh for a sixth game. His save as time expired in game six against Penguin Marian Hossa, after leading 3-1 in the game with less than 2 minutes to go in regulation before letting in another late goal to make it 3-2, prevented the Pens from tying the game up again late like they did in the previous game five and sealed the game six win and hence the Stanley Cup win for the Red Wings and for Osgood, who won his second championship as a starting goaltender. His final 2008 playoff record was 14–4 with a 1.55 GAA; he was consi