By David Strehle
NHL Hot Stove Managing Editor

November 18th had to be circled on Ilya Bryzgalov’s calendar, the day he would first face his former team since signing with the Philadelphia Flyers after the pending UFA’s negotiating rights were acquired by Paul Holmgren in the offseason.

Ilya Bryzgalov celebrates last night's 2-1 victory over former team with offensive hero Matt Read. (Photo credit: Paul Bereswill / Getty Images)

After all, the Phoenix Coyotes gave Bryzgalov his first real chance to become a number one goalie in the National Hockey League.  And it was one in which he made the most of during his four year tour in the desert.

Bryzgalov had a record of 130-93-27 with 21 shutouts  during that time, including 78-40-16 and 15 shutouts over the last two seasons alone.

He was a Vezina Trophy-finalist in 2009-10 when he won 42 contests and posted eight shutouts, and led the ‘Yotes to the postseason in each of the last two years.  While his 2009-10 and 2010-11 campaigns rank as the top two best years ever had by a goaltender since the franchise moved to Phoenix, all four of his seasons rank in the top-nine in Coyotes history.  The only others in the top-nine are Nikolai Khabibulin, Curtis Joseph, and Sean Burke.

Along with captain Coyote, Shane Doan, Bryzgalov undeniably became one of the most recognizable faces of the franchise in the process.

This year, Bryzgalov has been replaced in the Phoenix crease by Tampa Bay Lightning-castoff Mike Smith, who heading into last night’s game had an 8-2-3 record, with a sparkling 2.19 goals-against average and .933 save percentage.  After beginning the year with a 1-2-1 mark Smith had been red-hot, posting a 7-0-2 record in his last nine starts prior to Thursday’s action.

There was a bit of trash talk yesterday, too.  Via SB Nation’s Broad Street Hockey, Phoenix defenseman Derek Morris was quoted as saying this to Coyotes announcer Todd Walsh regarding the Coyotes’ game plan for the evening:

“First of all, we have to throw a lot of pucks at Bryz.  He’s known for letting in bad goals, you know, so I think our mindset is going to be get the puck down behind the net, and hopefully he comes out and plays a few because he doesn’t like to do that.”

‘Bryz if known for letting in bad goals.’  Wow.  If that wasn’t bad enough, Morris added this gem when asked about Bryzgalov leaving sunny Arizona this past summer:

“We’re actually glad.  First of all I’m glad he’s gone, because the guy we brought in (Smith) has done a great job and fit in real well, made our team even closer.  There was some animosity there with Bryz sometimes.  We don’t have that with him (Smith), so we have a good group and we’re winning games because of it.”

There was ‘animosity between some on the team and Bryzgalov at times’?  We haven’t heard anything like that going on here since Bryzgalov’s arrival in June.  By all reports, he has been the perfect teammate.

To a man, everyone associated with the Flyers organization said they had not heard Morris’ comments, or those given by Adrian Aucoin.

“No, I always thought good about these guys,” Bryzgalov said when asked about the remarks after the game.  “They are good defenseman and good guys.  I don’t hear anything.  Every person in our life has an opinion about everyone, and we can’t pay attention to it.  If he thinks that, I can’t change his mind.”

“Who doesn’t give up bad goals?” Bryzgalov asked rhetorically.  ”Who doesn’t make mistakes?  We’re all only human.”

“No, I didn’t hear what they said, first of all,” the goaltender said after being pressed a second time on the issue.  ”Second of all, I don’t know how to say this.  You can’t be nice to the whole world.  Some people hate you, some people like you, some people love, some people it’s just normal.  It’s just life.”

Bryzgalov ended his commentary by taking the high road, offering these wishes for his ex-teammates. 

“I hope they continue to play well.”

Enough said.

Bryzgalov makes glove save on a Whitney breakaway. (Photo credit: Eric Hartline / US PRESSWIRE)

Bryzgalov was huge in the thrilling 2-1 Flyers’ win last night.  Included in his 30 saves was a glove stop on leading Phoenix scorer Ray Whitney on a breakaway.

The Russian-native is now 8-4-2 on the season, and is a sizzling 5-0-1 in his last six starts.  After a few shaky outings and some early season bad bounces, the goalie is showing exactly the type of play that Peter Laviolette expected all along.

“I didn’t expect much tonight, didn’t expect anything different from what he did tonight,” the coach said in his post-game press conference.  ”He was solid and gave us an opportunity to win.  We had to fight.  It took a long time, it took 59 plus minutes to finally get the lead to finish this game, but he was solid like he has been for the last two weeks for us in giving us an opportunity to win games.”

Matt Read, who scored the game-winning goal with just 18.6 seconds remaining in regulation, said the team felt it was important to get Bryzgalov the victory.   In doing so, Read perhaps helped Bryzgalov serve up some just desserts for his ex-teammates that tried a bit of gamesmanship early in the day.

Read puts game-winner past Mike Smith with 18.6 seconds remaining in regulation. (Photo credit: AP Photo / Matt Slocum)

“It was his former team, and he wanted this win so much,” the rookie said.  ”So, the boys wanted to play a good game for him.  He deserves to beat his old team.”

Holmgren, who came out to address the issue of Jaromir Jagr’s injury with the media following the game, made it perfectly clear how he felt about the Phoenix players taking shots at his goaltender earlier in the day.

“We love Bryz,” the GM said.  ”He’s a huge part of this team, and a great person.  Whatever other people say, who cares?”

If you have any comments or questions, you can email the author at dstrehle@nhlhotstove.com.  You can also follow him on Twitter – @David_Strehle

Chris Osgood has finally hung up the skates and the pads.

Chris Osgood has had a pretty dang good career.

Chris Osgood is one of ten goalies to hit the four-hundred career wins benchmark.

Chris Osgood could be considered one of the most controversial goalies in all of Detroit Red Wings’ history.

Chris Osgood

There’s a lot that can be said about the man known as Osgood, Ozzie, the Wizard of Oz, and many other names, and it’s a mix of good and bad. If you run around the Metro Detroit area and ask hockey fans what they think of Ozzie, the responses you’ll get are astronomically different. For the most part, people either love him or hate him. There isn’t much grey area between the two choices.

But you can’t argue with the fact that he has been a key player for this franchise when it was needed. He was around for three Stanley Cup championships, and was one of the key reasons the Red Wings won their last championship in 2008. How many other goalies can step in for Hall-of-Fame-bound Dominik Hasek and win nine games in a row?

Someone asked me at work once earlier this year if Ozzie’s number should be retired and hang in the rafters. My initial response was yes, mostly because I thought he was asking if he should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. But reflecting on it for a bit, I don’t think his number should hang in the rafters. If it does at some point in the future, I wouldn’t be upset at all. Is that oxymoronic, to say he should be in the Hall of Fame, but his number shouldn’t be retired by his team? Well…

Osgood kissing one of the three Stanley Cups during his time.

Ozzie has been a fantastic goalie when it was called upon him. He’s one of only ten goalies who have hit the four-hundred career wins mark. He has the statistics and numbers on his side for his case to enter the Hall of Fame. But does his number 30 deserve to be hanging with the likes of Steve Yzerman, Sid Abel, Alex Delvecchio, Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, and sometime in the future Nicklas Lidstrom? You can’t argue with the numbers, both Ozzie’s statistics and the retired jerseys.

You can’t argue with his numbers. His overall goals-against average in the regular season is 2.48, ranking 23rd overall. In the playoffs, he’s even better. He’s eighth overall in playoff wins with 74, three behind Mike Vernon and six behind Ken Dryden. He’s fourth in playoff shutouts with 15, just behind Curtis Joseph.

Among the active goaltenders in the NHL, he’s second in regular-season wins (401) (because no one can catch Martin Brodeur), tied for third in shutouts with Evgeni Nabokov at fifty (five behind Roberto Luongo), eighth in GAA (2.48), second in playoff wins behind Brodeur (74), and second in playoff shutouts behind Brodeur (15). Heck, he’s even scored a goal against the Hartford Whalers.

The argument against these statistics is that he has always had a dominant, reliable, successful team playing in front of him. Less shots in a game means less chances for the puck to slide in past him, meaning that his stats look pretty damn good. But just because there’s a good team playing in front of him doesn’t mean that he’s a terrible goaltender who relies on a six-time Norris-winning defenseman playing in front of him. The goalie is the last line of defense and time and time again, Osgood has proved that he can be relied upon when it comes down to the bitter end. He may not be as flashy as Roy or Brodeur or Sawchuk, but he gets the job done.

Brian Compton, one of the writers on NHL.com, mentioned this little fact on his Twitter the other day: Ozzie had 30-win seasons on three different teams. He may not have been away from the Red Wings for very long to get those other 30-win seasons, but it proves he was still a solid goaltender, no matter the team in front of him.

Of course, in the past few seasons, Ozzie has not played up to the standards that the Red Wings organization and fans alike wanted him to play. As of late, he has not been the Chris Osgood fans have known to be that reliable. Most fans came to know that in a game when he’s between the pipes, he’s likely to let in at least one soft goal. He always looks rusty in the first periods of games he starts, but he warms up as the play goes on and makes some stellar saves.

Is he HHoF worthy?

His lack of decent play in the past few seasons had many people saying the 400-win milestone should have been hit sometime last year, if not two years ago. Well, it wasn’t, and nothing’s going to change that fact. But Ozzie made it to that milestone and surpassed it by one.

The argument of whether Ozzie should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame will not stop anytime soon, even now that he’s retired. And even if/when he gets voted in, the people who were against it will claim that the HHOF is a joke.

Chris Osgood just can’t win with some people.

But no matter what people may say…

Chris Osgood has had a hell of a career with the Red Wings.

Chris Osgood will always have a home in Hockeytown.

Chris Osgood will always be loved and hated. But mostly – and more importantly – loved.

Christina Roberts
NHLHS Detroit Red Wings Correspondent
Twitter: @franzenmuth
Email: christina.roberts@nhlhotstove.com

Hockeytown is abuzz right now with all of these crazy rumors about ex-San Jose Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov possibly signing with the Detroit Red Wings.

Not much has been said. GM Ken Holland has only said that he has expressed interest and talked with Nabokov’s agent. And we know now that he would be at $570,000, pro-rated to about $250,000 – or in other words, an extremely great deal. In his last year with the Sharks, his cap hit was $5.375 million.

As of 11pm Thursday night, Holland has confirmed that if Nabokov clears waivers, he will be signed to a one-year, $570,000 contract. He hits waivers tomorrow at noon.

It’s also been confirmed that the Red Wings didn’t lump on a multi-year deal or no-trade clause to keep others away. Holland’s playing it smart; he wants to see how Nabokov will fare. Better to risk losing him than to sign him for two or three years and have him be absolutely horrible.

I really can’t tell you anything different than what’s already out there on the Internet. But I can give my own speculation.

The concern now that the initial surprise at the news has passed is that Nabokov will be claimed off waivers. Put yourself in the shoes of a GM who has a team struggling with goaltenders (I should just come out and say it – the Ottawa Senators are the most obvious). You’re not going to let the juggernaut that is the Red Wings take a good goalie for so cheap and make them even stronger. You’re going to snag him for yourself. So the theory on that one is that the Wings are just doing a “courtesy signing” for a team. Which is possible, though I don’t know how much I buy into that.

The initial concern is what this means for the futures of Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard. George Malik over at Kukla’s Korner said that if signing Nabokov does happen, it does not affect Howard’s future. Osgood, however…that’s another story. There’s a lot of speculation around that.

If Chris Osgood has already set his heart on retiring, then signing Nabokov to a multi-year deal would make sense. The Red Wings are treating backup-backup goaltender Joey MacDonald much like they did to Howard: giving him enough time in the minors to feel prepared when he makes the final jump into the NHL. But if Osgood hasn’t decided quite yet or thinks he’ll be playing pretty fantastic, there’s no sense in signing Nabokov long-term.

Which brings me to my main concern: that this will turn into the Dominik Hasek / Curtis Joseph / Manny Legace debacle from 2003. That was just a mess. It gives me nightmares just thinking about it. Three goalies at the top of their game all competing for the starting position…we don’t need that again.

The major speculation that seems the most accurate is that Osgood is more hurt than Holland’s leading on. Sports hernia surgery is a tough surgery, though Kris Draper and Tomas Holmstrom have bounced back. But Osgood’s could be worse than theirs. Holland has said that as far as he knows, Osgood’s on schedule, so Nabokov would be signed solely if Howard happens to go down for longer than a game or two.

I did have a lengthy conversation with my oldest brother this afternoon. His thoughts were that ideally you don’t need Nabokov after this year because Howard is most likely going to be signed to a long-term deal. And if you feel as though MacDonald or Thomas McCollum isn’t ready just yet, sign Osgood to a one-year deal for $27,000, and bring one of the Griffins up when they’re ready. Or if Osgood comes back and is really bad, freak everyone out and sign Nabokov for a multi-year deal.

(And yes. We understand that you cannot sign Chris Osgood for $27,000. It’s a joke. Laugh.)

That is all of the speculation I have. At this point in time, anything could happen. Nabokov could be picked up by anyone. We’re just going to have to let this unfold and see where it goes.

Christina Roberts
NHLHS Detroit Red Wings Correspondent
Twitter: @franzenmuth
Email: christina.roberts@nhlhotstove.com

Chris Osgood has always faced adversity in his career.

He was given several chances to reach that elusive number 400 in the past two weeks and as the saying goes, the third time’s a charm. He wasn’t able to reach it in front of a home crowd, but making it in Colorado against a team with such a rivalry back in the day seems just as appropriate.

It always comes up, when talking about Osgood, that he has such a large amount of wins thanks to the team in front of him. But watch that game against the Colorado Avalanche from Monday night and you will see that Osgood pretty much won that game for the Detroit Red Wings. The team had played the night before in Minnesota and immediately hopped on a flight to Colorado, not having even twenty-four hours to rest.

The guys in red playing in front of him were tired and ill-prepared to play in that game. The second goal Osgood let in by T.J. Galiardi was one he wanted back. But the spectacular saves he made the rest of the game made it seem as though letting in that soft goal set his heart on shutting down nearly all of the opportunities that followed and keeping his teammates in the game.

So reaching 400 wins wouldn’t be complete without that timely argument coming up…

Is he a Hockey Hall of Fame Goaltender?

He’s not Patrick Roy. He’s not Terry Sawchuk. And he’s not Dominik Hasek or Martin Brodeur. He is Chris Osgood, and his playing style is his own. You can compare and contrast him to any of these goalies, but will that make a difference? Is he a goalie to the same caliber as the others or is he just a fluky exception?

He has 400 wins and is a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. One Cup was won sitting on the bench, another was because he had to step in for future Hall-of-Famer Dominik Hasek and winning nine games in a row for the Red Wings. And had the Red Wings won against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, many fans believe Osgood would have won the Conn Smythe.

If you look at the nine goalies above him on the “Most Regular Season Wins” list, the only ones who are not in the HHOF are Curtis Joseph, Ed Belfour, and Brodeur. Joseph and Belfour haven’t been retired long enough to be considered for induction, and Brodeur’s still playing (and come on, he’s in. Beating Sawchuk’s shutout record? Absolutely).

If Osgood can manage eight more wins this season, which doesn’t seem unfathomable with how he played Monday night, he’ll be ranked eighth all-time for wins. With 400 wins, the next closest active goaltender behind Osgood is Nikolai Khabibulin, who is just above 300.

The statistics seem to be in Osgood’s favor. His overall goals-against average in the regular season is 2.48, ranking 23rd overall. In the playoffs, he’s even better. He’s eighth overall in playoff wins with 74, three behind Mike Vernon and six behind Ken Dryden. He’s fourth in playoff shutouts with 15, just behind Joseph.

Among active goaltenders in the NHL, he’s second in regular-season wins (400), tied for third in shutouts with Evgeni Nabokov at fifty (one behind Roberto Luongo), eighth in GAA (2.48), second in playoff wins behind Brodeur (74), and second in playoff shutouts behind Brodeur (15).

The argument against these statistics is that he has always had a dominant, reliable, successful team playing in front of him. Less shots in a game means less chances for the puck to slide in past him, meaning that his stats look pretty damn good. But just because there’s a good team playing in front of him doesn’t mean that he’s a terrible goaltender who relies on a six-time Norris-winning defenseman playing in front of him. The goalie is the last line of defense and time and time again, Osgood has proved that he can be relied upon when it comes down to the bitter end. He may not be as flashy as Roy or Brodeur or Sawchuk, but he gets the job done.

Of course, in the past few seasons, Osgood has not played up to the standards that the Red Wings organization and fans alike wanted him to play like. As of late, he is not the Chris Osgood fans have known to be that reliable. Most fans know that in a game when he’s between the pipes, he’s likely to let in at least one soft goal. He always looks rusty in the first periods of games he starts, but he warms up as the play goes on and makes some stellar saves.

His lack of decent play in the past few seasons has many people saying this 400 milestone should have been hit sometime last year, if not two years ago. Well, it wasn’t, and nothing’s going to change that fact. But he finally made it. And now everyone can shut up about Osgood getting 400 wins, both the fans who are rooting for him and the haters denying him every step of the way.

This argument will never stop until Osgood is well-retired and finally eligible to be voted in. And hell, even if he does get voted in, all of the people who were against it will claim that the HHOF is a joke. Chris Osgood just can’t win with some people; it’s been stated before that he’s the Rodney Dangerfield of the NHL. He gets no respect, no respect at all.

But one thing can be sure: in Hockeytown, his name will never stop being thrown around, no matter if it’s a good or bad context. He will leave a legacy and sometimes that’s the only thing that matters.

Christina Roberts
NHLHS Detroit Red Wings Correspondent
Twitter: @franzenmuth
Email: christina.roberts@nhlhotstove.com

Starting with Allan Bester (my ball hockey mask is a tribute to his) Felix Potvin (my early net minding days were styled after him) and Jonas Gustavsson (give this kid some decent D and a couple years, he’ll be great) to Ken Wregget (took playing time away from Bester) Mark LaForest (saw more of him then I wanted to during a tour of the Leafs change room) and J.S. Aubin (you’re not as good as you think you are).

But where in all this, does Curtis Joseph fit in?

Well, initially I hated him.  He came in, and took playing time away from Potvin which eventually led to Potvin’s trade to the New York Islanders.  But his never-give-up-on-a-puck mentality combined with his contributions to the community and his friendly demeanour quickly had me loving him.

I won’t bore you with his stats, 454 career wins ranking him 4^th all-time or his 51 career shutouts ranking him 20^th all-time, but instead I’ll approach this from purely a fan point of view.

In the summer of 2002, Joseph made a decision that broke the hearts of millions of members of Leafs Nation.  He opted for free agency and accepted the offer of the Detroit Red Wings, a decision that he still regrets to this very day.  I felt hurt, betrayed, crushed, abandoned, deceived and a bunch of other –ed  words that I can’t remember.

My goalie just said that he didn’t think my beloved Maple Leafs could win a Cup.  I was angry, I wished him nothing but bad luck in Detroit, as I think many members of Leafs Nation did.  As long as he wore a Red Wings jersey, he was the enemy.

The fall from grace was quick and deep for Joseph in Toronto.  I believe most of the city had November 16, 2002 circled on their calendar.  That would be the first time Detroit and Joseph would play in Toronto. I don’t think I’ve seen any other former Leaf get booed the way Joseph did in his first game back in Toronto and he did npt even play!

Manny Legace got the start in that game and Joseph sat on the bench, listening to boo’s the entire game.  It was not until he went to Phoenix, without the Cup he left to win, that I personally forgave Joseph.  The rest of Toronto, probably a lot longer.   When he returned home to the Leafs for the 2008-2009 season, he was welcomed back with open arms.  Surprised at how much the Leaf faithful still supported him, even though he turned his back on them, he played his heart out every game, as a way to thank the fans for still loving him.

When I heard the other night that Joseph would officially announce his retirement today, I took a moment to pause and reflect on everything he’s accomplished over his career.

Again, I won’t bore you with those details, being undrafted as a teenager and signed as a FA by the St. Louis Blues to winning the Spengler Cup as a member of Team Canada in 2007, but I will say he had a surprising career for a kid from Keswick that nobody wanted.   With Gold Medals at the 1997 IIHF World Championships, 2002 Winter Olympics and 2007 Spengler Cup, the one trophy he never won was the Stanley Cup.

With his 454 career wins, he is the winningest goalie to have never won the cup.  His induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame will be debated until his first year of eligibility, when I believe he will be inducted, but that is an argument for another article years down the road.

Tuesday, January 12^th 2010, Curtis Shayne Joseph announced his retirement from the NHL.

I shed a tear.

Jose Simoes
NHLHS Contributor
jsimoes@nhlhotstove.com

Based on Matthew Pouliot’s series on Circling the Bases, I have decided restore the rosters for every NHL team. Like Pouliot, I have established some ground rules for my selections.

1. Each team contains players they originally drafted or signed before any other NHL team. This includes players drafted and not signed, as well as European free agents coming over at an older age.
2. I have chosen to leave retired players off the list, and lean toward players in the AHL rather than those deported (KHL, SEL, DEL, etc.).

Essentially I am choosing the best available players for a team to succeed in the current NHL season. All 30 teams will be covered, with grades assigned to forwards, defense and goaltending. After all 30 articles are written, they will be ranked in order. This series’ intent is to reward or shame NHL scouts.

This team is setup pretty well moving forward, with 13 current players on the roster home grown. The core of the team is still young and if they can hold onto them moving forward, lookout for 2009-2010 to become the norm instead of the exception when it comes to Colorado’s place atop the standings. Can Wolski, Stastny and Duchene develop into the superstar NHL’ers that other Avalanche/Nordiques draft picks (such as Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and Owen Nolan) have? Only time will tell. But it looks like it’ll be a fun ride 

Forwards:

A good mix of youth and experience. The core top 6 forwards have an average of 4 years experience in the NHL. Still learning the game and continuing to improve their play can only be good for this young Colorado team.

Wojtek Wolski – Paul Stastny – Chris Stewart

Alex Tanguay – Matt Duchene-Milan Hejduk

Ryan O’Reilly – Chris Drury – Radim Vrbata

Sammy Pahlsson – Owen Nolan – Brandon Yip

Bench – Marek Svatos – Wade Belak

While the bottom 6 forwards have an average of 6 years exp in the league, it’s a mix of old (Nolan 1167 games) and young (Yip 10 games) by no means making the bottom 6 grey beards in the league. Being more established and set in their ways, the bottom 6 are solid at their roles. With Yip and O’Reilly ready to jump up to the top 6 and switch spots with Tanguay and Hejduk in the coming seasons. All in all, a pretty good setup for the forward unit, with current players already in place to ascend the ranks when called upon.

Grade: B+

Defence:

Based on all six starting D being in the top four of their respective teams, and the top four of this team being the top pair on their respective teams, this crop of D earns a solid A.

Adam Foote – Kyle Cumiskey

Robyn Regehr – Tom Gilbert

Jean-Michael Liles – Jeff Finger

Bench – Martin Skoula

You could mix up the top 4 to make any pairings you want, but I decided to keep Colorado’s top pair of Foote and Cumiskey together. Foote’s experience and rock solid dependability will allow Cumiskey to continue to find his game while not having to worry about growing pains. Regehr and Gilbert, both solid top pair on their teams, make a very formidable 2^nd pair on this team. Regehr’s defensive responsibility allows Gilbert a little more freedom to contribute offensively.

Grade: A

Goaltenders:

Tim Thomas

Peter Budaj

Tyler Weiman

What can you say about US Olympic Goalie Tim Thomas that hasn’t already been said? Not a personal fan of his style, or lack thereof to be specific. He’s more of a reaction goalie a la Dominik Hasek or Curtis Joseph, but he’s made it work for him and that showed with a Vezina Trophy last season. He’s a solid #1 on any team, and it’s taken a Herculean effort by Miller to have Thomas sit on the bench in the coming Olympics. Budaj has shown flashes of brilliance in his time with Colorado, but hasn’t been able to make the jump to a bonafide #1 just yet. Having the best numbers of his career in his limited role this season, could this have been his year if it weren’t for the stellar play of Anderson? Still, a formidable 1-2 punch if I’ve seen one, especially with this D corps in front of them.

Grade: A-

Jose Simoes
NHLHS Contributor
jsimoes@nhlhotstove.com