Chris Osgood

hristopher John Osgood (born November 26, 1972 in Peace River, Alberta) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. He spent the first part of his career with Detroit, and then played for the New York Islanders and the St. Louis Blues during his 14-year NHL career before returning to Detroit in 2005. He has won three Stanley Cup championships in his career, all with the Red Wings, with two of them coming while he was starting goaltender. He is the final NHL goalie to wear a player's helmet/cage combo instead of a normal goalie mask.

=Playing career=

Chris Osgood was drafted 54th overall by the Red Wings in the 3rd round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, and made his debut during the 1993–1994 season. He became the fourth netminder to man the crease 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 netminder for the playoffs. After Osgood's rookie season, management felt that 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. [edit]Initial Detroit success While the 1994–1995 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 Finals that season, where they were swept in four games by the underdog New Jersey Devils. Osgood received significantly more playing time for the 1995–1996 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. 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 to the NHL All-Star Game and was also named to 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's 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, but when the playoffs started, virtually all the playing time went to Vernon, who ended up winning the Conn Smythe Trophy. In the end, Osgood had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as the Red Wings swept the Philadelphia Flyers in four games to win their first Stanley Cup in 42 years. After the Cup win in 1997, Vernon was traded to the San Jose Sharks, which made Osgood Detroit's number-one goaltender. Again, the Red Wings were able to advance to the Stanley Cup finals and defeat the Washington Capitals in another four game sweep to win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. Osgood remained the primary goaltender for Detroit until the summer of 2001, working alongside Ken Wregget, and Manny Legacé before being put on waivers and picked up by the New York Islanders.

=Islander years=

In the summer of 2001, the Red Wings acquired goaltender Dominik Hašek, a six-time Vezina Trophy winner, from the Buffalo Sabres. After numerous attempts to trade Osgood, the Red Wings left him unprotected in the waiver draft and he was acquired by the Islanders on September 28, 2001. 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 for Justin Papineau and a second round pick in the 2003 draft.

=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 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. Osgood's contract was not renewed by the Blues before the expiration of the Collective bargaining Agreement, and he became a free agent.

=Return to Detroit=

On August 8, 2005, Detroit brought Osgood back with a one-year, $900,000 USD 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 on a conditioning assignment. After posting a 2–1 record in three games, Osgood returned to Detroit to work in a goaltending tandem with Legacé again.

Osgood also worked with rookie goaltenders Jimmy Howard and Joey MacDonald while Legacé recovered from knee injuries in late 2005. During the 2005–06 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Osgood injured his groin preparing for Game 4 of the Conference Quarterfinals 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 with the Red Wings. His contract was for $1.8 million USD over two years. 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 absence. 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 as opposed to 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 expected to be the backup goaltender, 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 30th 2008, Osgood ranked 1st in the NHL in GAA with 2.09 during the regular season, ranked 16th in Save Percentage with 0.914 and has an impressive 27–9–4 record. That performance earned him both 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. [edit]2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs After Hasek performed poorly in Games 3 and 4 of their 2008 first round series with the Nashville Predators, Red Wings coach Mike Babcock decided to pull him in favor of Osgood midway through Game 4 and named him the starter for game 5 of the series. With Osgood in goal, the Red Wings won their next nine playoff games in a row, defeating the Predators and sweeping the Colorado Avalanche as well as dealing the Dallas Stars a three-game deficit. Though the Stars battled back, winning their next two games, Osgood shone in game 6, stopping all but one shot in a game riddled with Red Wings penalties, sending them to the Stanley Cup Finals to meet the Pittsburgh Penguins. In games one and two of the Stanley Cup finals, Osgood had back-to-back shutouts, 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. His save as time expired in Game Six sealed 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 considered a contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy which eventually went to Henrik Zetterberg.

=Awards and achievements=

Member of the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings - 1997, 1998, 2008 (starting goaltender in 1998 and 2008) 2 time winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy (shared with Mike Vernon - 1996), (shared with Dominik Hasek - 2008) Ranks 11th all-time in wins by an NHL goaltender

=Played in=


 * 1996 NHL All-Star Game


 * 1997 NHL All-Star Game


 * 1998 NHL All-Star Game


 * 2008 NHL All-Star Game (Named starter by Red Wings and Western Conference head coach Mike Babcock)


 * Named to NHL Second All-Star Team after 1995–96 season


 * Named to WHL East Second All-Star Team after 1990–91 season


 * Led NHL in GAA in 2008 (regular season 2.09 & playoffs 1.55)


 * Led NHL in Wins in 1996


 * Scored a goal vs. Hartford Whalers, March 6, 1996.


 * First goaltender since Terry Sawchuk to win Stanley Cups ten years or more apart as a starter (Sawchuk in 1955 and 1967)