Any coach will tell you that you need a great goalie to win a championship. Detroit who had won the President's Trophy was one of the Stanley Cup favourites. It was expected that Detroit would depend upon future Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek in net in their Stanley Cup run. But Hasek has been awful and is now parked at the end of the bench.
Detroit has moved to Chris Osgood in goal and he has played well. His .947 saves percentage is the best in the playoffs among anyone who has as much as two complete games played. He has a 1.09 goals against average, which is again the best in the league among goalies with two complete games played. Osgood is providing Stanley Cup calibre goaltending so far. Osgood has won the Stanley Cup before (in 1998). That Red Wings team likely won the cup despite a lack of elite goaltending. They won because the team in front of Osgood was the best in the league. It is ten years later now and there is no reason to imagine Osgood is a better goalie today then he was in 1998.
There is a recent example of a team changing goalies during the playoffs in a successful playoff run. In 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes began the playoffs with Martin Gerber in goal and switched to Cam Ward, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup.
12 years ago
