Chris Osgood

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Position	Goaltender
Catches	Left
Nickname	Ozzie The Wizard of Oz
Height Weight	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 176 lb (80 kg)
NHL Team F. Teams	Detroit Red Wings St. Louis Blues New York Islanders
Nationality	Canada
Born	November 26, 1972, Peace River, AB, CA
Pro Career	1991 – present

Chris Osgood (born November 26, 1972 in Peace River, Alberta, Canada) is a professional ice hockey player. Osgood is currently the goaltender for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. Osgood has played for Detroit, the New York Islanders, and the St. Louis Blues during his 16-year NHL career.

[edit] Playing career

While his 1992-1993 season was spent with Adirondack, he broke through as a Detroit Red Wing in the 1993-1994 season, backstopping along side a carousel of goaltenders for that season, including Tim Cheveldae, Vincent Riendeau, and Peter Ing. The glut of goaltenders forced the Wings to make a move at the trading deadline. Cheveldae, the team's primary starter and former all-star, was traded to the Winnipeg Jets along with Dallas Drake in exchange for veteran goaltender Bob Essensa and 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. The #1 seeded Red Wings would fall to the #8 seeded San Jose Sharks in 7 games, with Osgood not having a particularly strong series.

Osgood's efforts in the 1993-1994 season did not go unnoticed, and many Red Wings fans began to take note as to what this young goaltender was capable of. Management, however, felt that the team needed a strong veteran goaltender with Stanley Cup playoff experience. In the summer of 1994, the Red Wings traded popular defenceman Steve Chiasson to the Calgary Flames for goaltender Mike Vernon, who had backstopped the Flames to a Stanley Cup title in 1989.

While the 1994-1995 season started late due to a lockout, Osgood found himself backing up Mike Vernon for the season. The Wings reached the Stanley Cup finals that season, although they were unexpectedly swept in four games by the underdog New Jersey Devils. In light of this, Osgood received significantly more playing time for the 1995-1996 season, where he was among the top goaltenders in the NHL. He led the NHL with a 2.17 GAA and 39 wins. He also finished third in shutouts (5) and was the Vezina Trophy runner-up to Jim Carey. Osgood and Vernon shared the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltending tandem 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 postseason NHL All-Star Second Team. Osgood even added a goal to his fantastic season, becoming the second goaltender in NHL history (Ron Hextall was the first) to shoot the puck into an empty net in a game against the Hartford Whalers. However, another premature playoff exit soon followed, as the Red Wings lost the Western Conference Finals to the Colorado Avalanche.

It wasn't until the 1996-1997 Season that both Osgood and Vernon had their names placed on the Stanley Cup, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in four games to obtain the Red Wings's first Stanley Cup in 42 years. Vernon played virtually the entire playoffs after backing up Osgood during the regular season.

After the Cup was won in 1997, Vernon was traded to the San Jose Sharks. Osgood became Detroit's number one goaltender, with Kevin Hodson and Norm Maracle backing him up for the 1997-1998 season. 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.

However, in then 1998-1999 season, even after acquiring goaltender Bill Ranford before the trade deadline, the Red Wings failed to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup. Osgood remained the primary goaltender for Detroit for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 seasons, working alongside Ken Wregget and Manny Legace.

In the summer of the 2001-2002 season, the Red Wings acquired goaltender Dominik Hasek from the Buffalo Sabres, thus making him Detroit's number one goaltender. After numerous attempts to trade Osgood, the Wings left him unprotected in the waiver draft and was acquired by the New York Islanders on September 28, 2001.

Osgood worked alongside Garth Snow for the 2001-2002 season, and both Snow and Rick DiPietro for the 2002-2003 season. Osgood was traded to the St. Louis Blues on 11 March 2003, along with a third round pick in the 2003 draft for Justin Papineau and a second round pick in the 2003 draft.

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 opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

On 27 June, 2004, the Blues acquired Patrick Lalime from the Ottawa Senators, which was not unlike what Osgood experienced with Hasek and the Red Wings. Osgood's contract was not renewed by the Blues before the expiration of the Collective bargaining Agreement.

On 8 August, 2005, Detroit brought Osgood back with a one-year, $900,000 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 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 Legace 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.

Osgood and the Wings perform a drill in practice before a game against the Los Angeles Kings on March 9, 2007.

On 1 July, 2006, Osgood re-signed with the Red Wings. His contract was for $1.8 Million USD over two years. He will be working with Hasek, who is also returning for another stint with the Red Wings. Though Hasek was expected to get more playing time than Osgood throughout the regular season, the goaltending tandem was supposed to share 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 acted as the Number 2 goaltender in Osgood's absence. Osgood returned to playing by the end of December.

While Osgood is a rather popular athlete in Detroit, he is also popular with New York Islanders fans. As of 2006, Osgood's New York Islanders "t-shirt jerseys" remain popular, although Osgood hasn't suited up for them since being traded in 2003. Osgood was also voted one of New York's most popular athletes of the 90's, finishing behind Todd Hundley.

Chris and his wife Jenna have two daughters.

"I'm happy to be back. Ever since I left, I thought I had an opportunity to come back." - Chris on being back with the Wings.

• Member of the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings - 1997, 1998
• William M. Jennings Trophy (shared with Mike Vernon) - 1996
• Played in NHL All-Star Game - 1996, 1997, 1998

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Regular season

[edit] Playoffs

[edit] External links