Sports Illustrated’s Jason Fink suggests that the Hockey Hall of Fame can only snub former Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood for so long. Fink argues that Osgood has a HOF resume, and that Osgood is statistically a top netminder (in addition to having won 401 games and 3 Stanley Cups) thanks to three key Stanley Cup Final runs:
Osgood went 16-6 with a .918 save percentage and a 2.12 GAA during Detroit’s 1998 championship run. That was his first Cup as a primary starter. He was the backup to Vernon the year before, when the Wings defeated the Philadelphia Flyers for their first Cup in 42 years.
A decade later, he did it again. The Red Wings entered 2008 with Dominik Hasek at the helm. Hasek had already won a Cup of his own in 2002 when he had his first stint with the Red Wings. When he faltered, Osgood took over and led the Wings to another Cup. His postseason numbers were ridiculous. 19 games played, a 14-4 record, a 1.55 GAA, a .930 SV%, and three shutouts. And he was 35. Ten years later, a completely different Wings team turned to Osgood and got the same result.
A year later, Detroit was in the Stanley Cup Final again; only this time, they succumbed to the very same Pittsburgh Penguins, whom they had defeated the season before. Osgood was once again at his very best in the 2009 postseason, as he played 23 games, went 15-8 with a 2.01 GAA, a .926 SV% and two shutouts. In the Cup Final, he posted a 1.87 GAA and a .930 SV%.
He didn’t win a Vezina Trophy. There is no Conn Smythe Trophy in his display case. So what. The Hall of Fame isn’t limited to players who won individual hardware and were once the undisputed best at their position. Former Wing Curtis Joseph is another Hall of Fame candidate who can attest to that. If that were the standard, the Hall would be just that. A hall. And a very small one.
There are plenty of ways to explain away a goaltender’s success. Great defense. Great teammates. Puck luck. But shutting out playoff opponents 15 times is harder to dismiss. He wasn’t Roy. He wasn’t Hasek. He wasn’t Brodeur. But after all these years, perhaps that’s been the wrong standard.
Continued; I remain both surprised and disappointed that Osgood’s not in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Given that the HHOF keeps its player selection process opaque (i.e. secretive), however, I don’t expect anything to change at any time soon.
