image:36534:0::0

Chris Osgood has never got a whole lot of respect throughout his career. He’s always been thought of, especially in this corner, as a mediocre goalie on a great team.

His stats, however, don’t lie. Osgood has consistently been a 30-game winner in the NHL and has had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup twice. His 336 career victories and 2.45 career goals against average are nothing but impressive.

Even on a weak St. Louis Blues team in the 2003-2004 season, the last year of hockey before the lockout, Osgood racked up 31 wins and a beauty 2.24 goals against average.

Post-lockout, Osgood returned to the Detroit Red Wings and this season has been on one absolute tear. An argument could be made that he has supplanted Dominik Hasek as the starter between the pipes for Detroit, far and away the league’s best team.

Osgood leads the NHL with a miniscule 1.68 goals against average and is tied for the league lead with a crazy .932 save percentage. His record this season? An unbelievable 19-2-1. Andrew Raycroft can’t even dream of numbers that good. You knew I had to take a shot at him.

Osgood's new contract will pay him $1.5 million per season over the next three years.

Is it time to give Osgood some respect? I’m still not sure. The Detroit Red Wings are the league’s best team, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t because of their goaltending. Unless Osgood carries the Red Wings deep into the playoffs, he’s still just the product of one hell of a team in front of him.

And I hate his mask. It’s straight ugly.