Chris Osgood

Christopher John Osgood (born November 26, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently a Detroit Red Wings studio analyst and part-time color commentator for Bally Sports Detroit.

He won three Stanley Cup championships in his career, all with the Red Wings, with two of them coming while he was starting goaltender.

Chris Osgood was drafted 54th overall by the Red Wings, in the third round of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft and made his debut during the 1993–94 season.

Osgood became the fourth goaltender to man the crease for Detroit that season 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 goaltender for the playoffs.

The heavily favored Red Wings were defeated in seven games by the San Jose Sharks.

The most memorable scene of the series occurred in the deciding game.

With the game tied 2–2 late in the third period, Osgood went to clear a puck around the boards, but it landed on Sharks forward Jamie Baker's stick, who then scored the winning goal.

Overtaken by remorse at his mistake, the young goaltender wept at his stall following the game.

Following the season, Detroit 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.

While the 1994–95 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 1995–96 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 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.

He is also one of only 14 goaltenders in NHL history to have scored a goal, and one of only nine to have scored by shooting the puck directly into the opponent's net (not an "own goal"), on March 6, 1996 versus the Hartford Whalers.

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 defeated the Washington Capitals in another four-game sweep to win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.

Roy had a fight with Vernon the previous year on March 26, 1997.

On April 1, 1998, he was in a goalie fight with Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy.

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.

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 claimed by the Islanders on September 28, 2001.

Initially, Osgood wore the red pads that he'd worn the previous year with the Red Wings before eventually changing his equipment to the blue of the Islanders.

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.

For the remainder of the 2002–2003 season and the entire 2003–2004 season, Osgood remained the primary goaltender for the St. Louis 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 St. Louis before the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, and he became a free agent.

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 (which would be Konstantin Barulin) for Justin Papineau and a second round pick in the 2003 draft (Jeremy Colliton).

Osgood spent the first part of his 17-year NHL career with the Red Wings, then the New York Islanders and the St. Louis Blues before returning to Detroit in 2005.

Osgood was known in Detroit by his nicknames "Ozzie," chanted by the crowd after a big save, and "The Wizard of Oz."

He was the last NHL goalie to wear a traditional player's helmet/cage combo instead of the newer one piece goalie mask until Rick DiPietro briefly wore one of Osgood's in 2011, after he was injured in a fight with Brent Johnson.

He is ranked 13th in wins in NHL regular season history with 401.