The Pressbox

There are a lot of nice things about winning the Stanley Cup.

You get to put your name on the greatest trophy in the world, you get a swell parade and you get to bask in the glory of being a champion.

Another less obvious benefit is that players want to be part of your team.

That seems to be what happened Wednesday when the Red Wings signed high-scoring winger Marian Hossa (for more details go to http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HKN_RED_WINGS_HOSSA?SITE=MIMON&SECTION=SPORTS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-07-02-15-54-00)

Hossa had offers for more money elsewhere, but wanted a shot at the Stanley Cup.

This is another brilliant move by Detroit general manager Kenny Holland. He swooped in to grab one of the plums of the free-agent crop when no one expected the Wings to be interested.

And the real beauty of this deal is that it is for one year. It will not interfere with the Wings signing some of its own players after next season.

If Hossa is a bust, they can just let him walk away. If he helps them win a Stanley Cup, they can worry about finding the money to re-sign him later.

Is Chris Osgood playing himself into the Hall of Fame?

There was some sports radio talk in recent weeks whether or not Chris Osgood deserved Hall of Fame consideration.

My immediate reaction was no, but he does have some pretty impressive career numbers and back-to-back shutouts in the Stanley Cup finals against a potent Pittsburgh team certainly adds to his credentials.

Osgood has been spectacular in the first two games, but also has been getting plenty of help from his defense. The heralded Sidney Crosby has looked pretty ordinary in the first two games.

What a night it will be for Detroit sports Saturday!

The Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers all will be playing at home on the same night. I am certain that all three will draw good crowds. Parking will be at a premium in downtown Detroit and the sports bars will be packed.

But it is a shame that all three are playing at basically the same time. At least they could have staggered the starting times a little bit.

It is a good problem to have. No other city can boast the kind of basketball and hockey success that Detroit is enjoying.

Personally, I will stay home an soak it all in on TV. I’m lucky enough to have the night off. My TV clicker will get a workout.

The Detroit Red Wings are making the Stanley Cup Playoffs look easy. They never looked seriously challenged during Thursday night’s 4-1 win over Dallas in the opener of the Western Conference finals.

Since Chris Osgood replaced Dominik Hasek in goal, they have looked unbeatable. Osgood has been a calming influence for the team. He doesn’t take as many chances as Hasek, so the defenders know where he will be at all times. They can play with more confidence and force the play a little more. Detroit is 7-0 since he took over as the starter in net.

And offensively, the emergence of Johan Franzen as a goal-scoring machine, makes it harder for the opposition to focus on Pavel Datysuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

The Wings are flying high.

Remember the old Sparky Anderson quote, “If you don’t like Dave Rucker, then you don’t like ice cream”?

Rucker is only remembered by the most hard-core Tiger fans, but that quote works when applied to Chris Osgood.

How can anyone not like the Detroit Red Wing goaltender?

The baby-faced veteran has endured lots of ups and downs in his career, but through it all has maintained his demeanor as a friendly, classy athlete.

It was so great to see him get the shutout Sunday as the Detroit Red Wings closed out their first-round playoff series against Nashville.

Osgood outplayed Dominik Hasek during the regular season, but coach Mike Babcock decided to go with Hasek when the playoffs started. Osgood had good reason to be upset, but he never complained. He just kept working hard and was ready when his opportunity arrived.

Kudos to Babcock for making the switch and to Osgood for making it work.

What a great story it will be if Osgood led the Wings to the Stanley Cup.

Every year the Red Wings seem to turn a goalie into a star in the playoffs.

Who ever heard of Dan Ellis before this playoff series with Nashville started?

Now, he is, as they say, standing on his head to make saves. He made 52 Friday night before Detroit finally got the puck past him in overtime on a nifty move by Johan Franzen.

The bad news for the Wings is that they will see better goalies than Ellis if they continue down the playoff road.

Wow, what a strange night for Detroit sports teams!

With the Red Wings up 2-0 and the Tigers down 5-0 Monday night, it seemed certain that the Wings would continue to fly high and the Tigers were doomed to dip to 2-11.

But the Wings shockingly blew that lead and a 3-2 advantage in the final four minutes and lost 5-2 while the Tigers scored 11 times in their last three at-bats to win 11-9.

The Wings for some reason went into a defensive shell and allowed Nashville to find some life. Even coach Mike Babcock seemed shocked with how conservatively his team played. It was like a football team that goes to a prevent defense in the fourth quarter.

And you know what they say about the prevent defense: It prevents you from winning.

Now, Game 4 in Nashville almost becomes a must-win for Detroit. The Wings must snuff out any hopes the Predators might have for a comeback.

The Tigers still have a long way to before they can say they are back on track. But at least they won a game that could go a long way towards building some confidence.

I planned to watch football all day Monday, but as I was flipping through the channels I stumbled upon the outdoor NHL game pitting Pittsburgh against Buffalo and wound up watching quite a bit of it during commercial breaks for the Michigan football game.

It was very entertaining with a big crowd packed into a football stadium and snow showers popping up intermittently throughout the afternoon. On top of that, it was a great game, going down to a shootout.

The NHL is famous for messing up its marketing, but this was perfect. A fresh idea on a holiday. Maybe it will become a tradition like Thanksgiving Day games in the NFL.

Last night’s win over Nashville made Chris Osgood 8-0 this season as the starter for the Detroit Red Wings.

His goals-against average (1.48) and save percentage (.936) both are better than Dominik Hasek.

Should Osgood remain as the No. 1 netminder when Hasek returns from his injury?

My bet is that coach Mike Babcock will continue to list Hasek as No. 1, but will look for more opportunities to put Osgood in net. That will be good for Hasek, giving him more rest.

Gary Bettman is the lucky one. The NHL commissioner takes plenty of abuse from the followers of his sport, but he has to be delighted right now that he’s not the running one of the three other major sports. 

Baseball’s Bud Selig (steroids), new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (Michael Vick and other lawbreakers) and the NBA’s David Stern (referee gambling probe) all are facing major troubles. Even though he has the least experience, Goodell has been the most aggressive at attacking his problem. He handed out lengthy suspensions for Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson and Chris Henry and told Michael Vick to stay away from Atlanta’s training game. Bold moves designed to show that the NFL will not tolerate unruly behavior. 

Selig has been his typical wishy-washy self in dealing with steroids. He can’t even decide whether or not to follow Barry Bonds’ chase of the most hallowed record in the game. He wants it all to just go away. Stern faces the biggest crisis of all. A league that already is surrounded by conspiracy theories, now must deal with charges that gamblers were dictating the results of games. 

So, which league would you like to be running now?