Red Wings Goalie curse stretches to 18 years?

Question

For all the shrewd drafting the Detroit Red Wings have done in the past two decades, a homegrown goaltender continues to elude them.

Although the current prospect group of Thomas McCollum, Jimmy Howard and Daniel Larsson certainly looks capable of producing at least one NHL-caliber stopper, its been a tough 18 years since Chris Osgood was picked 54th overall in 1991 and went on to an impressive 300-win career.

Call it a curse or just bad luck, but the Red Wings havent drafted a goaltender capable of sticking in the NHL since Osgood. Norm Maracle, selected 126th overall in 1993, came the closest, appearing in 66 games.

Of the current crop, Howard and his waiver-exempt tag is a good bet for NHL backup duty next season; Larsson is showing great promise with a solid American Hockey League rookie campaign; and McCollum is one of the finest goaltenders in all of junior hockey and has the most upside of the group.

But whats gone wrong for the past 18 years?

Answer 1

I don't think a curse causes you to win 4 cups.

Answer 2

I think it can hardly be called a curse... a curse needs to have some sort of rationale, no matter how contrived (Curse of the Bambino, Curse of the Billy Goat, Curse of Bobby Lane, etc).



However to the point... it is probably right now a smattering of bad luck. The highest pick in that list is #52 overall, or lower 2nd round. 9 of the 11 guys are in the 100's or 200's (3rd round +), and while Detroit has grabbed some great skaters from those rounds in recent memory, there are FAR more guys that they picked that did not pan out. The Wings are probably due for a goalie to make it big.



I think a few other factors also contribute. During this whole time, the Wings have been a championship contender and have been hesitant to hand over the reigns to an inexperienced goalie. Also, the Wings already had Ozzie who's been here most of that time and it makes developing a goalie a little less important. Ozzie might not be a HOF guy, but he's a winner.



The goalie position is really wonky anyways, as guys flash as the next greatest thing and then disappear just as fast. There are few that are good for long (5+ season) stretches it seems.



18 years since the Wings have drafted an NHL-caliber goaltender? Coincidentally 18 years in a row they've made the playoffs.



Some curse.

Answer 3

Whats gone wrong? Most teams would wish for the troubles the Wings have had. 4 Stanley Cups in those years you talk about.



Would they love to draft the next Martin Brodeur, of course. But at this point, I don't think its a curse that they haven't drafted a good NHL goalie in 18 years.

Answer 4

Biggest factor in the lack of goalie development....the lack of a cap until recently. The Wings have always been willing to go out and get veteran goalies during this 18 years stretch you mention. They even had doubts about Osgood during his early career but because they wanted to keep Vernon fresh they rotated him in and finally settled on him being a potential #1 goalie (hence the willingness to not protect Vernon in the expansion draft). Now that they have a need to go out and bring in goalies via the draft they have done such by working harder than normal to develop Howard and Larrson (who in years past they would have never even brought over here). Howard has progressed very nicely and the challenge from Larrson seemed to inspire him, his play over the past 3 months has been impressive. Larrson has shown signs of wearing down (he isnt used to the North American amount and pace of games) but he flashes potential as well. McCollum is the best prospect of all of them and having seen him in camp this kid is impressive with his movement and athletic abilities, he like most young goalies needs to learn positioning and rebound control. Ask a non Wings fan and they will tell you of all the bought teams ignoring of course that the nucleus of every team in the past 18 years have been home grown talent....expect more of the same now that the cap demands player development throughout. And if you believe all the Wings haters Howard or Larrson or some stiff off the street will do well because you dont need to be good to play goalie in Detroit. And the Wings do have plenty of young defensive talent waiting on opportunity.....Jakob Kindl has all world written all over him and Brendan Smith looks like a future top 4 defenseman to go with Erricson and Kronwall. No curse and no need to worry, they have a proven track record of doing the things needed to win (including using "bad"...sarcasism intended...goalies who only win).

Answer 5

Its not really a curse, it is extremely hard to make a team in the AHL if you don't have the support the sponsoring NHL team. Most NHL teams stick with their own drafted prospects. In Detroit's case they have gone though free agency or trades to get goaltenders, which makes it almost impossible for their drafted goaltenders to get called up, and with a surplus of goaltenders in the world other teams don't want to take chances on them...

Answer 6

"I guess I'm not worried about it because I've heard it for 10 years, or longer," Wings GM Ken Holland



"It was that Tim Cheveldae wasn't good enough, and then Bob Essensa wasn't good enough. Then we lost in the '95 Stanley Cup final and Mike Vernon wasn't good enough.



"Then we won in '97 and Mike was OK, and then I traded him, so then they didn't know if the goaltending was OK. Then we won the Cup in '98 (with Osgood) but some felt the goaltending wasn't OK, so I ended up bringing in Dominik Hasek, so it was good enough again.



"Then Hasek retired and I brought in Curtis Joseph and he wasn't good enough, so then we went into a labor stoppage and I kept Manny Legace and brought back Osgood, and people didn't know if it was good enough. So I let Legace go and brought back Hasek so it was good enough again, and now people aren't sure again if it's good enough.



"So I've had to live with this issue for a while."

Answer 7

Here are your options:

Detroit Red wings One of the Best teams all around with a cookie cutter basic non flashy average goaltending situation.



Now move out East to NJ The Best Goalie on Earth, surrounded by a handful of average players that come to together to be a solid team.



It all depends on what you have to work with, but IMO both ends of the Spectrum(not the Flyers old building) have there positives.



Now, I don't know if this is the answer or the solution or both, But who is the Wings Goalie coach? It sounds to me like they have done a great job finding solid goaltending prospects, but a poor job molding them into NHL Starters........

Answer 8

I think this little stat says it all.



18 years of straight playoffs

4 Stanley Cups



I'll take the curse if it comes with 4 Stanley Cups! And a model NHL franchise.



I know, thanks to Mr. Loblaw, that MacDonald wasn't drafted, but the Wings developed him and he's done good with the Islanders. So watch him.



Larsson and McCollum I am very high on. I think they will have very fine NHL careers along with Howard. Let's hope he can provide next year!



In the last 18 years, look who they HAVE drafted, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Filppula, Hudler, Franzen, Lidstrom, (did they draft Drake before or after 90), Kronwall, Fedorov too I believe was 90, and Osgood, who is going on 400 wins. (Most of them still with the team, actually all with Drake--retired, and Fedorov--Caps)



I'll take that curse anyday.

Answer 9

I think Howard will be a bust too. Saw McCollum the other night and he looked less than impressive as well.



Not only that.......people (Wings fans) ramble about the great drafting that the Wings have done, they often point to some gems (and luck) they have found with some late draft picks.....well, given their prowess early in the draft, they better draft well..........their first pick over the last 15 years-



1993- Anders Eriksson 22nd overall

1994- Yan Golubovsky 23rd overall

1995- Maxim Kuznetsov 26th overall

1996- Jesse Wallin 26th overall

1997- Yuri Butsayev- 49th overall

1998- Jiri Fischer 25th overall

1999- No pick in the first 2 rounds

2000- Nik Kronwall 29th overall

2001-Igor Grigorenko 62nd overall

2002- Jiri Hudler 58th overall

2003 - Jimmy Howard 64th overall

2004- No pick in the first 2 rounds

2005- Justin Abdelkader 42nd overall

2006- Shawn Matthias 47th overall

2007- Brendan Smith 27th overall

2008- Thomas McCollum 30th overall





In other words.......



Who

Who?

Who

Who.............................etc etc



Not a slight, just the facts......especially as a Flyers fan....no room to talk about how hard franchise goalies can be to come by.

Answer 10

I bet a lot of other teams wish they had their problems.

Answer 11

we don't need no goaltender we got zzzzzzzzeeeettteerrrbbeeeerrg