He won't be remembered among the greats but Chris Osgood's numbers sit with the legends of the game.
Spend some time listening to Chris Osgood say his goodbyes after a 400-win, 17-year National Hockey League career, and it is pretty clear that the entirety of it all came together one night last December in Denver, Colorado.
He was the most undervalued goaltender of our generation, given less credit than any Stanley Cup goalie we can recall. Even his own general manager, the venerable Ken Holland, admits, "at times there was this (outside) perception that we won because of our skaters, and we lost because of our goaltending."
We will note that, having been visiting the Detroit dressing rooms for as long as Osgood has played for the Wings, he always had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He was well-met, friendly and talkative, but years of being viewed more as a sieve than a saviour left Osgood understandably defensive at times, and ready to challenge the perception that Holland spoke of.
Anybody would grow a tough crust, under those circumstances.
While his teammates were Olympians, World Cup and annual All-Stars, Osgood was just the guy who won three Stanley Cups - two as the Red Wings starter - lost another in Game 7 to Pittsburgh, and finishes his career ranked 10th in all-time wins, with 401.
He was chronically sold short by fans and media, as if those Hall of Fame numbers would have befallen anyone wearing the winged wheel from 1993-2011.
"I never thought of it as being a burden, or something I had to work through," he said of the perception. "I remember a night in Calgary, I had eight shots on net. Most of the people on (his retirement conference call) probably could have played that game.
"I always knew I played on a good team, but I had to make the big saves at the right time. If I had to sum up my career in Detroit, I was the right guy at the right time. You just had to play."
He played, all right. He played and played, and retires ranked second in this Original Six club's record books to the iconic Terry Sawchuk, as Holland says, "in virtually every category."
But so few ever gave this Peace River-born, St. Albert, Alberta-raised 38-year-old the credit his numbers would command. Of the 10 men with 400 wins, none have ever seen the end of their career ignite a debate on whether they are a Hall of Famer the way Osgood's has.
For him, 399 wins was simply fuel for the doubters. And after losing two straight starts, not to mention his starting job to Jimmy Howard, win No. 400 that night in Denver meant everything to Osgood - and his teammates knew it.
"We'd flown a long way, and it was our third game in four nights," he said. "I knew how tired they (his teammates) were, and they were playing like it was a playoff game. We were leading by two, and I was watching guys who were dead tired, back-checking for me. I'll never forget that."
Ask Osgood for a personal highlight in his career, and he goes right back to that night in Denver. He always told himself that he was important to the Nick Lidstroms, the Pavel Datsyuks, the Steve Yzermans, as they were to him.
But that night, knowing there wouldn't be many more chances for Ozzy to get No. 400, they showed it.
"As I was playing that game, it was an emotional time," he said. "As I look back, it's one of the reasons I decided to retire. For me, other than winning the Cup again, I can't do any better. Playing with my teammates, feeling the closeness, feeling that competition in that setting…
"It can't get any better than that."
All that is left now is for the phone to ring, three years from now.
Is Osgood a Hall of Fame goaltender? Let the debate begin.
"I think he is," Holland said. "The league's been around for 90 years or so, and as he retires, he has the tenth most wins. People would say Chris played on a good team, and use that as a reason why. My response would be, most of the guys above him on the list also played on good teams. He's won two Stanley Cups. He's got 50 regular season shutouts."
To sum up the two sides of Chris Osgood, Holland goes back to the 1998 Western Conference Finals, where the Red Wings were locked in mortal combat with the Dallas Stars. Dallas won Game 5 on a shot from the neutral zone that was deflected and found its way behind Osgood for a 3-2 loss at old Reunion Arena in Dallas.
Two nights later Detroit beat the Stars 2-0. They would sweep Washington to win the Cup.
"You can remember the shot from centre ice to lose Game 5 in overtime," Holland said. "I'll remember the shutout in Game 6 that won us the series."
