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.
Rookie year 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
San Jose Sharks defeated the heavily favored Red Wings in seven games. 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 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.
Initial Detroit success 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 Final 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. He was the Red Wings starting goaltender for the
1996 Stanley Cup playoffs, losing in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final to the
Colorado Avalanche. 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 for the
NHL All-Star Game and was also named for 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. Still, when the playoffs began, Head Coach
Scotty Bowman decided to go with
Vernon as the starting goaltender for the
playoffs, who lead the team all the way to the Cup Final against the
Philadelphia Flyers and swept them, winning the
Conn Smythe Trophy in the process. This was the franchisees first Stanley Cup in 42 years. In the end, Osgood had his name engraved on the
Stanley Cup as the backup goaltender for the team. After the 1997 Cup win, Vernon was traded to the
San Jose Sharks, making Osgood Detroit's number-one goaltender. Again, the Red Wings advanced to the Stanley Cup Final and defeated the
Washington Capitals in another four-game sweep to win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, his second championship, and his first as the starting goaltender. On April 1, 1998, he was in a goalie fight with Avalanche goalie
Patrick Roy, who also fought with Vernon the previous year on March 26, 1997. Osgood remained Detroit's primary goaltender until the summer of 2001, working alongside
Ken Wregget and the young
Manny Legacé.
Islanders years In the summer of 2001, the Red Wings traded for
Buffalo Sabres goaltender
Dominik Hašek to upgrade their goaltending, after losing three years in a row to their arch rival Colorado in the second round twice, and afterwards losing to the
Los Angeles Kings in the first round in
2001, with Hašek being a six-time
Vezina Trophy winner with the Sabres. After numerous attempts to trade Osgood, the Red Wings left him unprotected in the waiver draft, and the Islanders were able to claim a Stanley Cup winning goaltender for nothing in return. Initially, Osgood wore the red pads 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. 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).
Stint in St. Louis 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. St. Louis did not renew Osgood's contract before the expiration of the
collective bargaining agreement, and he became a free agent.
Return to Detroit On August 8, 2005, Detroit returned Osgood with a one-year, $800,000 contract. He was initially set to compete for the starting job with
Manny Legace but suffered a groin tear and did not play when the season started. Osgood was assigned to play for the
Grand Rapids Griffins of the
American Hockey League (AHL) on a conditioning assignment. After posting a 2–1 record in three games, Osgood returned to Detroit to work in a goaltending tandem with Legace again. on March 9, 2007. Osgood also worked with rookie goaltenders
Jimmy Howard and
Joey MacDonald while Legacé recovered from knee injuries in late 2005. During the
2006 Stanley Cup playoffs, Osgood injured his groin preparing for Game 4 of the first round against the Edmonton Oilers. Osgood missed the remainder of the series, and the Red Wings post-season was over after 6 games against the Oilers. On July 1, 2006, Osgood re-signed to a two-year, $1.8 million contract with the Red Wings. He then shared goaltending duties with Hašek, who also returned for another stint with the Red Wings. Though Hašek was expected to get slightly more playing time than Osgood throughout the regular season, it was expected that the goaltending tandem would have shared most of the playing time, with MacDonald expected to be their backup. However, Osgood suffered a fractured hand in practice, placing him on the injured reserve while MacDonald stepped up as the number 2 goaltender in Osgood's leave. Osgood returned to playing by the end of December. Due to Osgood's injuries and the aging Hašek's ability to remain healthy throughout the season, Osgood ended up assuming the backup role for Hašek instead of sharing playing time. The 2007–08 season served as a return to form for Osgood. Osgood and Hašek remained Detroit's goaltending tandem for the
2007–08 season. While Osgood was still expected to be the backup goaltender for the team, Hašek struggled at the beginning of the season and subsequently became injured. Osgood assumed the starting role while Hašek was injured and put up superior numbers. As of April 30, 2008, Osgood ranked 1st in the NHL in GAA with 2.09 during the regular season, 16th in Save Percentage with 0.914, and had an impressive 27–9–4 record. That performance earned him a 3 year/$4.5M contract extension with the Red Wings and an appearance at the
2008 NHL All-Star Game. With Hašek healthy and getting back into his stride, Detroit chose to alternate goaltenders instead of designating either goaltender as the backup.
2008 Stanley Cup playoffs Hašek was selected to be the starting goaltender for team in the
2008 Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Red Wings met the
Nashville Predators in the opening round. Hasek won Games 1 and 2 in Detroit before performing poorly in
Nashville in Games 3 and 4. Head Coach
Mike Babcock decided to pull him in favor of Osgood midway through Game 4, and he never left the net after that. He started Game 5, which was a Red Wings overtime win, and won Game 6 in Nashville to eliminate the Predators, moving on to the second round against the Avalanche. The team swept the Avalanche in four straight games to move onto the Western Conference Final, with their opponent in the series being the
Dallas Stars. The Red Wings won Games 1, 2, and 3 to hand them a three-game deficit. With a trip possible to the Cup Final with a Game 4 win, they lost, which was Osgood's first loss in the playoffs after 9 straight playoff wins since he replaced Hašek in Game 4 of the first round against the Predators. Losing Game 5 in Detroit as well, Osgood shone in Game 6, stopping all but one shot in a game riddled with Red Wings penalties and sealing the win, sending them to the Stanley Cup Finals, his first Finals appearance in ten seasons, to meet the young
Pittsburgh Penguins. In Games One and Two of the Stanley Cup Final in Detroit, Osgood posted back-to-back shutouts against the offensively powerful Pens, making him the fourth goalie in NHL history to start the Finals with back-to-back shutouts. Between the two games, he made a total of 41 saves. The Red Wings were up 3-1 after winning Game 4 in
Pittsburgh in the series, with a chance to win the Cup on home ice in Game 5, and were leading 3-2 in the game after letting in two quick goals in the beginning of the game before tying it and taking the lead with less than 40 seconds to go, before Penguins forward
Max Talbot managed to bang in the puck and tie it, which went all the way to triple overtime before Penguins forward
Petr Sykora scored after saying he would to send the series back to Pittsburgh for a sixth game. His save as time expired in Game 6 against Penguin
Marian Hossa, after leading 3-1 in the game with less than 2 minutes to go in regulation before letting in another late goal to make it 3-2, prevented the Pens from tying the game up again late like they did in the previous Game 5 and sealed the Game 6 win and hence the Stanley Cup win for the Red Wings and for Osgood, who won his second championship as a starting goaltender. His final 2008 playoff record was 14–4 with a 1.55 GAA; he was considered a contender for the
Conn Smythe Trophy which eventually went to teammate
Henrik Zetterberg.
Aftermath of the Stanley Cup The following
2008–09 season was a sharp contrast to the 2008 playoffs for Osgood, who struggled heavily for virtually the entire season, and ended it with the worst statistical numbers of his entire career. "It was the worst I've played in that long of a stretch in my career," he said. "Let's be honest.". A combination of injuries and self-inflicted mental pressure adversely affected his game, to the point where late in the season he was essentially "sent home" for ten days by the Red Wings, in order for him to work with goaltending coach
Jim Bedard and re-focus. Although his 26 wins put him 10th all-time in the NHL by season's end, he finished with a GAA a full goal above what he had posted in 2007–08, and a save percentage in the bottom ten percent of all 45 goalies who played enough to qualify. Despite being visibly outplayed statistically in nearly every aspect by newly signed
Ty Conklin during the regular season, whom he credited for managing to stabilize the net for the team and for not allowing the goaltending situation to become much worse than it was, Osgood's immense playoff experience was referred to throughout the season, and he was the starting goaltender for the team in the
2009 playoffs. The team managed to sweep the
Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round, moving on to meet the
Anaheim Ducks in the second round, which was a hard thought and very physical seven game series which the Red Wings won in Game 7 in Detroit. Moving onto the Western Conference Final against the young
Chicago Blackhawks, the Red Wings managed to beat them in five games, and was beneched and replaced by Conklin for the first time in the playoffs in the third period of Game 4, due to dehydration. The Game 5 overtime win advanced the Red Wings to the
Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year, which was also a rematch from the previous year as they met the Pittsburgh Penguins again. His drastically improved performance led to speculation that he was Detroit's leading candidate for the
Conn Smythe Trophy. However, this time, Detroit was defeated in seven games, after leading 3-2 in the series again like in the previous year with two chances to win it after Osgood posted a 5-0 shutout in Game 5, losing Game 6 in Pittsburgh 2-1, and Game 7 at home in Detroit, again 2-1, with the Pens Max Talbot scoring both Penguins goals. The following season, Osgood continued to struggle in regular season play, and eventually lost his position as Detroit's starting goaltender to his newly promoted backup for the season from Grand Rapids and rookie goaltender Jimmy Howard. However, the Red Wings in general under performed, mainly at the beginning of the season due to injuries to key players. Osgood finished the
2009–10 season having played only 23 games, with most of these at the beginning of the season when he was still the starter before being replaced by Howard, and posting a 3.02 GAA and .888 save percentage. Osgood, and the team in general, had better statistics during the next
season, which would be his last. Continuing to be the backup and a mentor for Howard, on December 27, 2010, in a game against the Avalanche at Pepsi Center, Osgood earned his 400th career victory. He became just the 10th goaltender in NHL history to reach this milestone. The Red Wings won the game 4–3 in overtime on a goal by teammate
Niklas Kronwall. He played the last NHL game of his career on January 4, 2011 in
Edmonton against the
Edmonton Oilers, which also would be the last win of his career, before being injured and MacDonald replacing him as the backup to Howard while he was on IR for the remainder of the season and playoffs. On July 19, 2011, Osgood announced his retirement from
ice hockey, but remained with the Wings organization in a role developing young goaltenders with the assistance of his former goaltending coach Tom Danko.
Post-playing career On September 9, 2013, it was announced that Chris Osgood was hired as a Red Wings game and studio analyst for
Fox Sports Detroit, replacing fired-former teammate
Larry Murphy. In this role, he primarily provides analysis in the studio, but he also replaced
Mickey Redmond on select road games throughout the season. On February 14, 2019, the network announced that he and Murphy will rotate in the same capacity for the rest of the
2018–19 season and beyond. On August 30, 2016, Osgood, joined Red Wings' vice president
Jim Devellano as part-owner of the
Ontario Hockey League's
Saginaw Spirit. Osgood serves as a goaltending and general consultant to the team. ==Career statistics==