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Highly paid Osgood rides Red Wings bench

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 3, 2000

The Red Wings are in a ticklish situation with goaltender Chris Osgood.

The former Stanley Cup winner is clearly No. 2 to minor-league veteran Manny Legace. But Osgood signed a three-year, $11.25-million deal over the summer so he is probably not going anywhere. And that's a lot of loot sitting on the bench.

Still, if Osgood is to regain the No. 1 spot, he had better do it before Legace, who played Friday against the Panthers and Saturday against the Lightning despite a sore knee, further solidifies his position. Osgood isn't 100 percent either. The day after Monday's 6-5 overtime loss to the Blackhawks, his fifth consecutive loss, Osgood was at the doctor's office seeking advice on his sore shoulder.

Osgood, who had a 5.31 goals-against average in those five games and a painful .838 save percentage, said he will have an MRI after Detroit's road trip, which ended Saturday.

"It's the toughest thing I've ever gone through. But I'm staying positive," Osgood said. "If (coach) Scotty (Bowman) goes with Manny, it's hard to accept, but what are you going to do? I've proven myself over the years, but does that really matter now? It doesn't seem like it does."

Detroit general manager Ken Holland said he is surprised Osgood has struggled. He ruled out a stint in the minors -- for now.

"You'd like to allow him to work his way out of it, but every game is tremendously important," Holland said.

SINGLED OUT: After the Stars' 4-3 loss to the Flames Wednesday night, Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock decided to lay into center Mike Modano and left wing Brett Hull.

First he said Modano's line was outplayed. Then he said right wing Jere Lehtinen "played strong," so it wasn't difficult to figure out Hitchcock's targets.

"You are not going to win," the coach said, "if your best players get outplayed and outworked, and that's what happened."

"He uses our line as an example for a lot of things," Modano said. "That's his way. I think it drives everybody else, saying everybody is on equal ground here. ... You shrug it off. We've played enough games to know when we've played bad and when we've played good."

ON TRACK: Encouraging news out of Colorado, where center Peter Forsberg (pulled rib muscle) and right wing Adam Deadmarsh (concussion) are skating in contact drills.

They are expected to make the four-game road trip that begins today in New York. Those two and left wing Chris Drury, who returned Friday after missing 11 games with a sprained left knee, make up what has been dubbed the Red Cross line. SOLD: The sale of the Coyotes to Wayne Gretzky and Steve Ellman is expected to be finalized at the Board of Governors meetings Dec. 11-12 in Palm Beach. The pair have secured a $60-million loan from a Japanese bank on top of the $18.5-million already paid and an $8.5-million check waiting to be sent.

Look for forward Claude Lemieux and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to sign immediately after the sale. GM Bobby Smith is on the way out.

"We've disagreed on players and assistant coaches those guys have wanted to bring in since they purchased the option to buy," Smith said. "I'm running the team the way I would run it now. They can run it the way they want when they take over."

MAYBE HE IS UNDERPAID: Slumping Penguins superstar Jaromir Jagr has an attitude these days equal to his bloated $9.4-million salary.

Asked about his scoring problems, Jagr bristled.

"Don't ask me that question right now," he said. "Do you want to go into my mind right now? Leave me alone, you understand?"

ODDS AND ENDS: Eric Lindros likely will not cash the $20-million insurance policy that kicks in if he plays fewer than 20 games because of injury. It is a career-ending policy, meaning Lindros would have to retire to get the cash. ... Phoenix left wing Keith Tkachuk tried to talk to referee Dan O'Halloran after Wednesday's game against Colorado about a disputed penalty call, but O'Halloran skated away. "I have every right to talk to him," Tkachuk said. "I have been in the league a little longer than the referee. At least he should have given me the courtesy of talking to me." ... What is it like to get hit in the face with a slap shot? Mighty Ducks center Steve Rucchin knows after getting blasted Nov. 15 by the deflected shot of teammate Teemu Selanne. "You just can't explain it unless you go though it," said Rucchin, who broke his nose and cheekbone. "I've never felt intense pain like that. Hopefully, I'll never have to again." ... New Jersey's Jason Arnott had four goals and three assists in his first five games after signing his new contract.

- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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