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DETROIT -- The list of goaltenders who earn more than Chris Osgood are too many to mention.
Forty three, in fact, in the National Hockey League.
So we'll name only a few.
Like Andrew Raycroft, who is paid more than twice as much by the Maple Leafs than Osgood is paid to star for the Red Wings.
Like Ray Emery, and all his nonsense, who earns about four times Osgood's $800,000 US salary in Ottawa, at least until the buyout kicks in.
This is a salary-capped way, a testimony to the managerial substance of Ken Holland, the former goaltender turned general manager, who doesn't believe in giving up much for those who play his position.
"We don't put money in goalies," said Holland, who never has drafted a goalie high, never traded away anything of consequence for one. "I don't believe in putting money in goal."
Before the lockout he believed. Holland thought in the old trap-happy, clutch-and-grab, no-way-to-get-to-the-net NHL, you needed an ace goaltender. That's why he paid serious dollars for Dominik Hasek (successful) and Curtis Joseph (not so successful).
But post-lockout, the pattern is evident. Holland has gone the garage sale route when tracking his netminders. And you can't argue with the results.
He signed Hasek after the lockout, after his retirement, when everybody thought he was a nut with no game left at all. He had Manny Legace as a starter when nobody thought Legace could be a starter. And here we are in the Stanley Cup final, and Osgood, written off by every hockey man with a memory -- he is, after all, Chris Osgood -- was welcomed back into the Red Wings family with open arms. And a proviso.
There was no guarantee of much of anything. Hence the $800,000 salary. In the first year post-lockout, Osgood played backup to Legace. In the second year, he caddied for the redoubtable Hasek. This year, when Hasek no longer could do the improbable, Osgood became the unlikely hero.
"I don't ever remember seeing an athlete do what he's done at this stage of his career," said Todd MacLellan, the Detroit assistant coach. "He's completely reinvented himself. The only thing I could compare this to was baseball. He's like a guy who throws fastballs and then learns to pitch later in his career after he lost his fastball.
"Chris decided he needed to change. He went back to school (University of Michigan) to learn how to butterfly. I know a lot of other people doubted him. But you know what, knowing him, nobody in this organization did."
Holland believes in investing in his defence. "As a former goalie, I came to appreciate the people in front of me," he said. "I'll spend a lot of money on defence. I won't spend it on goalies. We've never hesitated to pay (Nicklas) Lidstrom or go out and get a free agent (Brian Rafalski) or if need be, and we don't like to do this, trade a high draft pick to get a defenceman (second-round choice for Brad Stuart)."
Osgood had the lowest goals-against average during the regular season and has the lowest goals-against average in the playoffs. With that customized defence, the Red Wings have the least number of shots against in the NHL.
"I never really looked at myself as a backup," said Osgood, who won a Stanley Cup in Detroit, was replaced because he wasn't deemed to be good enough, signed as a free agent on Long Island and was traded to St. Louis all before signing back with the Wings post-lockout.
"I knew what I had to do," he said. "I had to reinvent myself."
"Give him credit," said Kris Draper, his teammate and friend. "Who else has done this in pro sports? Think about it.
"I don't think I've ever seen anybody work the way he has to become a different player. He made a commitment to changing and no one was going to stop him. And being here it was easier for him. You have to understand. He wanted to be a Red Wing. This is home for him. This is family. This is what it's like to be a Red Wing. This is why everybody who leaves wants to come back."