Waivers. There is a 24-hour period that teams have a chance to make a waiver claim and thus no player can be moved in less than 24 hours (48 on the weekends). So a Red Wing would have to have been put on waivers by midday Wednesday to make a move in time for a backup goalie to be with the team Thursday night. This fact should have been noted in the following entry.

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Here's the official word on Ozzie's status ... He will back up Ty Conklin tonight. Ozzie is hampered by a groin injury. He didn't skate this morning as a precaution.

"Because of his situation, we didn't want him to skate this morning," said Coach Mike Babcock. "He's ready to go. We just decided one more day off."

In addition, Derek Meech didn't skate this morning because he had the flu, according to Babcock.

It's possible that Meech got sick the same day that the Wings had to figure out who would be their backup netminder. It's possible. It's difficult not to connect the two happenings knowing that the Wings would have to put someone -- like Meech -- one waivers to clear salary cap space should they need to call up a goalie from Grand Rapids. I'm sure that phones were being worked and the result was Ozzie as backup was the best option.

Osgood would not speak to reporters this morning, which is also unusual.