They were 16th in goals allowed, the only time they would be outside the top 10 in that category under Bowman
Osgood was a Rookie, but he was there when the goals against rankings improved. Swapping in Vernon for a few years before Osgood (and Hasek) under Bowman was also key.
Ironically, the two prior years under Bryan Murray, they were #6 and #7 in goals allowed, so Cheveldae/Essensa must have really screwed up
Just looking at the game logs from when that season started, it seems like it was the goalies that Osgood quickly leapfrogged on the depth chart that helped keep the Wings out of that top 10 spot...
Cheveldae went down in the first period of game #1 and missed a few weeks. From that point in game #1 until about halfway through game #10, the combo of Vincent Reindeau (who had requested a trade after Bowman put him in the doghouse after allowing 4 goals in relief of Cheveldae in game #1), Peter Ing and a forgettable NHL debut for Chris Osgood combined for a whopping .829 SV%...
I mean, there's some real stinkers in there:
-After helping the Red Wings get their first win in Game #2 in Anaheim, Peter Ing starts the very next night and allows 8 goals on 40 shots (5 of them in the 1st half of the 3rd...). Riendeau goes in for last half of the 3rd and allows 2 goals on 3 shots...
-Ing then bombs the Wings home opener against the Blues and they swap him out for Osgood. Ing never plays in the NHL again.
-In Osgoods 1st start and NHL debut, the Wings hold the Leafs to 21 shots, but Osgood allows 4 goals on 8 of them in 32:XX minutes. Riendeau then comes in and allows 2 on 9 shots for the remainder of the game.
-Riendeau finally gets his first start in Game #10 and allows 4 goals on 8 shots, in just under 28 minutes. Osgood comes in and allows 1 goal in 5 shots. They lose the game 5-3, despite allowing only 13 shots the whole game...
After that, Osgood strung 3 consecutive wins together and they rode him until Cheveldae returned.
Not that Cheveldae was ever really a great goalie, but he had his worst year since his first full season as a starter. The environment in Detroit probably didn't help. Bryan Murray was happy to blame the young goalie for the teams underachievement and by the 93-94 season he was getting booed off the ice at Joe Louis.
The goaltending mess that season is probably (and arguably rightfully) the major reason Murray lost his job as Red Wings GM. He doghouses Riendeau for the 2nd half of the previous season (went something like 6 weeks without a start, then a month, then 3 weeks between others), and rides Cheveldae into the ground before he puts the 1st round exit on him... Despite this, he keeps both goalies for 93-94. Then he trades for Essensa and gives him a hefty raise for 3 years before he even starts a game for the Red Wings... He bombs 2 playoff games and then gets paid more than Osgood and Vernon combined to play as far away from the Red Wings farm team as possible, so as not to interfere with the development of prospects (and future busts) Kevin Hodson and Norm Maracle...