I know it's been a while. It's tough to devote the time necessary to sufficiently plead my case for why Bucky Gleason should no longer be paid to comment on sports, particularly in written form. Plus, with Terry Pegula taking over the Sabres, the rhetoric has changed dramatically.
So, it brought a little sense back to my world when Bucky wrote this tribute (?) to bowhunting. Yes, bowhunting. Bowhunting. I'd say I'm speechless, but obviously...
The World Bowhunting Championships were held last weekend at Holiday Valley for the fourth straight year, a fact that begged for two questions: A) Who knew the world championships of anything were staged in our back yard and B) bowhunters had world championships?
Answers: A) bowhunters and B) bowhunters. Although I will admit this is one sporting event of which my Dad, someone who actually warrants a bumper sticker reading "I Brake for Whitetail Deer (also, wild turkeys)", probably wasn't aware.
I'll come clean. I know nothing about hunting. I have no interest in hunting. I shot a gun once. Hunting to me will remain one of the great mismatches in history until animals start shooting back.
I look forward to future insight into how NASCAR isn't a sport because the car does all the work.
Still, I have neither an overwhelming admiration for wildlife nor an ounce of disdain for hunters. It's just not for me.
Except for, you know, thinking hunting isn't a sport. Which it is, if you count "sleeping in the woods" as a sport.
In the interest of full disclosure, if not too much information, I stumbled upon Ken Watkins, the director of the International Bowhunting Organization, in a bathroom while spending a few days in Ellicottville. He explained the event and invited me for a closer look
Soooo, uhh, are we still in the bathroom?
-- hockey, meet Hee Haw -- and introduced me to Jeff Hopkins.
Seriously, are we still in the bathroom? Because if we are this whole pretense is bullshit. As a veteran guy who has been in numerous bathrooms I can say with great confidence that no guy, ever, anywhere, has ever introduced himself to a complete stranger in the bathroom. Ever. Anywhere.
Who is Jeff Hopkins? Think: Michael Jordan. The difference is that Hopkins is a better shooter.
Jeff Hopkins is a markedly tall bald black man with significant success in the NBA? Oh, I get it. He's arguably (or at least widely considered) to be the best bowhunter in the history of bowhunting.
He was looking to improve his accuracy for hunting purposes 20 years ago, became proficient enough to shoot competitively and within three years was earning enough money from professional bowhunting to make it his career. In between competitions and hunting trips, he practices on his farm in Columbia, Ky.
Since he's Michael Jordan, I'm assuming he was also initially cut from his high school bowhunting team and ultimately nailed the game-winning arrow in the NCAA bowhunting championships.
"I always wanted to be a professional baseball player," said Hopkins, whose father was born in Olean. oh boy "I was a pitcher. I wanted to throw 90 mph. Everybody has those dreams. It didn't quite work out. But, now, I'm pinching myself."
Just to make sure everybody's following along: Jeff Hopkins, professional ballplayer dreams shattered, has now apparently fulfilled, or exceeded, those dreams bowhunting.
Well, he's certainly not pinching pennies. Plaschke-nanigans! I admit, I was getting a little nervous. Hopkins, 42, made $200,000 one year and figures he pockets around $125,000 annually when all the prize and sponsorship money is added up. It's not a bad living, assuming you can hit a target about the size of a half-dollar, on a three-dimensional artificial animal, from 50 yards away, while judging various elements such as wind and equipment. Points range depending on accuracy.
Sounds a lot more sporting than shooting at unarmed animals.
If that doesn't work, try making holes-in-one for a living. It seems easier.
"Most people know football, basketball, baseball and the other sports, but they don't know about this," said Levy Bryant, of Pensacola, Fla.
Primarily because most people don't, you know, bowhunt. There's a reason the hunting section is tucked in the corner of Dick's, and you have to walk past all the baseball, football, basketball, and other sports stuff to get to it.
"We are the big leagues of archery. When you come off this mountain, everybody knows you're the best. This is our Super Bowl."
Levi Morgan, one of the biggest names on the circuit, considering that, apparently, in order to make the bowhunting big leagues you need to be named some variation of Levi won the open world championship. Organizers estimate he pocketed between $50,000 and $75,000, depending on his contract with sponsors and how much money the event generated.
You're a wealth of accuracy here.
Hopkins was among the favorites but struggled.
So he choked?
Jordan didn't always score 40.
Yeah, but he never choked.
Spend time with them and you quickly realize that they're superstars in their own right.
Extreme emphasis on "their own."
Hopkins estimated that 90 percent of competitive archers know his name. It sounds right. Bowhunting fans fawned over him last weekend.
I can imagine both of them were ecstatic. Also, remember Jeff Hopkins is to bowhunting as Michael Jordan is to basketball. Do you think any competitive basketball players do not Michael Jordan's name? Even now when he hasn't played in years?
Yes, there are bowhunting fans. He signs autographs. He has his own website. Because if there ever was a measure of greatness, it's having a website. Kind of like how having a blog makes you a good writer. He even acknowledged there are bowhunting groupies out there, a fact that irritates his wife. Seriously, dude, women dig bowhunters?
"Hey," he said, "I don't get it, either."
I can only imagine what these groupies are like. I picture something like this.
If nothing else, it tells you that people are drawn to excellence no matter the sport. Outdoors channels have seen increased interest. Some 3 million kids participate in archery, but bowhunting will forever remain in the backdrop when stacked against other sports.
So, the moral of the story is people are drawn to excellence unless that excellence is in something nobody really cares about because they're more interested in other stuff?
And that's fine for the elite such as U.S. women's champ Cara Fernandez, who makes more money shooting in some years than she does at her full-time job in a skilled nursing facility. Darrin Christenberry is an electrician who in his best season took home $140,000.
Please note that, after referring multiple times to how successful bowhunters can sustain themselves bowhunting, and have their own websites (!), we learn that they actually have to maintain full time jobs. I'm starting to want these fifteen minutes of my life back.
"To shoot a bow for a living? How many people can say they do that?" Hopkins said. "Not many. That's pretty cool."
Apparently, just you.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
fire bucky gleason, 2011 edition
I know it's been a while, and maybe it's because the Sabres lost in pretty spectacularly awful style tonight and I needed something to lighten the mood, but I figure we were long overdue to demonstrate, once again, why Bucky Gleason needs to be fired.
A lot's happened in the last many months where we've gone dormant. But, much like death and taxes, if there is one thing that can be reliably counted on it's Bucky Gleason belaboring the same damn tired narrative. Over and over.
Last week, it was Tim Kennedy's turn. Again.
Some important facts to keep in mind: the Sabres offered Tim Kennedy a one-year deal worth between $800,000-$900,000. Questions remain as to whether it was one-way or two-way. Kennedy went to arbitration, and the arbitrator awarded Kennedy a million dollar deal. The Sabres deemed that too much money and bought him out. As a result, the Sabres took a $333,333.33 cap hit this year, and paid Kennedy $166,666.67 both this year and next. Kennedy signed with the Rangers for $550,000 (a/k/a "the league minimum") and promptly failed to make it out of training camp. Now, he and his agent again insisted on a one-way deal, meaning he'd have to go through re-entry waivers. Instead, the Rangers ultimately traded Kennedy to the Panthers. Or, more accurately, the Hartford AHL team traded Kennedy to Rochester. Now, I think we all know who gets the blame...
Tim Kennedy made his season debut last week, returning to the NHL with the Florida Panthers after a seven-month exile that included five teams, three organizations and an equipment bag full of heartache. Yes, hockey can be a cold, unsentimental business riddled with cruel and unusual punishment.
That's right. It wasn't until March that Tim Kennedy finally made it back to the NHL. For the Panthers. Who are playing out the string. Because they really stink. I mean really.
Key word: business.
I'll give you one guess, and only one guess, as to who in this "business" is allowed to act like businesspersons.
The South Buffalo native earned a Ph.D in hockey business -- and monkey business -- plaschke-nanigans tag, and it's only the second full paragraph after being thrown on his keister by the Sabres last summer. He woke up from the nightmare in the AHL, where he became a prisoner of his ability, his $550,000 contract with the Rangers and the NHL's waiver rules.
Not really a prisoner of his ability. If his ability warranted it, Kennedy would never have left the NHL.
"I could be doing something else with less stress," Kennedy joked last week by telephone from South Florida. "I get paid to do something I love. I've wanted this for my whole life. If you can work through the adversity, you'll be so much better for it. Things could be much worse. There are people out there who are having a hard time getting jobs. I'm playing hockey. For people like me to [complain] is just stupid."
Pretty sensible approach if you ask me. Especially because, as it turns out, he's not particularly good at the game of hockey. So, getting paid to do it is a pretty sweet deal for him.
To review, Kennedy had 10 goals and 26 points last season with the Sabres, he played in 78 games, a stat curiously left out evolved into a dependable two-way player "two-way player" is code for "not really good at playing hockey, but still pretty good at getting in the way of other players who are" and was among their better forwards in the first round of the postseason against Boston. I would also like to point out, thanks in part to Kennedy's stellar "two-way" play, the Sabres blew leads in three of the four playoff games they lost, more than once blowing a two goal lead He was awarded $1 million in arbitration last summer after negotiations broke down. Rather than accept the contract, the Sabres became the first team in history to buy out a player and waive him after arbitration.
"Negotiations broke down" here is code for "a player and his agent figured they had their negotiating counterpart cornered because everybody knew Kennedy would get a mil in arbitration so they insisted on things like a one-way deal."
Kennedy, 24, could have, and perhaps should have, accepted less money and avoided arbitration. But I'll go to my grave -- don't get any ideas -- believing the move by the former regime was about politics and power, not hockey, and played a role in the Sabres' slow start this season. Forget about his hometown roots. They lost a good player who could have helped this season and beyond.
Prove this. Kennedy may have been a developing player with some potential, but 26 points in 78 games does not qualify as "good." Some rumors indicated that Kennedy was waived to make room for Nathan Gerbe. Who, skating on the same crappy checking line Kennedy drew, in 54 games has 11 goals and 24 points. Gerbe's deal is also cheap. Or perhaps Kennedy was waived to make room for Tyler Ennis. Who has 19 goals and 45 points in 72 games. Either way, this move by the "former regime" seems to be pretty smart as it relates to, you know, "hockey."
It was precisely the kind of decision that would not be made under new owner Terry Pegula.
Prove this.
The buyout ultimately will cost the Sabres more money, too. They're paying Kennedy $166,666 this season and next, plus the salary of the player who replaced him on the roster. No matter how it's sliced, it will exceed $1 million per season.
Actually, Kennedy's waiver means Cody McCormick, who was also "one of Buffalo's better forwards in the playoff series against Boston," is playing full-time in the NHL this year. His contract is listed on capgeek as $500,000. So, you know, his deal and Kennedy's payment is $666,666 and costs only $833,333 on the salary cap. That's less than a million. It's worth mentioning that McCormick is 8-11-19 this year in 71 games, which is not far off Kennedy's pace (.27 PPG to .33, respectively). Is he the specific player who replaced Kennedy? No. No one is. But it looks like the Sabres picked three guys out of four for the their roster. Instead of paying $2.725 million on Kennedy/Ennis/Gerbe, the Sabres are paying less than $2.4 million for Ennis/Gerbe/McCormick/Kennedy buy-out. Fun with math! Also, I wonder if not blowing a full million in guaranteed money to a borderline NHL player played any part in the team's decision to trade for actual surefire NHL player Brad Boyes at the deadline.
"Hockey isn't given; you have to earn it," Kennedy said. "Last year, it was almost a perfect year. I made my hometown team, had a pretty good year, we had a good team, I play in the world championships, come home and have a good summer. Everything was going good. And then, everything just went bad overnight."
This may have actually been said by Kennedy. Or made up by Bucky. Both are equally likely.
Kennedy signed with the Rangers and likely would have spent the season in New York if an injury to Chris Drury occurred one day earlier.
Completely unsubstantiated. And this does not change the fact that Tim Kennedy was still not one of the twenty best skaters at Rangers camp. This includes Chris Drury, who in 23 games this year netted a total of four points. Tim Kennedy was deemed worse than that.
Instead, with teams having their rosters set after training camp, he had cleared waivers. Which also means nobody else wanted to pick his hockey ability as a good player for the LEAGUE MINIMUM. He needed a few weeks to get his head straight, but he rediscovered his game and regained his confidence in AHL Hartford.
He had 12 goals and 42 points in 53 games with Hartford, respectable numbers considering he played through a groin injury. The Rangers feared he would have been claimed on re-entry waivers at half price if they tried to bring him back when injuries piled up during the season. Instead, they promoted players with two-way contracts.
So, let me get this straight. If Tim Kennedy had sucked it up and taken a two-way deal, he would've played in the NHL sooner than March? So, maybe he and his agent blew it by insisting with not one, but two teams that he get a one-way deal? Maybe?
Kennedy was caught in a perfect storm.
"I was just stuck," he said. "It's tough because the Rangers had a lot of guys get hurt this year, and people are asking, 'How come you're not going up?'
Correct answer: "Because I got lousy advice from my agent, gambled on a one-way contract, and lost."
"...It gets old and it gets frustrating. I know what's going on, but [other] people don't know. It's hard to explain to people that I wasn't even an option because of my contract."
Fortunately for Kennedy, the Rangers needed a defenseman near the trade deadline and sent him and a third-round pick to Florida for Bryan McCabe. Kennedy played three games in Rochester and was recalled last week. Any team could have grabbed him for half price, about $50,000, of his prorated contract.
The Rangers decided they needed a rental defenseman more than they needed a superfluous forward with a bad contract. Keep in mind that Kennedy is a restricted free agent. So, the Rangers would've still held a significant advantage in terms of negotiating this offseason with such a talented hockey player that can help this season and beyond.
This time, the rules worked to his advantage. Kennedy would not have been able to play for another team this season because it was past the deadline for freezing rosters. He passed through re-entry waivers and played 14 1/2 minutes in the Panthers' 3-2 win over his neighbor, Patrick Kane, and the Blackhawks last week.
This lovely little love letter was published on March 13. That means as of its publication, Tim Kennedy had played three games. In his first, he got 14:30 of ice time, recorded no points and no shots on goal. In his second, he got 10:56 of ice time, again recorded no points and no shots on goal, and this time was actually -1 for the game. His third (and, what turned out to be his final) game for Florida, he got 4:58 of ice time in a game which feature 4:44 of overtime. Again, no points but at least he was credited with a shot on goal. So, in sum, Kennedy's talent at the game of hockey is so misunderstood that he was constantly losing ice time on team with absolutely no playoff aspirations.
Kennedy will be a restricted free agent this summer. The Panthers have only five forwards under contract going into next season. He's intent on showing the Panthers they made the right decision when they acquired him. If it doesn't work out, there's no sense complaining. Nobody will listen.
From the sounds of it, it would seem that if Kennedy wants to sign an NHL contract this summer, he should possibly consider a two-way deal. I doubt an arbitrator is going to look favorably on 30:24 of total NHL ice time resulting in one solitary shot on goal.
"Hockey isn't all about teams being happy to have you," Kennedy said. "It's all about the business. It's about the money. If you're not in a team's plans, you're not in a team's plans. They're not going to do anything to help you. Last year, everything was so good, but you see the other side of it real quick. I saw it almost the whole year."
Tear.
Look, I don't really have anything against Tim Kennedy. He did alright last year, and then misplayed his hand. The Sabres were forced with the options of buying him out, or paying him a $1 million, one-way deal that nobody else in the league wanted. Not even Glen Sather, and Glen Sather gives everybody money. So, maybe we should stop slamming the "former regime" for making a "political" decision to not waste resources on a player that happens to be only OK at hockey simply because, I don't know, he's from South Buffalo.
A lot's happened in the last many months where we've gone dormant. But, much like death and taxes, if there is one thing that can be reliably counted on it's Bucky Gleason belaboring the same damn tired narrative. Over and over.
Last week, it was Tim Kennedy's turn. Again.
Some important facts to keep in mind: the Sabres offered Tim Kennedy a one-year deal worth between $800,000-$900,000. Questions remain as to whether it was one-way or two-way. Kennedy went to arbitration, and the arbitrator awarded Kennedy a million dollar deal. The Sabres deemed that too much money and bought him out. As a result, the Sabres took a $333,333.33 cap hit this year, and paid Kennedy $166,666.67 both this year and next. Kennedy signed with the Rangers for $550,000 (a/k/a "the league minimum") and promptly failed to make it out of training camp. Now, he and his agent again insisted on a one-way deal, meaning he'd have to go through re-entry waivers. Instead, the Rangers ultimately traded Kennedy to the Panthers. Or, more accurately, the Hartford AHL team traded Kennedy to Rochester. Now, I think we all know who gets the blame...
Tim Kennedy made his season debut last week, returning to the NHL with the Florida Panthers after a seven-month exile that included five teams, three organizations and an equipment bag full of heartache. Yes, hockey can be a cold, unsentimental business riddled with cruel and unusual punishment.
That's right. It wasn't until March that Tim Kennedy finally made it back to the NHL. For the Panthers. Who are playing out the string. Because they really stink. I mean really.
Key word: business.
I'll give you one guess, and only one guess, as to who in this "business" is allowed to act like businesspersons.
The South Buffalo native earned a Ph.D in hockey business -- and monkey business -- plaschke-nanigans tag, and it's only the second full paragraph after being thrown on his keister by the Sabres last summer. He woke up from the nightmare in the AHL, where he became a prisoner of his ability, his $550,000 contract with the Rangers and the NHL's waiver rules.
Not really a prisoner of his ability. If his ability warranted it, Kennedy would never have left the NHL.
"I could be doing something else with less stress," Kennedy joked last week by telephone from South Florida. "I get paid to do something I love. I've wanted this for my whole life. If you can work through the adversity, you'll be so much better for it. Things could be much worse. There are people out there who are having a hard time getting jobs. I'm playing hockey. For people like me to [complain] is just stupid."
Pretty sensible approach if you ask me. Especially because, as it turns out, he's not particularly good at the game of hockey. So, getting paid to do it is a pretty sweet deal for him.
To review, Kennedy had 10 goals and 26 points last season with the Sabres, he played in 78 games, a stat curiously left out evolved into a dependable two-way player "two-way player" is code for "not really good at playing hockey, but still pretty good at getting in the way of other players who are" and was among their better forwards in the first round of the postseason against Boston. I would also like to point out, thanks in part to Kennedy's stellar "two-way" play, the Sabres blew leads in three of the four playoff games they lost, more than once blowing a two goal lead He was awarded $1 million in arbitration last summer after negotiations broke down. Rather than accept the contract, the Sabres became the first team in history to buy out a player and waive him after arbitration.
"Negotiations broke down" here is code for "a player and his agent figured they had their negotiating counterpart cornered because everybody knew Kennedy would get a mil in arbitration so they insisted on things like a one-way deal."
Kennedy, 24, could have, and perhaps should have, accepted less money and avoided arbitration. But I'll go to my grave -- don't get any ideas -- believing the move by the former regime was about politics and power, not hockey, and played a role in the Sabres' slow start this season. Forget about his hometown roots. They lost a good player who could have helped this season and beyond.
Prove this. Kennedy may have been a developing player with some potential, but 26 points in 78 games does not qualify as "good." Some rumors indicated that Kennedy was waived to make room for Nathan Gerbe. Who, skating on the same crappy checking line Kennedy drew, in 54 games has 11 goals and 24 points. Gerbe's deal is also cheap. Or perhaps Kennedy was waived to make room for Tyler Ennis. Who has 19 goals and 45 points in 72 games. Either way, this move by the "former regime" seems to be pretty smart as it relates to, you know, "hockey."
It was precisely the kind of decision that would not be made under new owner Terry Pegula.
Prove this.
The buyout ultimately will cost the Sabres more money, too. They're paying Kennedy $166,666 this season and next, plus the salary of the player who replaced him on the roster. No matter how it's sliced, it will exceed $1 million per season.
Actually, Kennedy's waiver means Cody McCormick, who was also "one of Buffalo's better forwards in the playoff series against Boston," is playing full-time in the NHL this year. His contract is listed on capgeek as $500,000. So, you know, his deal and Kennedy's payment is $666,666 and costs only $833,333 on the salary cap. That's less than a million. It's worth mentioning that McCormick is 8-11-19 this year in 71 games, which is not far off Kennedy's pace (.27 PPG to .33, respectively). Is he the specific player who replaced Kennedy? No. No one is. But it looks like the Sabres picked three guys out of four for the their roster. Instead of paying $2.725 million on Kennedy/Ennis/Gerbe, the Sabres are paying less than $2.4 million for Ennis/Gerbe/McCormick/Kennedy buy-out. Fun with math! Also, I wonder if not blowing a full million in guaranteed money to a borderline NHL player played any part in the team's decision to trade for actual surefire NHL player Brad Boyes at the deadline.
"Hockey isn't given; you have to earn it," Kennedy said. "Last year, it was almost a perfect year. I made my hometown team, had a pretty good year, we had a good team, I play in the world championships, come home and have a good summer. Everything was going good. And then, everything just went bad overnight."
This may have actually been said by Kennedy. Or made up by Bucky. Both are equally likely.
Kennedy signed with the Rangers and likely would have spent the season in New York if an injury to Chris Drury occurred one day earlier.
Completely unsubstantiated. And this does not change the fact that Tim Kennedy was still not one of the twenty best skaters at Rangers camp. This includes Chris Drury, who in 23 games this year netted a total of four points. Tim Kennedy was deemed worse than that.
Instead, with teams having their rosters set after training camp, he had cleared waivers. Which also means nobody else wanted to pick his hockey ability as a good player for the LEAGUE MINIMUM. He needed a few weeks to get his head straight, but he rediscovered his game and regained his confidence in AHL Hartford.
He had 12 goals and 42 points in 53 games with Hartford, respectable numbers considering he played through a groin injury. The Rangers feared he would have been claimed on re-entry waivers at half price if they tried to bring him back when injuries piled up during the season. Instead, they promoted players with two-way contracts.
So, let me get this straight. If Tim Kennedy had sucked it up and taken a two-way deal, he would've played in the NHL sooner than March? So, maybe he and his agent blew it by insisting with not one, but two teams that he get a one-way deal? Maybe?
Kennedy was caught in a perfect storm.
"I was just stuck," he said. "It's tough because the Rangers had a lot of guys get hurt this year, and people are asking, 'How come you're not going up?'
Correct answer: "Because I got lousy advice from my agent, gambled on a one-way contract, and lost."
"...It gets old and it gets frustrating. I know what's going on, but [other] people don't know. It's hard to explain to people that I wasn't even an option because of my contract."
Fortunately for Kennedy, the Rangers needed a defenseman near the trade deadline and sent him and a third-round pick to Florida for Bryan McCabe. Kennedy played three games in Rochester and was recalled last week. Any team could have grabbed him for half price, about $50,000, of his prorated contract.
The Rangers decided they needed a rental defenseman more than they needed a superfluous forward with a bad contract. Keep in mind that Kennedy is a restricted free agent. So, the Rangers would've still held a significant advantage in terms of negotiating this offseason with such a talented hockey player that can help this season and beyond.
This time, the rules worked to his advantage. Kennedy would not have been able to play for another team this season because it was past the deadline for freezing rosters. He passed through re-entry waivers and played 14 1/2 minutes in the Panthers' 3-2 win over his neighbor, Patrick Kane, and the Blackhawks last week.
This lovely little love letter was published on March 13. That means as of its publication, Tim Kennedy had played three games. In his first, he got 14:30 of ice time, recorded no points and no shots on goal. In his second, he got 10:56 of ice time, again recorded no points and no shots on goal, and this time was actually -1 for the game. His third (and, what turned out to be his final) game for Florida, he got 4:58 of ice time in a game which feature 4:44 of overtime. Again, no points but at least he was credited with a shot on goal. So, in sum, Kennedy's talent at the game of hockey is so misunderstood that he was constantly losing ice time on team with absolutely no playoff aspirations.
Kennedy will be a restricted free agent this summer. The Panthers have only five forwards under contract going into next season. He's intent on showing the Panthers they made the right decision when they acquired him. If it doesn't work out, there's no sense complaining. Nobody will listen.
From the sounds of it, it would seem that if Kennedy wants to sign an NHL contract this summer, he should possibly consider a two-way deal. I doubt an arbitrator is going to look favorably on 30:24 of total NHL ice time resulting in one solitary shot on goal.
"Hockey isn't all about teams being happy to have you," Kennedy said. "It's all about the business. It's about the money. If you're not in a team's plans, you're not in a team's plans. They're not going to do anything to help you. Last year, everything was so good, but you see the other side of it real quick. I saw it almost the whole year."
Tear.
Look, I don't really have anything against Tim Kennedy. He did alright last year, and then misplayed his hand. The Sabres were forced with the options of buying him out, or paying him a $1 million, one-way deal that nobody else in the league wanted. Not even Glen Sather, and Glen Sather gives everybody money. So, maybe we should stop slamming the "former regime" for making a "political" decision to not waste resources on a player that happens to be only OK at hockey simply because, I don't know, he's from South Buffalo.
Friday, June 25, 2010
fbg: chicago
since the season is finally over, we're starting to get more ridiculousness. Especially since free agency is a week away, and the draft is tonight. Now is the time for player movement, and what next season's roster is going to look like will take shape within the next two weeks or so (depending on the July 1 flurry). But since the nonsense has been limited to Larry Felser writing stupid things, and Bucky's "GM for a Day" (which will likely be the subject of multiple posts) (it's really that garbage) (I mean, seriously), we've had to look elsewhere for people writing stupid things about hockey.
How about false moral indignation because hockey is enjoyed by white people and struggles to attract the attention of non-white people? Thank you, Richard Roeper. michael.w guest stars again because he was angrier about it than I was, but my comments are in italics because I'm taller.
Even as the Sun-Times and the Tribune put out those special sections on the Blackhawks, even as the local newscasts are offering expanded coverage complete with cheerleader/sportscasters that speak in terms of "we" when covering the Stanley Cup finals, the question is legit: Is this just a white thing?
Oh boy.
You look at the crowd at the United Center and you see a sea of red jerseys -- and white faces. At a recent playoff game, I looked all around and couldn't spot one fan who appeared to be a minority. (Uh- oh, fan profiling -- is it wrong?)
[Ed's Note: Probably].
Fan profiling wrong? I don't know. But the assertion is factually inaccurate, as Michael Jordan was at Blackhawks games with Bobby Hull. In case you don't believe me in that Michael Jordan was either a) at a game, or b) a minority, I submit photographic evidence of both.
When I hear talk that Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews could become the face of Chicago sports if the Blackhawks win the Cup -- I don't know. Of course Kane and Toews can become Chicago sports icons, just as Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita and Denny Savard and Jeremy Roenick have before them -- but to what extent? Can a hockey player ever achieve the sports-transcendent, crossover fame of an Ernie Banks, a Mike Ditka, a Michael Jordan, a Walter Payton, even a Frank Thomas or an Ozzie Guillen? Or are there large sections of Chicago where even this week, Ozzie or Derrick Rose or Devin Hester would be more recognizable than Kane or Dustin Byfuglien?
So with the exception of "a" Mike Ditka, all other sports-transcendent, crossover famous Chicago athletes are black? And really, why the "a" Michael Jordan, etc. When discussing Banks, Ditka, Jordan, Payton, aren't they so transcendent that they should be refer to as "The" Michael Jordan, "The" Ernie Banks, etc?
[Ed's Note: The verbal sleight of hand tag is one whose time has come. Perhaps it's intentional, perhaps it isn't, but it's tricky here. Roeper asks if Kane and Toews can become Chicago sports icons. Short answer? Yes. They already are, actually, because, you know they were integral parts of a championship team that drew millions of Chicagoans outside for a victory parade. The next question, which I think Roeper is trying to again limit to only Chicago, is if a hockey player can ever have cross-over transcendent appeal. The answer to that is an easy yes (Gretzky, Howe, Lemieux, Crosby, Ovechkin). Can it happen in Chicago? You just listed four white hockey players who managed to do it, one in the last fifteen years.
I also imagine that Chicago, as large as it is, has large sections where nobody would identify Derrick Rose or Ozzie Guillen.]
Byfuglien, whose mother is Norwegian and whose father is black, is one of only about two dozen NHL players who are black or biracial.
What does this have to do with (not) all Blackhawk fans being white?
Even that relatively small number represents a huge increase from the historical norm. By the NHL's own count, there were a grand total of 18 black players in the league from 1917 to 1990. The percentage of minority players has grown quickly over the last generation, and the NHL has done an admirable job of reaching out to minorities --
[Ed's Note: So hockey has identified that it needs more exposure in non-traditional demographics, as has reached out to those specific demos. Snoop Dogg performs at its awards ceremony. Dunder Mifflin, a black forward, played a central role (when he wasn't being shut down by a white elbow machine) in the NHL's showcase event. It's certainly not any sort of equity or balance, but they've acknowledged the problem and are working to fix it. Sounds good to me.]
but the sport of hockey is still dominated by white players, and all you have to do is scan the arena when you're at a game to realize the fan base is overwhelmingly Caucasian.
Actually, the fan base in any arena of any sport is overwhelmingly Caucasian. Not coincidentally, the population of the United States overwhelmingly Caucasian.
[Ed's Note: that the population is overwhelmingly Caucasian is debatable. That American culture remains overwhelmingly Caucasian centric is far less debatable, and is the basis for entire majors of study. Glib indignation about the percentage of minorities at hockey games doesn't even scrape the surface.]
Even though the NBA is dominated by black players, the fan base seems more diverse than the NHL's.
And I have the facts to back it up
Fans of all races grew up around the games of basketball, football and baseball. Partially because it's much more expensive to outfit a kid for hockey than it is to throw a soccer ball or a basketball on a playing surface and have an instant game, there are a lot of adult fans who never so much as played a game of hockey in their lives.
Or not.
Of course there are Latinos and Asians and blacks in the Chicago area who follow and cheer for the Blackhawks -- and of course there are more than a few Caucasians who couldn't care less about Game 6 on Wednesday night.
[Ed's Note: Translation- some minorities like hockey, and some white people don't care for it. But it doesn't really help the main premise here, which is that only white people go to Blackhawks games, so I'm just going to gloss over it instead of, you know, engaging my underlying thesis with any real depth.]
More random crap.
I'm just saying.
Nothing coherent.
Even as we see the huge local TV numbers for the Stanley Cup finals, even as the sportscasters tell us "the entire city" is cheering for the Hawks to bring home the Cup for the first time in nearly a half-century, that's not entirely accurate.
I am glad, you know, actual minorities were interviewed and quoted in this piece.
If you're a minority and you are a big Blackhawks fan, I'd like to hear from you, whether it's to reinforce what I'm saying or to tell me I'm way off on this one.
[Ed's Note: Translation- I haven't done any research at all above or beyond the fact that I happened to notice there were a lot of white people at hockey games. Now I've spewed out five hundred words to that effect, and realized too late that it may make me look stupid because I've left myself so open for ridicule and criticism so instead I'm going to pretend to want to kickstart a discussion.]
You're way off on this one.
How about false moral indignation because hockey is enjoyed by white people and struggles to attract the attention of non-white people? Thank you, Richard Roeper. michael.w guest stars again because he was angrier about it than I was, but my comments are in italics because I'm taller.
Even as the Sun-Times and the Tribune put out those special sections on the Blackhawks, even as the local newscasts are offering expanded coverage complete with cheerleader/sportscasters that speak in terms of "we" when covering the Stanley Cup finals, the question is legit: Is this just a white thing?
Oh boy.
You look at the crowd at the United Center and you see a sea of red jerseys -- and white faces. At a recent playoff game, I looked all around and couldn't spot one fan who appeared to be a minority. (Uh- oh, fan profiling -- is it wrong?)
[Ed's Note: Probably].
Fan profiling wrong? I don't know. But the assertion is factually inaccurate, as Michael Jordan was at Blackhawks games with Bobby Hull. In case you don't believe me in that Michael Jordan was either a) at a game, or b) a minority, I submit photographic evidence of both.
When I hear talk that Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews could become the face of Chicago sports if the Blackhawks win the Cup -- I don't know. Of course Kane and Toews can become Chicago sports icons, just as Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita and Denny Savard and Jeremy Roenick have before them -- but to what extent? Can a hockey player ever achieve the sports-transcendent, crossover fame of an Ernie Banks, a Mike Ditka, a Michael Jordan, a Walter Payton, even a Frank Thomas or an Ozzie Guillen? Or are there large sections of Chicago where even this week, Ozzie or Derrick Rose or Devin Hester would be more recognizable than Kane or Dustin Byfuglien?
So with the exception of "a" Mike Ditka, all other sports-transcendent, crossover famous Chicago athletes are black? And really, why the "a" Michael Jordan, etc. When discussing Banks, Ditka, Jordan, Payton, aren't they so transcendent that they should be refer to as "The" Michael Jordan, "The" Ernie Banks, etc?
[Ed's Note: The verbal sleight of hand tag is one whose time has come. Perhaps it's intentional, perhaps it isn't, but it's tricky here. Roeper asks if Kane and Toews can become Chicago sports icons. Short answer? Yes. They already are, actually, because, you know they were integral parts of a championship team that drew millions of Chicagoans outside for a victory parade. The next question, which I think Roeper is trying to again limit to only Chicago, is if a hockey player can ever have cross-over transcendent appeal. The answer to that is an easy yes (Gretzky, Howe, Lemieux, Crosby, Ovechkin). Can it happen in Chicago? You just listed four white hockey players who managed to do it, one in the last fifteen years.
I also imagine that Chicago, as large as it is, has large sections where nobody would identify Derrick Rose or Ozzie Guillen.]
Byfuglien, whose mother is Norwegian and whose father is black, is one of only about two dozen NHL players who are black or biracial.
What does this have to do with (not) all Blackhawk fans being white?
Even that relatively small number represents a huge increase from the historical norm. By the NHL's own count, there were a grand total of 18 black players in the league from 1917 to 1990. The percentage of minority players has grown quickly over the last generation, and the NHL has done an admirable job of reaching out to minorities --
[Ed's Note: So hockey has identified that it needs more exposure in non-traditional demographics, as has reached out to those specific demos. Snoop Dogg performs at its awards ceremony. Dunder Mifflin, a black forward, played a central role (when he wasn't being shut down by a white elbow machine) in the NHL's showcase event. It's certainly not any sort of equity or balance, but they've acknowledged the problem and are working to fix it. Sounds good to me.]
but the sport of hockey is still dominated by white players, and all you have to do is scan the arena when you're at a game to realize the fan base is overwhelmingly Caucasian.
Actually, the fan base in any arena of any sport is overwhelmingly Caucasian. Not coincidentally, the population of the United States overwhelmingly Caucasian.
[Ed's Note: that the population is overwhelmingly Caucasian is debatable. That American culture remains overwhelmingly Caucasian centric is far less debatable, and is the basis for entire majors of study. Glib indignation about the percentage of minorities at hockey games doesn't even scrape the surface.]
Even though the NBA is dominated by black players, the fan base seems more diverse than the NHL's.
And I have the facts to back it up
Fans of all races grew up around the games of basketball, football and baseball. Partially because it's much more expensive to outfit a kid for hockey than it is to throw a soccer ball or a basketball on a playing surface and have an instant game, there are a lot of adult fans who never so much as played a game of hockey in their lives.
Or not.
Of course there are Latinos and Asians and blacks in the Chicago area who follow and cheer for the Blackhawks -- and of course there are more than a few Caucasians who couldn't care less about Game 6 on Wednesday night.
[Ed's Note: Translation- some minorities like hockey, and some white people don't care for it. But it doesn't really help the main premise here, which is that only white people go to Blackhawks games, so I'm just going to gloss over it instead of, you know, engaging my underlying thesis with any real depth.]
More random crap.
I'm just saying.
Nothing coherent.
Even as we see the huge local TV numbers for the Stanley Cup finals, even as the sportscasters tell us "the entire city" is cheering for the Hawks to bring home the Cup for the first time in nearly a half-century, that's not entirely accurate.
I am glad, you know, actual minorities were interviewed and quoted in this piece.
If you're a minority and you are a big Blackhawks fan, I'd like to hear from you, whether it's to reinforce what I'm saying or to tell me I'm way off on this one.
[Ed's Note: Translation- I haven't done any research at all above or beyond the fact that I happened to notice there were a lot of white people at hockey games. Now I've spewed out five hundred words to that effect, and realized too late that it may make me look stupid because I've left myself so open for ridicule and criticism so instead I'm going to pretend to want to kickstart a discussion.]
You're way off on this one.
Friday, May 14, 2010
fire bucky gleason, premature and incorrect edition
I know it's been a while since we've shredded Bucky. Part of it was because the Sabres struggled in their opening round loss to the Bruins, and even though Bucky and his ilk are still very wrong when it comes to hockey analysis, it was tough to defend the Sabres (even though every game was a one-goal affair except for Buffalo's domination in Game Five and the empty net goal in Game Two to make that difference two). Anyways, after a couple weeks of craziness (Trade Connolly! Trade Stafford! Trade Roy! Trade Pominville! It doesn't matter what we get in return!), it's time to try and get reason to reign again (and what I mean is it's time to try, again, to get reason to reign; reason's never reigned in Buffalo when it comes to the Sabres).
This journalistic masterpiece is, ostensibly, not about the Sabres. Or so you think. Read on, you'll see.
michael.w took care of it first, with my comments in italics because I don't highlight my hair.
The deal didn't make sense at the time because it broke Rule No. 1 in "Tricks of the Trade: GM's Guide for Swapping NHL Players." (this sounds like the lamest and least helpful book ever) It states the following: Never, ever, however long you shall live, unload a franchise player unless A) one is coming back in return or B) you're trying to get fired.
Mike O'Connell broke the rule when he traded Joe Thornton on Nov. 30, 2005, which helps explain why the Bruins sent O'Connell packing after the season. Thornton finished the season with the Sharks as the NHL's leading scorer and most valuable player. The Bruins had the fifth-worst record in the league and missed the playoffs.
At least there is acknowledgment that the Bruins GM was fired. Now before you even ask if the trade really benefited both teams, as the headline suggests, I should inject a fact here. The Bruins missed the playoffs not just in the 2005-2006 season, but also the season that followed. In some parts, missing the playoffs two seasons in a row is a mortal sin, and the team's GM sucks.
[Ed's Note: Actually, we should envy the Bruins. They fire their GM after missing the playoffs only once. Also, maybe Mike O'Connell was trying to get fired. You ever think of that, smart guy?]
Thornton was everything the Sharks needed and more over the past five regular seasons, averaging 102 points if you include 23 games he played for the Bruins before making his way to San Jose. He led the league in assists three times and finished with no worse than 86 points in any season during that span.
He also led the league in being tagged with the cliche "can't win in the playoffs."
Boston received Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau in return. The last two were wheeled the following season to Calgary for Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew. Sturm has just two playoff goals to show for five years in Boston. Kobasew is gone.
It was a GM not involved in the Thornton deal that made those moves, by the way.
[Ed's Note: Also, all three players were on the roster at the beginning of the 2006-07 season. This is important to note, because during the 2006 offseason, Boston signed Zdeno Chara. So, basically, the three guys that balanced out Thornton were still on the roster when Chara signed.]
So, the Sharks won the deal?
Yes. San Jose has made the playoffs in each of the seasons that Joe Thornton has been on the team. The Bruins have not made the playoffs in each of the seasons since the trade.
Thornton was among the NHL's great players between October and April, one of the great failures in April and May. He had six playoff goals in five postseasons with the Bruins, including 0-0-0, minus-6 over his final seven playoff games for Boston.
Thanks for joining the "Thornton Can't Win in the Playoffs Parade"
Jumbo Joe (Please stop with the nicknames! I am begging. Or at least get it right. He is often referred to as "Big Joe") was pocketing $6.6 million when the swap was completed. He's making $7.2 million now after giving San Jose a hometown discount. He gave them six goals over 41 playoff games in four seasons for a Sharks team that was terrific in the regular season, terrible in the postseason, a reflection of him.
Of course, just a reflection of Thornton. He is the Sharks only player.
[Ed's Note: Much like Tim Connolly, Joe Thornton should use his leadership powers for good and not evil. There were not any other San Jose Sharks capable of offering any kind of compass during the playoffs. They could only turn to Thornton, who so willingly led them off a cliff every time.
Also, shenanigans. Here are Joe Thornton's stat lines from the playoffs for the Sharks...
2005-06: 2-7-9 in 11 games
2006-07: 1-10-11 in 11 games
2007-08: 2-8-10 in 13 games
2008-09: 1-4-5 in 6 games
2009-10 (so far): 3-8-11 in 11 games
So, yes, you are correct by saying that, until this year, he only scored six playoff goals for the Sharks. Which, at first blush, looks like it sucks. But in those 41 playoff games, Thornton happened to have 35 points. Which does not suck. It's not his regular season point per game average, but .85 is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, Thornton is not a goal scorer. His regular season PPG is 1.01, but GPG is .31. His playoff GPG for the Sharks is .17 (or .15 not including this year). So his goal scoring did drop off, significantly (about half). But his PPG is still comparable, bearing in mind these sample sizes aren't huge.
Finally, to pick a random point for comparison, Chris Drury's playoff point per game average over that same span? .76. Joe Thornton is a huge choking bastard, Chris Drury is mega-clutch.]
Boston used the cap space created in the Thornton trade to sign defenseman Zdeno Chara, an eventual Norris Trophy winner.
And missed the playoffs the season after they signed him.
[Ed's Note: Prove this. Sturm, Stuart, and Primeau had an aggregate cap hit (according to nhlscap.com) in 2005-06 of $5.325 million. Thornton's cap hit was $6.67 million (rounded up). So Boston saved about $1.35 million in the deal. Chara's cap hit is $7.5 million. Where the hell did the rest of the cap space come from?
Also, in light of the statistics and cap numbers I've created the "fun with math" tag.]
The Bruins cleared more room to sign Marc Savard, who has averaged more than a point per game since he arrived. The Bruins had the NHL's best record last season.
And this has exactly what to do with the Thornton deal?
OK, so the Bruins won the deal?
No. As stated above, for two straight seasons without "Big Joe," Boston did not make the playoffs. While the Sharks, with him, always did.
Thornton's absence led to the Bruins' misery in 2005-06, but also to fifth overall pick Phil Kessel. He had a team-high 36 goals last season, plus 11 points in 11 playoff games before a second-round knockout.
Soooooooo...... the plan was to trade Thornton, which would necessarily mean the Bruins would suck and therefore they could draft Kessel? Well, at least Kessel is still an instrumental member of the elite Bruins teams.
He was seeking more than $5 million per season last summer, which would have thrown off payroll. GM Peter Chiarelli shipped Kessel to Toronto for two first-round picks in a bold move that was roundly criticized because he unloaded a goal scorer without getting one in return.
Oh.
But now the Bruins own the second pick overall and are certain to land a talented forward in Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin.
So rely on Toronto sucking. OK, actually not a bad plan. Draft a young player, who may or may not be good. In any event, we now have gotten to a point in Bruin history about 17 steps removed from the Thornton trade. We are basically into one of those ridiculous law school exam questions about causation. Man gets hit by car. Walks away with a sprained ankle. Ankle is further sprained when the man plays softball. He goes to the hospital for treatment and dies because an infected syringe caused a fatal staph infection. Is the driver of the car responsible for the man's death?
[Ed's Note: The Bruins netted Kessel not as a direct result of the Thornton trade. The Bruins sucked in part because Thornton was gone, but Boston didn't receive the fifth pick they used on Kessel from San Jose. Phil Kessel actually has almost nothing to do with Joe Thornton. It'd be like saying Edmonton gets to draft #1 overall right now as a direct result of Buffalo resigning Thomas Vanek. So, to Edmonton Thomas Vanek = Hall or Seguin. Doesn't quite work (although that actually makes MORE sense than Thornton becoming Kessel becoming Hall or Seguin).]
Thornton remained largely invisible in big games, vanishing in the first round against Colorado with no goals and a minus-3 rating. He vacated the perimeter in the second round, showed some vigor and had three goals and eight points in five games while dominating Detroit.
What? San Jose won both series. Who cares?
San Jose has reached the conference finals. Boston can reach the conference finals with a win tonight. Which team ended up better in the Thornton deal remains open to debate, but both had the gumption to build upon a significant move in an effort to win the Stanley Cup.
Actually, it is not open to debate. Thornton yet again is a key cog in the San Jose Sharks top rated team. The Bruins have retained one of the role players who came back in the trade and a new GM made about half a dozen unrelated moves to build the Bruins that we see today.
[Ed's Note: The beauty of not firing off cannons too early... both Boston and San Jose have had their playoff struggles of late. But San Jose has never yielded a 3-0 series lead. Thornton replacement (because of ALL that cap space Boston got) Zdeno Chara has.]
Here's the deal with the Sabres: Tim Connolly, Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek, Jochen Hecht, Jason Pominville, Paul Gaustad, Henrik Tallinder, Toni Lydman, Adam Mair and Ryan Miller remained after Thornton was traded.
Right. None of whom, with the possible exception of Miller, come even close to being on the level of Joe Thornton. Joe Thornton is an elite NHL talent. So is Miller. All of the other players listed are no where close to Joe Thornton.
Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, Maxim Afinogenov, Brian Campbell, Ales Kotalik and J.P. Dumont departed. The return: Tyler Ennis, taken with a pick they obtained for Campbell.
How does that make sense?
It should be noted that Briere, Drury, and Dumont were all obtained by the Sabres via trades that the Sabres clearly won, with the exception of Drury. Briere was obtained for Chris Gratton. Dumont was acquired ALONG WITH Doug Gilmour for Michal Grosek. Drury was obtained for Rhett Warrener. That one was a wash.
[Ed's Note: This is so nonsensical I can't even handle it. Free agency decisions happen. The premise of this column is that bold moves need to be taken. Which suggests that we should have traded Briere or Drury in 2007. Don't get me started on Max/Dumont again. I've been down that road before. Kotalik does not bear any inclusion here whatsoever. The premise of this last Sabres kiss off is faulty. Boston traded Thornton, and have three players on their team now as a result. Boston has won two playoff series (one against Buffalo) in the five seasons including the Thornton trade, and since. Buffalo has won four series in the time, in as many playoff appearances. So, perhaps we shouldn't be worshipping the genius of Mike O'Connell and Peter Chiarelli. Because, in some ways, Mike O'Connell + Peter Chiarelli = 1/2 Darcy Regier.]
This journalistic masterpiece is, ostensibly, not about the Sabres. Or so you think. Read on, you'll see.
michael.w took care of it first, with my comments in italics because I don't highlight my hair.
The deal didn't make sense at the time because it broke Rule No. 1 in "Tricks of the Trade: GM's Guide for Swapping NHL Players." (this sounds like the lamest and least helpful book ever) It states the following: Never, ever, however long you shall live, unload a franchise player unless A) one is coming back in return or B) you're trying to get fired.
Mike O'Connell broke the rule when he traded Joe Thornton on Nov. 30, 2005, which helps explain why the Bruins sent O'Connell packing after the season. Thornton finished the season with the Sharks as the NHL's leading scorer and most valuable player. The Bruins had the fifth-worst record in the league and missed the playoffs.
At least there is acknowledgment that the Bruins GM was fired. Now before you even ask if the trade really benefited both teams, as the headline suggests, I should inject a fact here. The Bruins missed the playoffs not just in the 2005-2006 season, but also the season that followed. In some parts, missing the playoffs two seasons in a row is a mortal sin, and the team's GM sucks.
[Ed's Note: Actually, we should envy the Bruins. They fire their GM after missing the playoffs only once. Also, maybe Mike O'Connell was trying to get fired. You ever think of that, smart guy?]
Thornton was everything the Sharks needed and more over the past five regular seasons, averaging 102 points if you include 23 games he played for the Bruins before making his way to San Jose. He led the league in assists three times and finished with no worse than 86 points in any season during that span.
He also led the league in being tagged with the cliche "can't win in the playoffs."
Boston received Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau in return. The last two were wheeled the following season to Calgary for Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew. Sturm has just two playoff goals to show for five years in Boston. Kobasew is gone.
It was a GM not involved in the Thornton deal that made those moves, by the way.
[Ed's Note: Also, all three players were on the roster at the beginning of the 2006-07 season. This is important to note, because during the 2006 offseason, Boston signed Zdeno Chara. So, basically, the three guys that balanced out Thornton were still on the roster when Chara signed.]
So, the Sharks won the deal?
Yes. San Jose has made the playoffs in each of the seasons that Joe Thornton has been on the team. The Bruins have not made the playoffs in each of the seasons since the trade.
Thornton was among the NHL's great players between October and April, one of the great failures in April and May. He had six playoff goals in five postseasons with the Bruins, including 0-0-0, minus-6 over his final seven playoff games for Boston.
Thanks for joining the "Thornton Can't Win in the Playoffs Parade"
Jumbo Joe (Please stop with the nicknames! I am begging. Or at least get it right. He is often referred to as "Big Joe") was pocketing $6.6 million when the swap was completed. He's making $7.2 million now after giving San Jose a hometown discount. He gave them six goals over 41 playoff games in four seasons for a Sharks team that was terrific in the regular season, terrible in the postseason, a reflection of him.
Of course, just a reflection of Thornton. He is the Sharks only player.
[Ed's Note: Much like Tim Connolly, Joe Thornton should use his leadership powers for good and not evil. There were not any other San Jose Sharks capable of offering any kind of compass during the playoffs. They could only turn to Thornton, who so willingly led them off a cliff every time.
Also, shenanigans. Here are Joe Thornton's stat lines from the playoffs for the Sharks...
2005-06: 2-7-9 in 11 games
2006-07: 1-10-11 in 11 games
2007-08: 2-8-10 in 13 games
2008-09: 1-4-5 in 6 games
2009-10 (so far): 3-8-11 in 11 games
So, yes, you are correct by saying that, until this year, he only scored six playoff goals for the Sharks. Which, at first blush, looks like it sucks. But in those 41 playoff games, Thornton happened to have 35 points. Which does not suck. It's not his regular season point per game average, but .85 is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, Thornton is not a goal scorer. His regular season PPG is 1.01, but GPG is .31. His playoff GPG for the Sharks is .17 (or .15 not including this year). So his goal scoring did drop off, significantly (about half). But his PPG is still comparable, bearing in mind these sample sizes aren't huge.
Finally, to pick a random point for comparison, Chris Drury's playoff point per game average over that same span? .76. Joe Thornton is a huge choking bastard, Chris Drury is mega-clutch.]
Boston used the cap space created in the Thornton trade to sign defenseman Zdeno Chara, an eventual Norris Trophy winner.
And missed the playoffs the season after they signed him.
[Ed's Note: Prove this. Sturm, Stuart, and Primeau had an aggregate cap hit (according to nhlscap.com) in 2005-06 of $5.325 million. Thornton's cap hit was $6.67 million (rounded up). So Boston saved about $1.35 million in the deal. Chara's cap hit is $7.5 million. Where the hell did the rest of the cap space come from?
Also, in light of the statistics and cap numbers I've created the "fun with math" tag.]
The Bruins cleared more room to sign Marc Savard, who has averaged more than a point per game since he arrived. The Bruins had the NHL's best record last season.
And this has exactly what to do with the Thornton deal?
OK, so the Bruins won the deal?
No. As stated above, for two straight seasons without "Big Joe," Boston did not make the playoffs. While the Sharks, with him, always did.
Thornton's absence led to the Bruins' misery in 2005-06, but also to fifth overall pick Phil Kessel. He had a team-high 36 goals last season, plus 11 points in 11 playoff games before a second-round knockout.
Soooooooo...... the plan was to trade Thornton, which would necessarily mean the Bruins would suck and therefore they could draft Kessel? Well, at least Kessel is still an instrumental member of the elite Bruins teams.
He was seeking more than $5 million per season last summer, which would have thrown off payroll. GM Peter Chiarelli shipped Kessel to Toronto for two first-round picks in a bold move that was roundly criticized because he unloaded a goal scorer without getting one in return.
Oh.
But now the Bruins own the second pick overall and are certain to land a talented forward in Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin.
So rely on Toronto sucking. OK, actually not a bad plan. Draft a young player, who may or may not be good. In any event, we now have gotten to a point in Bruin history about 17 steps removed from the Thornton trade. We are basically into one of those ridiculous law school exam questions about causation. Man gets hit by car. Walks away with a sprained ankle. Ankle is further sprained when the man plays softball. He goes to the hospital for treatment and dies because an infected syringe caused a fatal staph infection. Is the driver of the car responsible for the man's death?
[Ed's Note: The Bruins netted Kessel not as a direct result of the Thornton trade. The Bruins sucked in part because Thornton was gone, but Boston didn't receive the fifth pick they used on Kessel from San Jose. Phil Kessel actually has almost nothing to do with Joe Thornton. It'd be like saying Edmonton gets to draft #1 overall right now as a direct result of Buffalo resigning Thomas Vanek. So, to Edmonton Thomas Vanek = Hall or Seguin. Doesn't quite work (although that actually makes MORE sense than Thornton becoming Kessel becoming Hall or Seguin).]
Thornton remained largely invisible in big games, vanishing in the first round against Colorado with no goals and a minus-3 rating. He vacated the perimeter in the second round, showed some vigor and had three goals and eight points in five games while dominating Detroit.
What? San Jose won both series. Who cares?
San Jose has reached the conference finals. Boston can reach the conference finals with a win tonight. Which team ended up better in the Thornton deal remains open to debate, but both had the gumption to build upon a significant move in an effort to win the Stanley Cup.
Actually, it is not open to debate. Thornton yet again is a key cog in the San Jose Sharks top rated team. The Bruins have retained one of the role players who came back in the trade and a new GM made about half a dozen unrelated moves to build the Bruins that we see today.
[Ed's Note: The beauty of not firing off cannons too early... both Boston and San Jose have had their playoff struggles of late. But San Jose has never yielded a 3-0 series lead. Thornton replacement (because of ALL that cap space Boston got) Zdeno Chara has.]
Here's the deal with the Sabres: Tim Connolly, Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek, Jochen Hecht, Jason Pominville, Paul Gaustad, Henrik Tallinder, Toni Lydman, Adam Mair and Ryan Miller remained after Thornton was traded.
Right. None of whom, with the possible exception of Miller, come even close to being on the level of Joe Thornton. Joe Thornton is an elite NHL talent. So is Miller. All of the other players listed are no where close to Joe Thornton.
Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, Maxim Afinogenov, Brian Campbell, Ales Kotalik and J.P. Dumont departed. The return: Tyler Ennis, taken with a pick they obtained for Campbell.
How does that make sense?
It should be noted that Briere, Drury, and Dumont were all obtained by the Sabres via trades that the Sabres clearly won, with the exception of Drury. Briere was obtained for Chris Gratton. Dumont was acquired ALONG WITH Doug Gilmour for Michal Grosek. Drury was obtained for Rhett Warrener. That one was a wash.
[Ed's Note: This is so nonsensical I can't even handle it. Free agency decisions happen. The premise of this column is that bold moves need to be taken. Which suggests that we should have traded Briere or Drury in 2007. Don't get me started on Max/Dumont again. I've been down that road before. Kotalik does not bear any inclusion here whatsoever. The premise of this last Sabres kiss off is faulty. Boston traded Thornton, and have three players on their team now as a result. Boston has won two playoff series (one against Buffalo) in the five seasons including the Thornton trade, and since. Buffalo has won four series in the time, in as many playoff appearances. So, perhaps we shouldn't be worshipping the genius of Mike O'Connell and Peter Chiarelli. Because, in some ways, Mike O'Connell + Peter Chiarelli = 1/2 Darcy Regier.]
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
fire bucky gleason
We took a bit of a break here at Fire Bucky Gleason, because Bucky spent time at the Olympics and then, for reasons not entirely clear (to anyone), he was assigned to cover Syracuse's flame out NCAA tournament appearance. Thanks to that we had to endure a pretty dry spell, at least in terms of Bucky's Sabres commentary. Well, March Madness has ended, Bucky no longer has any reason to get indignant over the mistreatment of our ski jumping program, and the Sabres happen to be marching toward the playoffs. But, of course, nobody's excited about it. Because, as we've detailed here, the Sabres suck.
In the dressing room afterward, they proudly donned caps commemorating the Northeast Division title and enjoyed the moment if only for a short time. At 9:47 p.m., Ryan Miller glanced at the clock and announced he had 2 hours and 13 minutes, until midnight, to celebrate before getting back to work.
Borderline irrelevant sidenote to the entire NHL season: the Sabres have won the Northeast Division.
The Sabres all season have emphasized the need to temper their emotions in good times and bad. Miller, their franchise goaltender and primary source of hope, wasn't about to go overboard Tuesday night after they clinched the division with a convincing 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers.
The New York Rangers are captained by Chris Drury.
"It's a stop along the way," he said. "In baseball, they win the pennant and everybody goes crazy with champagne at the end. I never understood it. We have our hats and T-shirts, smile and have a little fun, crank a little music. You have to take time to say it feels good, but we're not going to be satisfied."
Pretty reasonable quote from Miller (assuming it's Miller talking and not just Bucky making things up again.
It explains why the Sabres weren't overly jubilant after the game, but they understood this season has been nothing to sneer at, either. Division titles don't come around often in this town. The Sabres won their division just six times in 40 years since joining the NHL. Overall, it has been a pretty good season.
Get the sense we're in the midst of another shining example of Bucky's persuasive writing? I do. "The Sabres have, overall, played well. They've done something relatively rare, and deserve to be patted on the back. So, in conclusion, they suck."
Funny, but the Sabres' rise in the division and flirtation with the top of the conference has been met mostly with disenchantment or guarded optimism. HSBC Arena often felt like a morgue before coming to life Tuesday night. The irrepressible buzz that comes with a playoff team has been mysteriously absent.
It's been met "mostly" with "disenchantment or guarded optimism" because they've had a playoff spot wrapped up since January, and Ottawa gifted them the division in the first week of March. Will someone1 please remind everyone that Buffalo hasn't had to play a hockey game with any actual legitimate meaning since Christmas? Please? The "irrepressible buzz" isn't mysteriously absent. We have to suffer through three completely pointless regular season games before the playoffs start. Why get excited about the playoffs now, when we still have to endure 180 minutes of throwaway hockey? Saying the fans aren't excited about playoff hockey because there isn't a "buzz" is like saying your kid's not excited about Christmas because he's not bouncing off the walls on Christmas Eve.
My sense is that this isn't a Buffalo sports thing, where fans are reluctant to climb aboard because they fear getting their hearts broken. They simply haven't been able to trust the Sabres' success, haven't been overly impressed and aren't about to shower the organization with praise until it's worthy.
Northeast Division title, toying with second overall in the conference. At least one win against nearly every top team in the league. All-world goaltender, plus a Calder trophy candidate on the blue line AND promising rookies for next year. The team seems pretty worthy of praise to me.
The Sabres released 2,000 playoff tickets for sale on Monday. In the first season after the lockout, when they showed more promise despite finishing second in the division, the tickets would have been gone in about 15 minutes. There were still a few available Tuesday.
This isn't apples to oranges, this is apples to chocolate ice cream. Playoff tickets sold out quick in 2006 because we had just had a full season of hockey stolen from us because the owners and players are stupid. Also, the economy was in a much better state than it is now. But way to take one small, marginally applicable fact and essentially use it as the basis for your entire argument.
See, you can't fool Buffalo fans.
Sure you can. You've been fooling them into thinking their team sucks since October.
The Sabres have a 16-14-6 record since Jan. 9. They have seven wins in 20 games over teams that were still in the playoffs Tuesday night. We're not talking about a little hiccup here. Thirty-six games is a large enough sample size, especially in the second half of the season, to create doubt.
First, hat tip to Fire Joe Morgan. I think those guys single-handedly inserted "sample size" into the modern sports lexicon. More importantly, Bucky, while "correct" is also a cherry picking bastard. He picked the 36 games that prove his point while ignoring the previous two (both wins, of course) that would round out the whole "second half of the season."
Also, there is no qualitative analysis. Just a random mention of "sample size" to make it look official, plus reference to ominous stats. Two can play that game, friend. Over the course of the entire season (a bigger sample size), Buffalo has collected wins against each of the top two teams in each conference. You know who has lost all twelve games against those same teams? Nobody important.
Plus, every single effing team has room for doubt. When has there ever been a team that could say "Hey, these playoffs are a mere formality. Just give us the Cup." Never.
Just know they have the X factor in Miller, who had fans on their feet in the second period Tuesday when he robbed Marian Gaborik with a ridiculous blocker save that warranted time in the state pen. (legal metaphor tag!) It was the kind of stop that reassured people that anything can happen if he gets on a roll in the postseason.
So, the Sabres suck, but even sucky teams can accomplish something too. Stay tuned, I guess.
Remember, too, that winning in the playoffs is a learning process. It often takes a few years before players understand how to play under pressure. They need to regain that experience, from their veterans down to their good young players, knowing they're onto something special in the coming years.
Regain what experience? I thought you had to learn it, and we don't have it, so wouldn't we have to "gain" that experience? If we already have it, which "regain" suggests we do, we should be good to go. What the hell?
Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn said a few years ago that the master plan called for winning the Cup and giving Buffalo its first major sports championship. He didn't have a specific timetable, which always makes you curious,
No it doesn't. It makes sense. Why the hell would you put out a specific timetable? "We're going to win the Cup within five years, book it." You look like every other idiot who makes guarantees in sports.
but common sense suggested it would take four or five years. This is the third season.
So, we're right smack dab in the middle of a rebuilding process. Not only should we be excited about how well they're playing now, we should also be excited about how well we could be playing next year or the year after.
The buzz should return in the first round. Perhaps they can gain some momentum if they reach the second round. You would certainly like their chances with Miller if they somehow played in the conference finals. There's also the likelihood, after watching them for the past three months, of them being eliminated in the first round.
Wooo! Prediction central!! The Sabres may reach the second round. Or maybe they'll play in the conference finals. Or may they'll get eliminated in the first round. Any more bold prognostications there Nostradamus? How about "the Sabres will play hockey later next week" or "at some point, during their first round match-up, one of the teams will score a goal." This qualifies as compensable sports commentary and analysis?
For now, tip your cap to them and enjoy the moment while you can.
I'm going to enjoy it for a while. Only one team wins the Cup, only one team gets to skate on into the offseason sunset happy. I hate this bizarre "second place is the first loser" mentality that says because you didn't win it all your entire season was pretty much a waste and we should all really shoot ourselves. The Sabres have played well this year, and I've had fun watching them. Why should I get all bent out of shape because the Sabres may (gasp!) lose in the playoffs?? I've been buzzing about the playoffs since Buffalo started strong out of the gate, and can't wait for it to start. Bring it on, it's going to be one hell of a ride. I'm ready.
1 - Besides me.
In the dressing room afterward, they proudly donned caps commemorating the Northeast Division title and enjoyed the moment if only for a short time. At 9:47 p.m., Ryan Miller glanced at the clock and announced he had 2 hours and 13 minutes, until midnight, to celebrate before getting back to work.
Borderline irrelevant sidenote to the entire NHL season: the Sabres have won the Northeast Division.
The Sabres all season have emphasized the need to temper their emotions in good times and bad. Miller, their franchise goaltender and primary source of hope, wasn't about to go overboard Tuesday night after they clinched the division with a convincing 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers.
The New York Rangers are captained by Chris Drury.
"It's a stop along the way," he said. "In baseball, they win the pennant and everybody goes crazy with champagne at the end. I never understood it. We have our hats and T-shirts, smile and have a little fun, crank a little music. You have to take time to say it feels good, but we're not going to be satisfied."
Pretty reasonable quote from Miller (assuming it's Miller talking and not just Bucky making things up again.
It explains why the Sabres weren't overly jubilant after the game, but they understood this season has been nothing to sneer at, either. Division titles don't come around often in this town. The Sabres won their division just six times in 40 years since joining the NHL. Overall, it has been a pretty good season.
Get the sense we're in the midst of another shining example of Bucky's persuasive writing? I do. "The Sabres have, overall, played well. They've done something relatively rare, and deserve to be patted on the back. So, in conclusion, they suck."
Funny, but the Sabres' rise in the division and flirtation with the top of the conference has been met mostly with disenchantment or guarded optimism. HSBC Arena often felt like a morgue before coming to life Tuesday night. The irrepressible buzz that comes with a playoff team has been mysteriously absent.
It's been met "mostly" with "disenchantment or guarded optimism" because they've had a playoff spot wrapped up since January, and Ottawa gifted them the division in the first week of March. Will someone1 please remind everyone that Buffalo hasn't had to play a hockey game with any actual legitimate meaning since Christmas? Please? The "irrepressible buzz" isn't mysteriously absent. We have to suffer through three completely pointless regular season games before the playoffs start. Why get excited about the playoffs now, when we still have to endure 180 minutes of throwaway hockey? Saying the fans aren't excited about playoff hockey because there isn't a "buzz" is like saying your kid's not excited about Christmas because he's not bouncing off the walls on Christmas Eve.
My sense is that this isn't a Buffalo sports thing, where fans are reluctant to climb aboard because they fear getting their hearts broken. They simply haven't been able to trust the Sabres' success, haven't been overly impressed and aren't about to shower the organization with praise until it's worthy.
Northeast Division title, toying with second overall in the conference. At least one win against nearly every top team in the league. All-world goaltender, plus a Calder trophy candidate on the blue line AND promising rookies for next year. The team seems pretty worthy of praise to me.
The Sabres released 2,000 playoff tickets for sale on Monday. In the first season after the lockout, when they showed more promise despite finishing second in the division, the tickets would have been gone in about 15 minutes. There were still a few available Tuesday.
This isn't apples to oranges, this is apples to chocolate ice cream. Playoff tickets sold out quick in 2006 because we had just had a full season of hockey stolen from us because the owners and players are stupid. Also, the economy was in a much better state than it is now. But way to take one small, marginally applicable fact and essentially use it as the basis for your entire argument.
See, you can't fool Buffalo fans.
Sure you can. You've been fooling them into thinking their team sucks since October.
The Sabres have a 16-14-6 record since Jan. 9. They have seven wins in 20 games over teams that were still in the playoffs Tuesday night. We're not talking about a little hiccup here. Thirty-six games is a large enough sample size, especially in the second half of the season, to create doubt.
First, hat tip to Fire Joe Morgan. I think those guys single-handedly inserted "sample size" into the modern sports lexicon. More importantly, Bucky, while "correct" is also a cherry picking bastard. He picked the 36 games that prove his point while ignoring the previous two (both wins, of course) that would round out the whole "second half of the season."
Also, there is no qualitative analysis. Just a random mention of "sample size" to make it look official, plus reference to ominous stats. Two can play that game, friend. Over the course of the entire season (a bigger sample size), Buffalo has collected wins against each of the top two teams in each conference. You know who has lost all twelve games against those same teams? Nobody important.
Plus, every single effing team has room for doubt. When has there ever been a team that could say "Hey, these playoffs are a mere formality. Just give us the Cup." Never.
Just know they have the X factor in Miller, who had fans on their feet in the second period Tuesday when he robbed Marian Gaborik with a ridiculous blocker save that warranted time in the state pen. (legal metaphor tag!) It was the kind of stop that reassured people that anything can happen if he gets on a roll in the postseason.
So, the Sabres suck, but even sucky teams can accomplish something too. Stay tuned, I guess.
Remember, too, that winning in the playoffs is a learning process. It often takes a few years before players understand how to play under pressure. They need to regain that experience, from their veterans down to their good young players, knowing they're onto something special in the coming years.
Regain what experience? I thought you had to learn it, and we don't have it, so wouldn't we have to "gain" that experience? If we already have it, which "regain" suggests we do, we should be good to go. What the hell?
Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn said a few years ago that the master plan called for winning the Cup and giving Buffalo its first major sports championship. He didn't have a specific timetable, which always makes you curious,
No it doesn't. It makes sense. Why the hell would you put out a specific timetable? "We're going to win the Cup within five years, book it." You look like every other idiot who makes guarantees in sports.
but common sense suggested it would take four or five years. This is the third season.
So, we're right smack dab in the middle of a rebuilding process. Not only should we be excited about how well they're playing now, we should also be excited about how well we could be playing next year or the year after.
The buzz should return in the first round. Perhaps they can gain some momentum if they reach the second round. You would certainly like their chances with Miller if they somehow played in the conference finals. There's also the likelihood, after watching them for the past three months, of them being eliminated in the first round.
Wooo! Prediction central!! The Sabres may reach the second round. Or maybe they'll play in the conference finals. Or may they'll get eliminated in the first round. Any more bold prognostications there Nostradamus? How about "the Sabres will play hockey later next week" or "at some point, during their first round match-up, one of the teams will score a goal." This qualifies as compensable sports commentary and analysis?
For now, tip your cap to them and enjoy the moment while you can.
I'm going to enjoy it for a while. Only one team wins the Cup, only one team gets to skate on into the offseason sunset happy. I hate this bizarre "second place is the first loser" mentality that says because you didn't win it all your entire season was pretty much a waste and we should all really shoot ourselves. The Sabres have played well this year, and I've had fun watching them. Why should I get all bent out of shape because the Sabres may (gasp!) lose in the playoffs?? I've been buzzing about the playoffs since Buffalo started strong out of the gate, and can't wait for it to start. Bring it on, it's going to be one hell of a ride. I'm ready.
1 - Besides me.
Monday, March 29, 2010
fire bucky gleason, more dumb micro-analysis edition
I really hope Buffalo finally breaks its funk against the Ottawa Senators. In part because I really hate Ottawa, but mostly because I'm sick of hearing everybody harping about how lousy we are when we play Ottawa. By losing 3-21 we get subjected to drivel like this. Unfortunately, when we get to points like Friday night, Bucky gets emboldened.
I'd be lying if I didn't have my own reservations about our recent play against Ottawa. But, at the same time, every team has its foil somewhere. Another team that just gets the bounces, the battles, and the breaks, and figures you out. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are something like 198,753-15 (this is just an estimate based on all the sports journalism I've read since 2001 on the subject) against all non-Miami Dolphins NFL teams. However, in that same span, the same guys are 10-9 against the Dolphins. It happens.
I also take solace in the fact that, playoff-wise, in our last ten games against Ottawa, we are 5-5. Of those ten games, nine (9) (!) were decided by a single solitary goal. Six of those games were settled in overtime (including one in double overtime). That doesn't sound like domination by anybody, it sounds like an exceptionally dead heat where the teams are so evenly matched it comes down to crazy things like getting a bounce or break. Nobody is clearly outworked. I know what you're thinking2, "But, patrick.m3, the Sens are approximately 97-1-18 against Buffalo in the regular season since the lockout." Fine. You are correct, you fatalistic "glass-is-only-a-quarter-full" fan so typical of those in and around Buffalo. The reality is that the NHL regular season is a completely different animal than the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. More on that later.
michael.w got to this first because I had sick kids all weekend. My comments are in italics because I'm better looking.
Patrick Kaleta wasted no time Friday night proving he's capable of dropping more than F- bombs. Our lovable local favorite dropped alternating overhand and uppercut bombs with his left hand on Zack Smith a few minutes into the game before dropping the Ottawa rookie to his knees in a heap.
What the hell does this have to with flaming out in the playoffs?
In what is becoming his post-scrap custom at home, the winger waved his arms on his way to the penalty box in a plea to his neighbors to bring more energy and raise the roof in HSBC Arena. Kaleta should have made an about face and summoned for more from the players sitting on his own bench.
Custom? This is exactly the second time Kaleta has done this. Last week, I twice had a roast beef sandwich for lunch instead of turkey. I guess a roast beef sandwich is now my "custom" sandwich. And why should he have turned to the Sabres bench? Isn't the standard cliche in hockey that fight energizes the team, sans turning and summoning more from the players on his own bench?
"It gives you that extra ounce of energy, that extra boost, and the fans are cheering and the atmosphere picks up. Then, we're ready to go," Kaleta said. "We played pretty well in certain areas, but we could have played a little bit better, a little more fearless and with a little more determination. That fight was trying to get something going."
At this count we are through three paragraphs of Patrick Kaleta masturbation and not a single mention of the Sabres and playoff possibilities.
[Ed's Note: I'd also like to point out that Bucky devoted a full paragraph of quotes attributable to Patrick Kaleta, none of which actually said, you know, anything.]
It clearly wasn't enough, but at least Kaleta gave it a whirl.
I thought he didn't "give it a whirl." Only focusing on the crowd and not the much needed attention that bench required. As an aside, isn't it the job of Lindy Ruff to keep the players on their toes and motivated, not the team agitator?
[Ed's Note: It's not Lindy's fault. ThomasVanek Vanish doesn't care about the fans, and just loafs through everything. He definitely does NOT park himself in front of the net and get brutally assaulted to score any of his goals. The only players that do care about the fans (and, therefore, the only players who the fans should care about) are Miller, Myers, Kennedy, Kaleta, and (presumably) Grier.]
The Sabres had an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth Friday night, a formality that will take place with a victory tonight over Tampa Bay or at some point soon. They're almost certain to win the division. They have the best goaltender in the league in Ryan Miller.
[Ed's Note: This is Bucky's attempt at persuasive writing... line up everything that goes against what you believe. The Sabres have accumulated so many points their playoff spot, even without clinching, was all but guaranteed. They are "almost certain" to win the division, despite giving Ottawa ten points in the five games they've played so far (and only earning, like, two). They have the "best goaltender in the league", which is actually a gross understatement. Ryan Miller was named tournament MVP at the Olympics. Therefore, he is the best player in the world.]
But is anybody really convinced a contending team is in our midst?
Yes. They have the best goaltender in the league. And I seem to recall that having the best goaltender in the league can often cover the blemishes of a sub par team, particularly come playoff time. And yes, I picked this picture of Hasek because it makes fun of Flyers fans.
[Ed's Note: I should hope people are convinced this team can "contend." I'm not saying we'll win the Cup. That's a longshot, I admit. But name me one "contending" team that has above average goaltending. Washington rotates between Varlamov and Theodore, so hopefully their offense can carry them. Though we saw in 2007 that an electric offense in the regular season don't mean squat come playoff time. Chicago is slumping, and has to rely on Huet. Luongo is slumping. Brodeur is about 97. The Sharks are, well, the Sharks. Pittsburgh will be addressed later. So, yeah, since you asked, I'm convinced. We have a shot. There are better teams out there, but the team that wins the Cup isn't necessarily the best. It's the one that manages 16 wins in the playoffs, however earned.]
Uh, no.
Yes, this man is a professional writer. Only he can come up with literary beauty like the preceding sentence.
[Ed's Note: Persuasive writing at its finest. "You know all those things that contradict the point I'm trying to make? Uh, ignore them." I'm sure Bucky will follow this thesis (which, I might add, we don't get until almost a third of the way through this nonsense) with evidence and argument in support of his main premise.]
And that has been the issue of late, even when the Sabres rattled off four straight victories to get into position to wrap up a playoff spot. They have a good team,
[Ed's Note: I'd just like to remind everyone that Bucky is trying to tell us all that the Sabres suck and have no chance at winning the Cup. So far his primary (by which I mean "only") support here is that 1. the Sabres recently won four games in a row and 2. have a good team.]
but they're not scaring anyone with their mediocre play over the past two months. The Senators certainly aren't worried about them, not after a 4-2 victory for their ninth straight win over the Sabres.
But they're winning. Who cares? Perhaps, seeing their comfortable spot in the standing, the Sabres have either intentionally or unintentionally set everything on cruise control knowing the two month grind of the playoffs is ahead of them.
[Ed's Note: Quite the juxtaposition here. The Sabres have just won four in a row, but are not scaring anyone with their mediocre play. Two things here: first, assuming Bucky is correct, we should be pleased that they're winning games with sheer mediocrity. Imagine what will happen in the playoffs if they don't play mediocre. Second, is that Bucky is not correct. But, he's a person paid to professionally offer insight and commentary on sports (particularly hockey). He can't be wrong.]
The Sabres had an opportunity to lock up the playoffs against a team that has given them problems, but they treated much of the game like some Tuesday game against Columbus in November.
It was a Friday game against Ottawa in March. Not a game in April, May or June, which actually would be an important game, regardless of opponent.
[Ed's Note: I'd like to point out that a Tuesday game against Columbus in November is worth the exact same amount of points as a Friday game against Ottawa in March. Also, what the hell does the day of the week have to do with anything? Seriously?]
Here's a disturbing stat: since Feb. 1, the Sabres have one regulation victory over a team currently in the playoffs. It was against a San Jose team that was finishing off a road trip and was running for the bus before the Olympics. Otherwise, it has been a string of mostly mediocre play, good fortune and poor opponents.
Nice job adding a thousand prerequisites. February was a month shortened by half because of the Olympic break. Good sample size.
[Ed's Note: Qualify qualify qualify. Let's see, the Sabres are 9-5-1 since the Olympic break. The Sabres beat Boston (a team currently in the playoffs) last night, which was admittedly after this steaming of pile of journalism was published. Four wins came against down and out teams (also known as "teams with absolutely nothing to lose"). Two other wins came against Eastern playoff teams (Philly and Montreal), including an overtime win against the Flyers. You do realize that overtime goals, and therefore overtime wins, count in the playoffs right? Only the Canadiens game was won in a shootout. Of those five losses, three were by one goal (all to teams in the playoffs, or desperate to make the playoffs at the time), plus the "two goal" loss to Ottawa, and a two goal loss to Washington. So, yeah, this reeks of mediocrity. Especially from a team that, once Ottawa (remember them) stumbled out of the break to the tune of 1-7-1, had roughly nothing to play for.]
The problem Friday night wasn't effort alone. It also was execution. They fired 43 shots at Sens goalie Brian Elliott, but most came from the outside until the third period. Jason Pominville made it interesting when he snapped home a wrister from the left circle early in the third period, but that was it.
[Ed's Note: Prove that "most" of the shots came from the outside. Seriously. Prove it. 43 shots is a lot of effing shots. The Sabres put 17 on net in the first period alone. Brian Elliott made some big saves. It happens.]
Thomas Vanek could have tied the game midway through the third, but his slap shot from between the circles on a breakaway rang off the post. Tough luck. Elliott made several big saves for Ottawa. Buffalo dominated most of the final period but ultimately it wasn't enough against a division rival that's behind them in the standings.
WOW! Got a long way before the sports cliches about effort and execution were dusted off. And dammit Thomas Vanek! You suck. In any event, congratulations on being the first NHL player to ever hit the post on a breakaway.
[Ed's Note: Seriously, cut Vanek. Trade him for a bag of pucks. Thanks to Vanek, shooters on breakaways are now 1,098,764/1,098,765 in terms of scoring production. To quote Charlie Conway, "if he was three inches to the left, he would've missed entirely." What a loser.]
If there's a positive they can take from the game Friday, it's that the Senators' win pushed them three points ahead of Montreal for fifth place in the conference, decreasing the chances of Buffalo meeting Ottawa in the first round.
Something we actually agree on. In sports, sometimes a team has another's number, regardless of record. It happens. Better to have Ottawa eliminated by Pittsburgh.
If Buffalo is going to be taken seriously in the postseason, it must figure out a way to get through teams like Ottawa.
Didn't you say immediately before this that they would not have to face Ottawa?
[Ed's Note: Name me another team "like Ottawa." What you want to say is "because we can't beat Ottawa, we suck and can never contend for a Cup." So say that. Now we have to worry about teams "like" Ottawa, even though you don't suggest any team dominates Buffalo like Ottawa does. You know who should be worried? Pittsburgh. The Pens are 0-8-1 against New Jersey and Washington this year, and are likely to meet one (or both) in the playoffs. The Sabres, by comparison, are 3-4 against the Devils and Capitals. Not great, but not winless. But, because we all must kneel at the altar of Crosby, Pens = contender, Sabres = sad pathetic jerks who have no business even suiting up in a playoff game.]
The Sabres have tried passing it off as just one of those strange things in sports. Sorry, but nine straight losses to the same team over two seasons can't be dismissed as some crazy fluke.
It is one of those crazy things in sports. Do you watch sports?
[Ed's Note: To help make sense of this, I'm going to substitute Pittsburgh. "The Penguins have tried passing it off as just one of those strange things in sports. Sorry, but nine straight losses to two top conference teams in the same season can't be dimissed as some crazy fluke."]
The Sabres can look at their record through 73 games and be satisfied, but they're kidding themselves if they think they can make any noise in the postseason in their current state.
Why should they be satisfied? And what current state should we be worried about, the state that had them, just two nights earlier scrap and claw their way to win against a playoff team when they were clearly outplayed? Of course, it is Bucky perhaps he just means the state of New York.
"It's not a fluke. Very rarely is it a fluke," Paul Gaustad said. "It's us committing 60 minutes against these guys. We can't be scared. We have to go after them. They paid attention to details, and we didn't. Enough is enough. We have to beat teams like this to get past any round in the playoffs. We have to be better, and we have to prove it."
Diligent reporter obtains cliched quotes from athlete: Check.
[Ed's Note: A paragraph attributed this time to Paul Gaustad, who, like Patrick Kaleta before him, says basically nothing.]
Lindy Ruff knows darned well the jury is still out on his team, and deep down he has questions of his own about them. Ruff suggested Friday morning that they can beat anybody in the East when they play their game, but he's not really sure. In fact, anybody predicting how the Sabres' will respond in the postseason is merely taking a guess based on old evidence.
The jury (here we go with legal references again) is still out on all of the teams that will make the playoffs. For instance, if the Caps run the table and win it all, they will validate their regular season dominance. If they fall anywhere short of a Cup, they choke. That's how it works in sports. Play the result and look like an expert after the fact. Oh and basing something on evidence, old, new or in between, is the exact opposite of guessing.
[Ed's Note: In light of Bucky's continued legal references, I am creating the legal metaphor tag.]
Vanek played well the last time they were in the postseason, for example, but he was a third-line winger who avoided lines designed specifically to stop him. Same goes for Derek Roy. Tim Connolly played only 24 playoff games in his first nine seasons. Six players on the roster have played none. Drew Stafford played 10 as a rookie.
And Brad Lidge was a perennial playoff choke artist, based on old evidence related guessing. Then, in 2008, he was perfect all through the post-season and led the Phillies to World Series and became "clutch." Then in 2009 he basically stunk again and everyone (playing the result) said they knew he would blow because he did so often in the past. See also Cole Hamels.
[Ed's Note: Alex Rodriguez is instructive here. Pre-2009, A-Rod sucked. He never won a title. He wasn't clutch. He wasn't a True Yankee. He lacked a certain "Jetery" quality. He was overpaid and undertalented, and would never win the big one. Not even for the Yankees. Now? He's a clutch superstars with a Ring. It's all stupid.]
The truth is it comes down to how they play over three periods. They played 58 listless minutes against the Canadiens and pulled out a victory. They've slept through the first period a few times and won. They didn't play well for the first two periods Friday, and they paid a price with a playoff berth waiting.
In the end, they failed to put up a strong enough fight.
And clinched the berth exactly one night after, so who cares?
[Ed's Note: What price did they pay, besides not fulfilling their end of a bizarre grudge match that exists primarily in the minds of local fans and sports media? Ottawa didn't take the division lead (which, I might, they had outright at the beginning of this month, which Bucky says is right in the middle of Buffalo's "mediocre" stretch), and barely even closed the gap. Thanks to two wins since Friday, the Sabres' magic number is 6. Ottawa has all the pressure here, Buffalo has no pressure beyond what they put on themselves because they keep losing to the Senators.]
"We've had enough lessons here over the last month," winger Mike Grier said. "Hopefully, it will start to sink in. We've got two weeks left in the season, and they're an example of what you have to do to win games. You've got to work hard and do all the little things. We didn't do enough of that."
Wasn't Grier's presence providing "leadership" supposed to prevent all of this anyways? Maybe all those sports cliches are BS.
To summarize: the Sabres suck, will be swept in the first round so don't buy tickets and don't watch the playoff games on TV. If you do, you're dumb.
1 - I know Daniel Alfredsson "scored" in the final second to make the official score 4-2. But since the clock read zero, I figure the goal doesn't count. If it did, there would have to be a faceoff. Not that it matters, it doesn't change the outcome, but it still seems stupid to give Alfie a free stat.
2 - I've demonstrated this before, don't be alarmed.
3 - Thank you for having the courtesy of using my pseudonym.
I'd be lying if I didn't have my own reservations about our recent play against Ottawa. But, at the same time, every team has its foil somewhere. Another team that just gets the bounces, the battles, and the breaks, and figures you out. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are something like 198,753-15 (this is just an estimate based on all the sports journalism I've read since 2001 on the subject) against all non-Miami Dolphins NFL teams. However, in that same span, the same guys are 10-9 against the Dolphins. It happens.
I also take solace in the fact that, playoff-wise, in our last ten games against Ottawa, we are 5-5. Of those ten games, nine (9) (!) were decided by a single solitary goal. Six of those games were settled in overtime (including one in double overtime). That doesn't sound like domination by anybody, it sounds like an exceptionally dead heat where the teams are so evenly matched it comes down to crazy things like getting a bounce or break. Nobody is clearly outworked. I know what you're thinking2, "But, patrick.m3, the Sens are approximately 97-1-18 against Buffalo in the regular season since the lockout." Fine. You are correct, you fatalistic "glass-is-only-a-quarter-full" fan so typical of those in and around Buffalo. The reality is that the NHL regular season is a completely different animal than the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. More on that later.
michael.w got to this first because I had sick kids all weekend. My comments are in italics because I'm better looking.
Patrick Kaleta wasted no time Friday night proving he's capable of dropping more than F- bombs. Our lovable local favorite dropped alternating overhand and uppercut bombs with his left hand on Zack Smith a few minutes into the game before dropping the Ottawa rookie to his knees in a heap.
What the hell does this have to with flaming out in the playoffs?
In what is becoming his post-scrap custom at home, the winger waved his arms on his way to the penalty box in a plea to his neighbors to bring more energy and raise the roof in HSBC Arena. Kaleta should have made an about face and summoned for more from the players sitting on his own bench.
Custom? This is exactly the second time Kaleta has done this. Last week, I twice had a roast beef sandwich for lunch instead of turkey. I guess a roast beef sandwich is now my "custom" sandwich. And why should he have turned to the Sabres bench? Isn't the standard cliche in hockey that fight energizes the team, sans turning and summoning more from the players on his own bench?
"It gives you that extra ounce of energy, that extra boost, and the fans are cheering and the atmosphere picks up. Then, we're ready to go," Kaleta said. "We played pretty well in certain areas, but we could have played a little bit better, a little more fearless and with a little more determination. That fight was trying to get something going."
At this count we are through three paragraphs of Patrick Kaleta masturbation and not a single mention of the Sabres and playoff possibilities.
[Ed's Note: I'd also like to point out that Bucky devoted a full paragraph of quotes attributable to Patrick Kaleta, none of which actually said, you know, anything.]
It clearly wasn't enough, but at least Kaleta gave it a whirl.
I thought he didn't "give it a whirl." Only focusing on the crowd and not the much needed attention that bench required. As an aside, isn't it the job of Lindy Ruff to keep the players on their toes and motivated, not the team agitator?
[Ed's Note: It's not Lindy's fault. Thomas
The Sabres had an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth Friday night, a formality that will take place with a victory tonight over Tampa Bay or at some point soon. They're almost certain to win the division. They have the best goaltender in the league in Ryan Miller.
[Ed's Note: This is Bucky's attempt at persuasive writing... line up everything that goes against what you believe. The Sabres have accumulated so many points their playoff spot, even without clinching, was all but guaranteed. They are "almost certain" to win the division, despite giving Ottawa ten points in the five games they've played so far (and only earning, like, two). They have the "best goaltender in the league", which is actually a gross understatement. Ryan Miller was named tournament MVP at the Olympics. Therefore, he is the best player in the world.]
But is anybody really convinced a contending team is in our midst?
Yes. They have the best goaltender in the league. And I seem to recall that having the best goaltender in the league can often cover the blemishes of a sub par team, particularly come playoff time. And yes, I picked this picture of Hasek because it makes fun of Flyers fans.
[Ed's Note: I should hope people are convinced this team can "contend." I'm not saying we'll win the Cup. That's a longshot, I admit. But name me one "contending" team that has above average goaltending. Washington rotates between Varlamov and Theodore, so hopefully their offense can carry them. Though we saw in 2007 that an electric offense in the regular season don't mean squat come playoff time. Chicago is slumping, and has to rely on Huet. Luongo is slumping. Brodeur is about 97. The Sharks are, well, the Sharks. Pittsburgh will be addressed later. So, yeah, since you asked, I'm convinced. We have a shot. There are better teams out there, but the team that wins the Cup isn't necessarily the best. It's the one that manages 16 wins in the playoffs, however earned.]
Uh, no.
Yes, this man is a professional writer. Only he can come up with literary beauty like the preceding sentence.
[Ed's Note: Persuasive writing at its finest. "You know all those things that contradict the point I'm trying to make? Uh, ignore them." I'm sure Bucky will follow this thesis (which, I might add, we don't get until almost a third of the way through this nonsense) with evidence and argument in support of his main premise.]
And that has been the issue of late, even when the Sabres rattled off four straight victories to get into position to wrap up a playoff spot. They have a good team,
[Ed's Note: I'd just like to remind everyone that Bucky is trying to tell us all that the Sabres suck and have no chance at winning the Cup. So far his primary (by which I mean "only") support here is that 1. the Sabres recently won four games in a row and 2. have a good team.]
but they're not scaring anyone with their mediocre play over the past two months. The Senators certainly aren't worried about them, not after a 4-2 victory for their ninth straight win over the Sabres.
But they're winning. Who cares? Perhaps, seeing their comfortable spot in the standing, the Sabres have either intentionally or unintentionally set everything on cruise control knowing the two month grind of the playoffs is ahead of them.
[Ed's Note: Quite the juxtaposition here. The Sabres have just won four in a row, but are not scaring anyone with their mediocre play. Two things here: first, assuming Bucky is correct, we should be pleased that they're winning games with sheer mediocrity. Imagine what will happen in the playoffs if they don't play mediocre. Second, is that Bucky is not correct. But, he's a person paid to professionally offer insight and commentary on sports (particularly hockey). He can't be wrong.]
The Sabres had an opportunity to lock up the playoffs against a team that has given them problems, but they treated much of the game like some Tuesday game against Columbus in November.
It was a Friday game against Ottawa in March. Not a game in April, May or June, which actually would be an important game, regardless of opponent.
[Ed's Note: I'd like to point out that a Tuesday game against Columbus in November is worth the exact same amount of points as a Friday game against Ottawa in March. Also, what the hell does the day of the week have to do with anything? Seriously?]
Here's a disturbing stat: since Feb. 1, the Sabres have one regulation victory over a team currently in the playoffs. It was against a San Jose team that was finishing off a road trip and was running for the bus before the Olympics. Otherwise, it has been a string of mostly mediocre play, good fortune and poor opponents.
Nice job adding a thousand prerequisites. February was a month shortened by half because of the Olympic break. Good sample size.
[Ed's Note: Qualify qualify qualify. Let's see, the Sabres are 9-5-1 since the Olympic break. The Sabres beat Boston (a team currently in the playoffs) last night, which was admittedly after this steaming of pile of journalism was published. Four wins came against down and out teams (also known as "teams with absolutely nothing to lose"). Two other wins came against Eastern playoff teams (Philly and Montreal), including an overtime win against the Flyers. You do realize that overtime goals, and therefore overtime wins, count in the playoffs right? Only the Canadiens game was won in a shootout. Of those five losses, three were by one goal (all to teams in the playoffs, or desperate to make the playoffs at the time), plus the "two goal" loss to Ottawa, and a two goal loss to Washington. So, yeah, this reeks of mediocrity. Especially from a team that, once Ottawa (remember them) stumbled out of the break to the tune of 1-7-1, had roughly nothing to play for.]
The problem Friday night wasn't effort alone. It also was execution. They fired 43 shots at Sens goalie Brian Elliott, but most came from the outside until the third period. Jason Pominville made it interesting when he snapped home a wrister from the left circle early in the third period, but that was it.
[Ed's Note: Prove that "most" of the shots came from the outside. Seriously. Prove it. 43 shots is a lot of effing shots. The Sabres put 17 on net in the first period alone. Brian Elliott made some big saves. It happens.]
Thomas Vanek could have tied the game midway through the third, but his slap shot from between the circles on a breakaway rang off the post. Tough luck. Elliott made several big saves for Ottawa. Buffalo dominated most of the final period but ultimately it wasn't enough against a division rival that's behind them in the standings.
WOW! Got a long way before the sports cliches about effort and execution were dusted off. And dammit Thomas Vanek! You suck. In any event, congratulations on being the first NHL player to ever hit the post on a breakaway.
[Ed's Note: Seriously, cut Vanek. Trade him for a bag of pucks. Thanks to Vanek, shooters on breakaways are now 1,098,764/1,098,765 in terms of scoring production. To quote Charlie Conway, "if he was three inches to the left, he would've missed entirely." What a loser.]
If there's a positive they can take from the game Friday, it's that the Senators' win pushed them three points ahead of Montreal for fifth place in the conference, decreasing the chances of Buffalo meeting Ottawa in the first round.
Something we actually agree on. In sports, sometimes a team has another's number, regardless of record. It happens. Better to have Ottawa eliminated by Pittsburgh.
If Buffalo is going to be taken seriously in the postseason, it must figure out a way to get through teams like Ottawa.
Didn't you say immediately before this that they would not have to face Ottawa?
[Ed's Note: Name me another team "like Ottawa." What you want to say is "because we can't beat Ottawa, we suck and can never contend for a Cup." So say that. Now we have to worry about teams "like" Ottawa, even though you don't suggest any team dominates Buffalo like Ottawa does. You know who should be worried? Pittsburgh. The Pens are 0-8-1 against New Jersey and Washington this year, and are likely to meet one (or both) in the playoffs. The Sabres, by comparison, are 3-4 against the Devils and Capitals. Not great, but not winless. But, because we all must kneel at the altar of Crosby, Pens = contender, Sabres = sad pathetic jerks who have no business even suiting up in a playoff game.]
The Sabres have tried passing it off as just one of those strange things in sports. Sorry, but nine straight losses to the same team over two seasons can't be dismissed as some crazy fluke.
It is one of those crazy things in sports. Do you watch sports?
[Ed's Note: To help make sense of this, I'm going to substitute Pittsburgh. "The Penguins have tried passing it off as just one of those strange things in sports. Sorry, but nine straight losses to two top conference teams in the same season can't be dimissed as some crazy fluke."]
The Sabres can look at their record through 73 games and be satisfied, but they're kidding themselves if they think they can make any noise in the postseason in their current state.
Why should they be satisfied? And what current state should we be worried about, the state that had them, just two nights earlier scrap and claw their way to win against a playoff team when they were clearly outplayed? Of course, it is Bucky perhaps he just means the state of New York.
"It's not a fluke. Very rarely is it a fluke," Paul Gaustad said. "It's us committing 60 minutes against these guys. We can't be scared. We have to go after them. They paid attention to details, and we didn't. Enough is enough. We have to beat teams like this to get past any round in the playoffs. We have to be better, and we have to prove it."
Diligent reporter obtains cliched quotes from athlete: Check.
[Ed's Note: A paragraph attributed this time to Paul Gaustad, who, like Patrick Kaleta before him, says basically nothing.]
Lindy Ruff knows darned well the jury is still out on his team, and deep down he has questions of his own about them. Ruff suggested Friday morning that they can beat anybody in the East when they play their game, but he's not really sure. In fact, anybody predicting how the Sabres' will respond in the postseason is merely taking a guess based on old evidence.
The jury (here we go with legal references again) is still out on all of the teams that will make the playoffs. For instance, if the Caps run the table and win it all, they will validate their regular season dominance. If they fall anywhere short of a Cup, they choke. That's how it works in sports. Play the result and look like an expert after the fact. Oh and basing something on evidence, old, new or in between, is the exact opposite of guessing.
[Ed's Note: In light of Bucky's continued legal references, I am creating the legal metaphor tag.]
Vanek played well the last time they were in the postseason, for example, but he was a third-line winger who avoided lines designed specifically to stop him. Same goes for Derek Roy. Tim Connolly played only 24 playoff games in his first nine seasons. Six players on the roster have played none. Drew Stafford played 10 as a rookie.
And Brad Lidge was a perennial playoff choke artist, based on old evidence related guessing. Then, in 2008, he was perfect all through the post-season and led the Phillies to World Series and became "clutch." Then in 2009 he basically stunk again and everyone (playing the result) said they knew he would blow because he did so often in the past. See also Cole Hamels.
[Ed's Note: Alex Rodriguez is instructive here. Pre-2009, A-Rod sucked. He never won a title. He wasn't clutch. He wasn't a True Yankee. He lacked a certain "Jetery" quality. He was overpaid and undertalented, and would never win the big one. Not even for the Yankees. Now? He's a clutch superstars with a Ring. It's all stupid.]
The truth is it comes down to how they play over three periods. They played 58 listless minutes against the Canadiens and pulled out a victory. They've slept through the first period a few times and won. They didn't play well for the first two periods Friday, and they paid a price with a playoff berth waiting.
In the end, they failed to put up a strong enough fight.
And clinched the berth exactly one night after, so who cares?
[Ed's Note: What price did they pay, besides not fulfilling their end of a bizarre grudge match that exists primarily in the minds of local fans and sports media? Ottawa didn't take the division lead (which, I might, they had outright at the beginning of this month, which Bucky says is right in the middle of Buffalo's "mediocre" stretch), and barely even closed the gap. Thanks to two wins since Friday, the Sabres' magic number is 6. Ottawa has all the pressure here, Buffalo has no pressure beyond what they put on themselves because they keep losing to the Senators.]
"We've had enough lessons here over the last month," winger Mike Grier said. "Hopefully, it will start to sink in. We've got two weeks left in the season, and they're an example of what you have to do to win games. You've got to work hard and do all the little things. We didn't do enough of that."
Wasn't Grier's presence providing "leadership" supposed to prevent all of this anyways? Maybe all those sports cliches are BS.
To summarize: the Sabres suck, will be swept in the first round so don't buy tickets and don't watch the playoff games on TV. If you do, you're dumb.
1 - I know Daniel Alfredsson "scored" in the final second to make the official score 4-2. But since the clock read zero, I figure the goal doesn't count. If it did, there would have to be a faceoff. Not that it matters, it doesn't change the outcome, but it still seems stupid to give Alfie a free stat.
2 - I've demonstrated this before, don't be alarmed.
3 - Thank you for having the courtesy of using my pseudonym.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
fire bucky gleason, quadrennial edition part two
Perhaps the worst thing that could've happened in the Olympics would've been Chris Drury scoring a crucial goal in an important game. Because then Bucky would be somewhat legitimized in writing essentially the same love letter he's been writing since Drury was inexplicably and unjustifiably insulted by Darcy Regier in 2007. Such that he was forced, in order to maintain his dignity, to sign a bloated contract offer from Glen Sather. Unfortunately, such fears came to pass.
What annoys me is the broad statements about 1. how lousy Canadian athletes in general are, and 2. how lousy the Canadian hockey team is. When, with half the Olympics to go, nobody was in a position to really say either. Micro-analysis is stupid in sports, even though sports journalists are guilty of it. To a fault. For example, the Sabres power play is currently like 2-78 or something in the last fifteen games. That sucks. But when they finally snapped their power play drought, they lost. In the previous game, one in which they didn't score a power play goal, they won 5-3. So, while a strong power play is certainly helpful in winning games, perhaps it's nothing more than correlative. Micro-analysis is stupid. Yet, here we are.
I have added some comments, in italics because they're generally funnier than what michael.w provided.
Lindy Ruff must have been having flashbacks Sunday evening as he stood behind the bench watching the whole thing unfold. Roll back the clocks a few years, back to when the Sabres marched to back-to-back conference finals and Ryan Miller would keep his team in games long enough for Chris Drury to win them.
Ruff wasn't available after Miller led the United States to a 5-3 upset victory over Canada, with plenty of help from his old buddy Drury, but something tells me he was a conflicted assistant coach for Canada following the game.
That happened once in the 2007 playoffs against the Rangers. And lest we forget that it was not Chris Drury who won that game he tied it. Max Afinogenov won the game.
Damn those guys, but somewhere deep down, good for them.
"Memories, huh," Miller said with a smile after making 42 saves in one of the best games of his career. "We're making new ones here."
Nobody should have any problem remembering this one for a while. The tension was palpable hours before the game and grew more intense inside as the slugfest carried along.
Slugfest. Yes I get it, the Sabres uniform looks like a slug.
And then there were the dizzying, suffocating, excruciating final 3½ minutes with Drury blocking shots and Miller making saves and, good heavens, get the puck out of the zone.
"Yeah," Drury said afterward. "It seemed like they had eight or nine guys out there."
See that, Chris Drury can shut down eight or nine guys!
[Ed's Note: That is, of course, because Chris Drury has the hockey talent, strength, and acumen of nine or ten guys. That's why he's paid so much. When you have Drury on your team, you only need to have three or four other skaters on the bench.]
Heck, anyone watching was exhausted.
Not anyone. I was quite comfortable. Sitting. Watching. Texting about 800 people about the game.
Drury didn't score the winner, but he had a big goal to give the Americans a 3-2 lead in the second period when he buried a loose puck.
In the Bucky Gleason dictionary, "Big Goal" is defined as "any goal scored by Chris Drury"
[Ed's Note: I just feel like it's worth noting that Drury did not score the game-winning goal. He scored the third goal of five. The Americans won 5-3. Each goal was important, but no bigger than any other. Kesler'shard-working clutch big gritty unnecessary empty net goal was probably more impressive.]
With the Yanks clinging to a 4-3 lead and the Canadians threatening to score for what felt like a month, he helped clear the zone with just more than a minute remaining.
Yanks? Was Jeter playing? Did A-Rod run Crosby into the boards. And if we are going to use quasi-offensive terms, why weren't Canadians "Canucks?"
[Ed's Note: Jeter was playing. Derek Jeter is the Chris Drury of baseball. To be entirely honest, between Jeter and Drury I'm surprised New York City hasn't melted to the ground what with all the clutch.]
"It was always great to play with Chris,"Miller Bucky Gleason said. "He was always a big-game player."
Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler's scored into an empty net moments later, and a collective moan could be heard from a sold-out crowd in his home building if not across this proud but suddenly very nervous hockey nation.
It wasn't "collective" because many people in attendance were cheering for Team USA and were pleased by Kesler's efforts. By the way, Miller played out of his effing skull and Rafalski had two goals. I am not a journalist, but in the interests of covering for someone else's lame attempt at journalism, I decided to mention that.
The rationale behind Canada's ambitious "Own the Podium" initiative made sense on the surface. Our neighbors needed a unifying cry with the 2010 Winter Olympics being staged on their home soil. It was designed to intensify training and provide better results.
Yes that long three day training period. After all, they needed it. All these player showed up so out of shape since they ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NHL SEASON!!
[Ed's Note: This is what I'm talking about with the incessant micro-analysis we're subjected to in sports these days. The NFL is particularly bad about it. Halfway through the Olympics, Canada was struggling to own the podium. By the end, they had won the most gold. So let's avoid saying anything grandiose, and stupid, about how lame Canada's Olympic team is.]
The United States — the "U.S. eh,"[rimshot] as one newspaper headline blared last week — had 24 medals overall going into Sunday night, six more than the Germans and 15 more than fourth-place Canada.
Own the podium? Please. Canada isn't qualified to rent the "P" and the "O."
[Ed's Note: Or, you know, don't.]
Plaschke-nanigans on me. I am P.O.ed about this pile of journalist crap.
But that's what Miller, South Buffalo native Patrick Kane, East Amherst-raised Brooks Orpik and the rest of the Americans were up against. It was a classification game, but the outcome meant more to Canada than it did anywhere else.
Thanks, by the way, for telling us where Ryan Kesler, Ryan Miller and Chris Drury are from. I guess it doesn't matter. I heard the telecast and Doc "Doc" Emrick say it every time any one of them touched the puck.
Hockey is the one thing — the one thing — Canada must get right. Now?
The United States advances to the quarterfinals. Canada must play an extra game to reach the medal round. Both teams remain in contention for all three medals.
Tickets that sold for $5,000 on the street a few days ago were going for $6,000 or more on a sunny afternoon near the Vancouver Canucks' home.
This paragraph reminds me of something Woody Paige said on "Around the Horn" today: "I can type 95 words a minute but none of them make any sense.
[Ed's Note: First, kudos to Woody Paige for being that self-aware. It's the first step towards recovery. Second, what the hell? Why are we being subjected to Bucky's journalistic stream of consciousness (where, I might add, we get the only genuine reporting of actual fact).]
Imagine the price next week, not to mention the anxiety, if these two hockey superpowers manage to meet again in the gold medal game. The locals estimate that tickets for the final game Sunday will sell for $12,000 apiece if Canada is one of the participants, even more if the Yanks wind up on the other side the opening face-off circle.
Imagine. Imagine if our writer could string together a coherent column
Look out, because the bloody Yanks look dangerous.
And also, look out because apparently the Olympic Committee is randomly moving the remaining events to Scotland.
The win Sunday was their first over Canada in international play since the 2001 world championships, ending a string of six straight losses.
Random fact dropped in with no connection to anything else. Thanks.
Brian Rafalski scored 41 seconds into the game while fans were still cheering "Go, Canada." Rafalski answered again later in the period when fans were still cheering for Eric Staal's goal.
Drury answered after Dany Heatley tied the game, 2-2. And Miller seemed to have all the answers en route to 42 saves.
YES!!! We finally get to the part where he actually breaks down the game!!!
[Ed's Note: We've now been told how the first three, and fifth, goals have been scored. Remember, Canada scored three. So the fourth goal was the game-winner. Keep that in mind.]
Drury, Miller, sound familiar?
Or Andy Sambergs over Drury and Miller again.
"Absolutely,"Kane Bucky Gleason said. "It's nice to see them step up. Ever since I was a Sabres' fan, Drury scored big goals. I remember the one against the Rangers. Big goals by him tonight, and Miller stood on his head."
[Ed's Note: I have so many problems with this quote, I don't even know where to start. First, Patrick Kane, who (as we've been beaten over the head with since approximately 1989) grew up both in Buffalo AND good at playing hockey, apparently didn't become a Sabres fan until 2003. That's when Drury joined the team. We addressed the big goal against the Rangers above. However, my biggest problem is how stupid Patrick Kane looks. Chris Drury only scored one goal. Where was Kane? In the bathroom for all but his twenty minutes of ice time?]
Team USA General Manager Brian Burke made it clear going into the Winter Games that he couldn't afford to assemble the top 20 players in red, white and blue and send them against the stronger, faster, deeper teams from Canada, Russia and beyond. The American team was put together with specific roles in mind for every player.
At least Kane knew it was ONE goal against the Rangers. But I am sensing we are about to run head first into a steaming pile of sports cliches...
Drury, for example, was named to the U.S. team despite a brutal year with the Rangers in a decision that baffled many. The reason: simple. Burke and U.S. coach Ron Wilson, former college roommates and blood brothers who wear the Maple Leaf of Toronto in the NHL, wanted a selfless leader with Olympic experience.
"He has those Mike Eruzione-like qualities," Wilson said of the 1980 U.S. hero. "Diving in front of shots, blocking them, winning big faceoffs. He's doing a lot of dirty grunt work that often gets overlooked."
Indeed. Wow. I am counting 1, 2, 3, 4 cliches in one quote. Well done.
[Ed's Note: the things that Chris Drury does are "Mike Eruzione-like." Therefore, note to all stupid Sabre fan Buckyites: we are not looking for a guy with "Chris Drury-like qualities." We are looking for a player with Mike Eruzione like qualities. He was the originator. Like Parcells over Belichick.]
Orpik is being asked to be their shutdown defenseman, providing the same steadiness and sturdiness as he did for the last two seasons with the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
And cliches.
He was on the ice during the grueling shift late in the game with the Canada threatening and the United States scrambling.
OK, I just want to point out this particular sentence demonstrates Bucky's lack of hockey knowledge: If Orpik was so "steady" and "sturdy" there would not have been a scramble.
The United States has produced more medal winners in the Winter Games, but it was an underdog when this tournament began. In means nothing in the Olympics. Dominik Hasek proved in the 1998 Nagano Games that one person can make a major difference.
And that brings back us to Miller, who also is wearing No. 39 in this tournament.
"Best I've ever seen," said Kesler, who plays with star Roberto Luongo.
Miller was irked over the Canadians slipping a loonie into center ice in Salt Lake City in 2002 before beating the Americans and standing atop the podium on U.S. soil.
When Sunday rolls around, he's hoping to return the favor.
But since the bloody Yanks don't use funny coins for dollar amounts, perhaps Miller can place a dollar bill, quarter, or even better (and this is dedicated to Ryan Fitzpatrick and all his street cred we learned about in a previous post) a Benjamin.
[Ed's Note: One final point... we got a full column about how awesome, clutch, huge, and crucial Chris Drury's goal was (the third for theYanks blueshirts U.S.ians Americans). Yet, we are never told who, when, or how the fourth (a/k/a "game-winning") goal was scored. Sorry, Jamie Langenbrunner. You stole Drury's "C". A price must be paid.]
What annoys me is the broad statements about 1. how lousy Canadian athletes in general are, and 2. how lousy the Canadian hockey team is. When, with half the Olympics to go, nobody was in a position to really say either. Micro-analysis is stupid in sports, even though sports journalists are guilty of it. To a fault. For example, the Sabres power play is currently like 2-78 or something in the last fifteen games. That sucks. But when they finally snapped their power play drought, they lost. In the previous game, one in which they didn't score a power play goal, they won 5-3. So, while a strong power play is certainly helpful in winning games, perhaps it's nothing more than correlative. Micro-analysis is stupid. Yet, here we are.
I have added some comments, in italics because they're generally funnier than what michael.w provided.
Lindy Ruff must have been having flashbacks Sunday evening as he stood behind the bench watching the whole thing unfold. Roll back the clocks a few years, back to when the Sabres marched to back-to-back conference finals and Ryan Miller would keep his team in games long enough for Chris Drury to win them.
Ruff wasn't available after Miller led the United States to a 5-3 upset victory over Canada, with plenty of help from his old buddy Drury, but something tells me he was a conflicted assistant coach for Canada following the game.
That happened once in the 2007 playoffs against the Rangers. And lest we forget that it was not Chris Drury who won that game he tied it. Max Afinogenov won the game.
Damn those guys, but somewhere deep down, good for them.
"Memories, huh," Miller said with a smile after making 42 saves in one of the best games of his career. "We're making new ones here."
Nobody should have any problem remembering this one for a while. The tension was palpable hours before the game and grew more intense inside as the slugfest carried along.
Slugfest. Yes I get it, the Sabres uniform looks like a slug.
And then there were the dizzying, suffocating, excruciating final 3½ minutes with Drury blocking shots and Miller making saves and, good heavens, get the puck out of the zone.
"Yeah," Drury said afterward. "It seemed like they had eight or nine guys out there."
See that, Chris Drury can shut down eight or nine guys!
[Ed's Note: That is, of course, because Chris Drury has the hockey talent, strength, and acumen of nine or ten guys. That's why he's paid so much. When you have Drury on your team, you only need to have three or four other skaters on the bench.]
Heck, anyone watching was exhausted.
Not anyone. I was quite comfortable. Sitting. Watching. Texting about 800 people about the game.
Drury didn't score the winner, but he had a big goal to give the Americans a 3-2 lead in the second period when he buried a loose puck.
In the Bucky Gleason dictionary, "Big Goal" is defined as "any goal scored by Chris Drury"
[Ed's Note: I just feel like it's worth noting that Drury did not score the game-winning goal. He scored the third goal of five. The Americans won 5-3. Each goal was important, but no bigger than any other. Kesler's
With the Yanks clinging to a 4-3 lead and the Canadians threatening to score for what felt like a month, he helped clear the zone with just more than a minute remaining.
Yanks? Was Jeter playing? Did A-Rod run Crosby into the boards. And if we are going to use quasi-offensive terms, why weren't Canadians "Canucks?"
[Ed's Note: Jeter was playing. Derek Jeter is the Chris Drury of baseball. To be entirely honest, between Jeter and Drury I'm surprised New York City hasn't melted to the ground what with all the clutch.]
"It was always great to play with Chris,"
Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler's scored into an empty net moments later, and a collective moan could be heard from a sold-out crowd in his home building if not across this proud but suddenly very nervous hockey nation.
It wasn't "collective" because many people in attendance were cheering for Team USA and were pleased by Kesler's efforts. By the way, Miller played out of his effing skull and Rafalski had two goals. I am not a journalist, but in the interests of covering for someone else's lame attempt at journalism, I decided to mention that.
The rationale behind Canada's ambitious "Own the Podium" initiative made sense on the surface. Our neighbors needed a unifying cry with the 2010 Winter Olympics being staged on their home soil. It was designed to intensify training and provide better results.
Yes that long three day training period. After all, they needed it. All these player showed up so out of shape since they ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NHL SEASON!!
[Ed's Note: This is what I'm talking about with the incessant micro-analysis we're subjected to in sports these days. The NFL is particularly bad about it. Halfway through the Olympics, Canada was struggling to own the podium. By the end, they had won the most gold. So let's avoid saying anything grandiose, and stupid, about how lame Canada's Olympic team is.]
The United States — the "U.S. eh,"[rimshot] as one newspaper headline blared last week — had 24 medals overall going into Sunday night, six more than the Germans and 15 more than fourth-place Canada.
Own the podium? Please. Canada isn't qualified to rent the "P" and the "O."
[Ed's Note: Or, you know, don't.]
Plaschke-nanigans on me. I am P.O.ed about this pile of journalist crap.
But that's what Miller, South Buffalo native Patrick Kane, East Amherst-raised Brooks Orpik and the rest of the Americans were up against. It was a classification game, but the outcome meant more to Canada than it did anywhere else.
Thanks, by the way, for telling us where Ryan Kesler, Ryan Miller and Chris Drury are from. I guess it doesn't matter. I heard the telecast and Doc "Doc" Emrick say it every time any one of them touched the puck.
Hockey is the one thing — the one thing — Canada must get right. Now?
The United States advances to the quarterfinals. Canada must play an extra game to reach the medal round. Both teams remain in contention for all three medals.
Tickets that sold for $5,000 on the street a few days ago were going for $6,000 or more on a sunny afternoon near the Vancouver Canucks' home.
This paragraph reminds me of something Woody Paige said on "Around the Horn" today: "I can type 95 words a minute but none of them make any sense.
[Ed's Note: First, kudos to Woody Paige for being that self-aware. It's the first step towards recovery. Second, what the hell? Why are we being subjected to Bucky's journalistic stream of consciousness (where, I might add, we get the only genuine reporting of actual fact).]
Imagine the price next week, not to mention the anxiety, if these two hockey superpowers manage to meet again in the gold medal game. The locals estimate that tickets for the final game Sunday will sell for $12,000 apiece if Canada is one of the participants, even more if the Yanks wind up on the other side the opening face-off circle.
Imagine. Imagine if our writer could string together a coherent column
Look out, because the bloody Yanks look dangerous.
And also, look out because apparently the Olympic Committee is randomly moving the remaining events to Scotland.
The win Sunday was their first over Canada in international play since the 2001 world championships, ending a string of six straight losses.
Random fact dropped in with no connection to anything else. Thanks.
Brian Rafalski scored 41 seconds into the game while fans were still cheering "Go, Canada." Rafalski answered again later in the period when fans were still cheering for Eric Staal's goal.
Drury answered after Dany Heatley tied the game, 2-2. And Miller seemed to have all the answers en route to 42 saves.
YES!!! We finally get to the part where he actually breaks down the game!!!
[Ed's Note: We've now been told how the first three, and fifth, goals have been scored. Remember, Canada scored three. So the fourth goal was the game-winner. Keep that in mind.]
Drury, Miller, sound familiar?
Or Andy Sambergs over Drury and Miller again.
"Absolutely,"
[Ed's Note: I have so many problems with this quote, I don't even know where to start. First, Patrick Kane, who (as we've been beaten over the head with since approximately 1989) grew up both in Buffalo AND good at playing hockey, apparently didn't become a Sabres fan until 2003. That's when Drury joined the team. We addressed the big goal against the Rangers above. However, my biggest problem is how stupid Patrick Kane looks. Chris Drury only scored one goal. Where was Kane? In the bathroom for all but his twenty minutes of ice time?]
Team USA General Manager Brian Burke made it clear going into the Winter Games that he couldn't afford to assemble the top 20 players in red, white and blue and send them against the stronger, faster, deeper teams from Canada, Russia and beyond. The American team was put together with specific roles in mind for every player.
At least Kane knew it was ONE goal against the Rangers. But I am sensing we are about to run head first into a steaming pile of sports cliches...
Drury, for example, was named to the U.S. team despite a brutal year with the Rangers in a decision that baffled many. The reason: simple. Burke and U.S. coach Ron Wilson, former college roommates and blood brothers who wear the Maple Leaf of Toronto in the NHL, wanted a selfless leader with Olympic experience.
"He has those Mike Eruzione-like qualities," Wilson said of the 1980 U.S. hero. "Diving in front of shots, blocking them, winning big faceoffs. He's doing a lot of dirty grunt work that often gets overlooked."
Indeed. Wow. I am counting 1, 2, 3, 4 cliches in one quote. Well done.
[Ed's Note: the things that Chris Drury does are "Mike Eruzione-like." Therefore, note to all stupid Sabre fan Buckyites: we are not looking for a guy with "Chris Drury-like qualities." We are looking for a player with Mike Eruzione like qualities. He was the originator. Like Parcells over Belichick.]
Orpik is being asked to be their shutdown defenseman, providing the same steadiness and sturdiness as he did for the last two seasons with the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
And cliches.
He was on the ice during the grueling shift late in the game with the Canada threatening and the United States scrambling.
OK, I just want to point out this particular sentence demonstrates Bucky's lack of hockey knowledge: If Orpik was so "steady" and "sturdy" there would not have been a scramble.
The United States has produced more medal winners in the Winter Games, but it was an underdog when this tournament began. In means nothing in the Olympics. Dominik Hasek proved in the 1998 Nagano Games that one person can make a major difference.
And that brings back us to Miller, who also is wearing No. 39 in this tournament.
"Best I've ever seen," said Kesler, who plays with star Roberto Luongo.
Miller was irked over the Canadians slipping a loonie into center ice in Salt Lake City in 2002 before beating the Americans and standing atop the podium on U.S. soil.
When Sunday rolls around, he's hoping to return the favor.
But since the bloody Yanks don't use funny coins for dollar amounts, perhaps Miller can place a dollar bill, quarter, or even better (and this is dedicated to Ryan Fitzpatrick and all his street cred we learned about in a previous post) a Benjamin.
[Ed's Note: One final point... we got a full column about how awesome, clutch, huge, and crucial Chris Drury's goal was (the third for the
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