I have a few thoughts rolling around in my head but unfortunately, husband out of town + manic 11 week old puppy = extremely tired Heather B. I'm talking totally exhausted, you guys. And it's only Tuesday morning. I'm doomed.
But I have just enough time to make fun of Bucky Gleason before I zoom off to work. It's been a while, you know? Truthfully, Bucky's recent column on Ryan Miller wasn't that bad. It was pretty good really. It did however contain this little nugget about the shootout against the Rangers this past weekend:
Sure enough, it would come down to old friend Chris Drury, a matchup between the man who made a commitment to Buffalo and the man the Sabres let get away.
Fate leaned toward Drury.
Captain Clutch had a knack for scoring big goals, for finding a way when it mattered most. The story line called for Drury returning to Buffalo and reminding the Sabres that they should have kept him rather than open the door to his departure.
First of all, statistically speaking, fate did not lean toward Drury. Drury is pretty terrible in shootouts, going only 2 for 11. Miller has a .717 save percentage in shootouts which is pretty good considering he was pretty dismal in shootouts last season. A very quick scroll through the list of goalies at nhlshootouts.com (amazing source if you ever need shootout stats) shows that to be on the higher end for goalies who have played in as many shootouts as Ryan has. (I will admit I looked at that very, very quickly so if I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me.) So yeah... In a battle of Drury vs. Miller, I'm betting the pot on Miller.
Second of all, only Bucky's storyline would end with the departed captain scoring for the other team. Dude, come on. That is SO not what the story line called for. The story line called for the weirdo goalie who's trying to find himself after struggling last season, the one who made a committment to the city and fans of Buffalo to stop the former leader who took off for the big dollars and big city in his tracks. Which is exactly what happened.
(I'm feeling a little better about Hank now that Lindy has gone on the record about keeping a 7 man rotation. I don't think that completely eliminates the idea of someone getting traded at the deadline but for now, I've calmed down. On one hand, I do like the idea of "You stink/slack, you sit" but on the other hand, I'm curious to see if that's how it really works. I'm also not sure how I feel about constantly changing the defensive pairings. They've been a bit of a jumble all season. We'll see.)
10 comments:
Now he wants to trade Tallinder
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/story/547713.html
"The story line called for Drury returning to Buffalo and reminding the Sabres that they should have kept him rather than open the door to his departure."
Then Miller slammed the door shut behind he who left willingly. The crowd roared. The end.
Bucky really needs to get over it.
Bucky's obsession is really just undignified at this point. It's like regularly drunk dialing the ex that left him for a hotter woman two years ago.
HA!! Drunk dialing. I love it. I have always thought of Bucky playing Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares to You" when he writes of Drury.
I got a good chuckle out of that column. I play a little game where I read the lead and try to guess how he works Drury in. Of course, it is difficult because Drury is often in the lead.
But I still believe that "Captain CLutch" missed that goal on purpose. He is a leader who wants to try to ignite his team by missing, and show them that losing is unnacceptable.
Drunk dialing is awesome
Why can't Bucky realize that Drury didn't WANT to be in Buffalo? He left willingly.
And Meg, I must also admit, I like the "drunk dialing".
Jonathan, I was not the least bit surprised to see that in Bucky's column this morning. He's been making "Tallinder might need a change of scenery" noises all season. Just one more reason Bucky sucks :P
Meg, like everyone else, I love the drunk dialing analogy. It really is perfect.
Jill, I hate to speak for VH but I'm 98.7% sure he's joking. I think he's making fun of the whole "Chris Drury never does anything wrong ever" ideology. If Chris Drury missed then SURELY Chris Drury MEANT to miss. Good point about the Detroit homecoming however. I never really thought of it as Buffalo to Syracuse but you're right.
By the way, that's a different Jonathan.
He's Jonathan with an avatar. I'm just...Jonathan who comes up with peculiar nicknames.
Average shootout Save % = .669
Miller is above average.
Drury is below average.
Bucky...lolz u fail!!!!1
Oh, drunk dialing is perfect.
I'm at the point now where it's entertaining to see how Bucky contorts himself to mention Drury and/or Briere. He had a column recently about aging free agents teasing everyone for the first few months of the season and then finally signing. Now, you wouldn't think Drury and Briere have any bearing on this topic since they haven't done, but not if you're Bucky! If you're Bucky, you drag in an old quote from Drury about the Sabres not being better if they let either himself or Briere go.
I have to say, there's something kind of awesome about that.
For the record, I was joking about Drury missing on purpose. But I am glad that the local fan/media Drury myopia still exists so strongly that it could be taken seriously.
It is also a fun game to play. How far fetched can you make something bad Chris Drury did sound good.
I've never seen that shootout blog before! As I had thought, Jason LaBarbera does indeed have the lowest save percentage (min. 30 shots). So glad the Kings got rid of him.
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