Did someone forget to tell Chris Drury that it was game seven of the playoffs? Where was "the greatest clutch player of all-time" last night?
He had the entire third period to make the Caps fans sit down and grumble about how they had been victimized by "the greatest clutch player of all-time."
"The greatest clutch player of all-time." Those aren't my words. Those are the words uttered by wide-eyed Colorado Avalanche fans and awe-struck Denver sports reporters and they are paired with the following 99.99% of the time: "Worst trade in Avalanche history."
Those two proclamations go together like pizza and beer.
So...where was Captain Clutch last night? In the series for that matter?
One goal, and no helpers the whole series.
In Game 5 Drury was on the ice for 3 of the Caps 4 goals. What's more disturbing is that he only played 7:21 of that game.
Seven minutes? The captain of the team played seven minutes in an elimination game?
One of those goals was Alex Ovechkin's highlight-reel goal of the series where he makes fools of two former Avs, Drury and Derek Morris, swerving wildly over the blue line, the puck sticking to Ovechkin like it's held in his sphere by gravity. But, to be fair, Ugly-Oh! does that to a lot of players.
Speaking of fair, let's get something straight here, I'm not bashing on Drury in this post, not strictly speaking. I do think he is overpaid vs. his performance over the last couple years. But he went for the money after a good year in Buffalo, and who can blame him?
I'm really bashing all the Denver fans and sports reporters that are still gushing over "the greatest clutch player of all-time" and bemoaning the "worst trade in Avalanche history."
People in this town have a very skewed view of Drury. He is often sited as the savior of the Avs, if only the management would bring him back. Every trade deadline, every July 1st his name is dutiful trotted out by the faithful to champion the Avs back to the playoffs and beyond.
Thbpthbpthbp!
Drury didn't take Calgary to the playoffs. He didn't bring Buffalo a Cup. He isn't lighting up New York and he isn't going to save the Avalanche.
Get over it already, it's been 7 years!!!
Posted by: From the Point
Certainly some valid points, but don't forget that Drury missed all of game 1 and large portions of other games with a hand or wrist injury.
ReplyDeleteTiming is the biggest reason Drury's status has been blown so far out of proportion. Since the 2002-03 season when the team lost him and Roy retired and went from an elite NHL team to an average NHL team to a horrible NHL team.
PS - Nice blog you've got going here as well!
Yeah, that news about his broken hand came out about the same time I posted this.
ReplyDeleteI like your point about the timing, I never looked at it that way.
Thanks for the visit.