Follow @james_tanner123 Been off for a couple days, so I hope all is well with all of y'all.
I did not take a trip to Tennessee, but I have decided to start talking like it, just to see if I can get a record deal for my new country album A Tribute to the Music of Chris Gaines. Anyways lots of hockey news to talk about, but first a shout-out to my man Garth for perhaps the greatest title in Hockey Buzz History, for his article about how the Sabres were, uh, prevented from getting coach Mike Babcock.
I don't think you need anyone else talking about old Mikey B, so from here on out, he shall not be mentioned in this column.
Last Night's Game
Last night's game was fantastic. I heard some people complaining that it was a sloppy slow game and phhhhhhhhhhhhh why do those guys even watch hockey? Come on people! If a game goes to overtime or beyond in the Playoffs, quality does not matter.
Five minutes away from a fourth overtime period? I remember a Dallas/Edmonton game going close to that long back in the 90s or whenever it was I was in high-school, but I haven't personally witnessed such a long game since then. I thought it was fantastic.
And, the best thing about the NHL was on full display: Watch any game at any time and you're bound to see something you've never seen before, as I did when Shaw's awesome head-butt goal was disallowed.
Come on Ref! The NHL is constantly thinking about ways to increase scoring, so the fact that you can't head-butt a goal into the net is absurd. Personally, I think as long as you don't throw, swat or bat at it with your hand/arm then anything else should be O.K.
Russians Don't Stick Around
This is just my opinion and I know a ton of people will disagree, but who cares if the Russians are respectful about the national anthem? I just don't get it. They were angry they lost and it happened in the moment. Sure, it wasn't exactly classy, but I just think way too big a deal was made about it.
I don't think we need to shame the team and the nation like they did something horrendous. At worst, it was a minor social faux pas. Let's maybe not reignite the Cold War over it, OK?
It seems today that every little slight or error in judgement is made into such a big deal. If everyone who posted, tweeted, commented, called into Sports Radio or complained about this in anyway took five minutes to care about child poverty or the plight of the Rhino, I think we'd live in a lot better place.
Yeah, they screwed up, but does it really matter?
Plus, there's only one national anthem that truly deserves respect:
In my opinion the Lightning are making a terrible mistake with him. For one, getting him this experience now could be a great thing for their potential franchise player of the future.
For another, sitting him is down-right idiotic. At the worst, Drouin is the second most talented player on their team. He might be a rookie and he might have some deficiencies to his game, but just from a pure talent perspective, he is nothing short of a joy to watch.
Considering how many minutes the fourth line generally gets, why not just dress him and give him sheltered minutes where he can shine? Hell, just using him exclusively on the PP would be a bonus.
He is just too good to sit. If I was the GM of another team - like a rebuilding team, maybe the Leafs maybe the Coytoes - I'd be putting calls into TB right now about his availability.
Someone Please Explain:
Ben Lovejoy for Simon Despres.
Someone ought to be fired for that. Yikes!