Like many of you, I had aspirations of becoming a professional athlete. Those dreams quickly evaporated around the third grade. To his credit, my father, who spent my childhood interacting with my sports heroes on a daily basis, was never hesitant to inform me that I had zero chance of ever making a living as a professional athlete. I had the desire, but was lacking in every other category.
Call me jealous if you must, but it's because of those shattered aspirations that guys like Dustin Byfuglien drive me crazy.
It would be one thing if Big Buff was a waste of space every night at the rink. That is not the case. During his transformation from defenseman to power forward, Byfuglien has given Blackhawks fans glimpses of promise. On the flip side, his clumsy play is also aggravating as hell on occassions.
Desire is impossible to quantify. Even harder to measure. I'd normally shy away from questioning an individual's "want to." However, Byfuglien opened the door wide open with his comments to Tim Sassone of the Daily Herald.
Chicago Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon has pulled off some deft trades the past few years. As Tallon constructs the 2009-10 team, look for him to have a couple more deals up his sleeve. As first pondered on Second City Hockey, this summer may be the time to see what Dustin Byfuglien's value is on the market.
http://www.secondcityhockey.com/2009/5/29/892651/no-dude-that-f-s-with-our-plan-a
Byfuglien has been quite the enigma as a Blackhawk. Sure, as a converted defenseman, he has needed some to time develop into a power forward. He displayed his progress in some strong efforts during the playoffs. However, I agree with Second City's assessment that his value will never be higher.
I am bothered by Big Buff's lack of consistency. At times, he can appear to be disinterested or just plain out of position. He seems to be the type of player that needs to be constantly challenged in order to remain effective.
