Farewell Captain Clutch

In case you hadn’t heard, Chris Drury played in, and won, the Little League World Series. No fooling.

In a related note, Captain Clutch is calling it a career. After an underwhelming and injury plagued tenure with the New York Rangers, Drury was bought out earlier in the summer and has decided to retire from professional hockey all together.

What this tells me is his degenerative knee condition is more severe than originally expected in July. There were many who figured he would find his was onto a contender’s roster at discounted rate for the 2011-12 campaign. After all his face off skills, penalty killing and other intangibles would be very attractive to a team making a Cup push.

Alas, his injuries likely played a large role in this decision.

Drury was, and will be, one of my favorite players of all time. Ever since his first seasons with Colorado I was a fan of his style and skill. When he was acquired by Buffalo I was ready to do back flips.

Drury was part of some of the best Sabres hockey in the history of the franchise. He, Daniel Briere and the rest of the core players carried the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back years in what was one of the most memorable runs I can think of with this team. Then, of course there was the goal. Who else?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvNy7pVCDLA&feature=related]

And here is an even cooler angle

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4KFbJE_UzM]

i feel very strongly that Drury would have his #23 in the rafters had he no skipped town for New York. It was a pretty ugly break up and many fans will not forgive him for leaving. I could never boo him because he is top-five all time for me. But I do feel that he had that type of leadership and on-ice swagger that Lat LaFontaine had during his time here. Had Drury been here for a Cup it would’ve been a lock. Unfortunately he left for a mountain of money. His career ground to a quick halt in New York as injuries kept him off the ice.

Hopefully Sabres fan can overlook his departure and accept him for the memories he provided and the fact that he is an American hockey legend who should be commended, not booed.