What follows is an excerpt from Gare Joyce’s book Future Greats and Heartbreaks featuring a brief profile on Rick Dudley, then an executive with the Chicago Blackhawks. Joyce had spent some time profiling draft prospect Akim Aliu for the Blue Jackets, and Dudley has just told Joyce that he likes what he sees in Aliu...
"I could see that he would. Dudley spends more time in the gym than any NHL executive, and probably more than a lot of NHL players. His arms are as big as Lou Ferrigno’s. Dudley was a hard-rock heart-and-soul forward in his day with the Buffalo Sabres, and an even better lacrosse player. He looks for athletes and athleticism – he’d be anti-Moneyball. Some scouts almost hold pure athleticism against a player – reasoning that what they do matters more than what they might become – in fact, to the complete exclusion of their athleticism. It’s the divide between potential and performance. That’s not to say Dudley doesn’t care how Aliu plays, but it’s Aliu’s athleticism that intrigues him."
That's via Jonathan Willis in April. An oddly prescient passage of Greats and Heartbreaks to excerpt given the events of today. It's one that stuck out to me during my reading as well: it's a perfect illustration of my cowbells shorthand concept. It's also something that renders the Byfuglien deal more sensible, at least from the perspective of the Thrashers new GM. I personally don't like the deal for the Thrashers because I don't rate any of the players they got all that highly. For Dudley though - a man that values "toughness", "build" and other uber-macho aspects of hockey - a package featuring Byfuglien, Eager and Akim Aliu must have been like catnip.
Were I a fan that had suffered through years and years of Waddell's bungling, I'm sure the trade today - and the potential motivation behind it revealed above - wouldn't fill me with fuzzy feelings.
