Bad Things Happen To Good People: Looking Back At The 2018 NHL Draft Lottery

Last night’s game between the Sabres and Maple Leafs was electric. Skill everywhere and the future of the league on full display with Matthews, Marner, Eichel, and Dahlin all being showcased on National TV. I’m not a jealous person by nature, but watching that game made me a little bitter because Rasmus Dahlin was supposed to be a Blackhawk.

I’m a good guy, or at least I try to be. When I’m stuck in traffic and lanes are merging because of never-ending construction, I wave other drives in when appropriate and on the flip if they let me in I’ll roll down my window and give a wave to show them that I’m thankful for their gesture. Even in winter. Those little digital ipad cash registers which allow you to give no tip, 15%, 20%, or 25%…I always give the 20% on coffee and takeout food. Here, have my hard earned $1.27. Holding doors? check. Manners? You betcha. Sex? Well if a girl ever let me do that I would be EXTREMELY unselfish. I want everyone to have a good time. I’m a simple guy. I go to my job, I blog when I have down time at my full-time job, and when I come home I want to watch the Blackhawks play and play well. I don’t need or want much. That’s why I’m still upset about Dahlin and the current state of the Chicago Blackhawks coupled with the rise of the Sabres

This tweet was sent to me a few days after the 2018 NHL Draft Lottery and I can NOT stop thinking about it.

I don’t know if this is real. I feel like if it was real then it would’ve gone so much more viral, but it’s real in my brain. Rasmus Dahlin was a burst of air, a nano second, a butterfly’s wing flap, away from altering the course of the franchise.

Ball 11, the Blackhawks’ ball, is in poll position to get Dahlin and then…

The Sabres ball just smashes us out of the way like a lateral hit from Tom Wilson. Knocked unconcious and out of the playoff race. He should’ve been ours, man. It should’ve been like when the Spurs got Tim Duncan. They had a good run, but ended up in the lottery because of key injuries back in like 1996 to David Robinson and then POOF…Dynasty town for 20 years. The Blackhawks would have their Norris level Dman for the future, and the second pair would be anchored by Henri Jokiharju and we’d laugh and laugh and win and win and there would be endless merriment forever in Chicago.

Instead…Joel Quenneville is fired. The team is in a tailspin and my life is completely miserable. Dahlin just won NHL Rookie of The Month for November. This is what his coach, Phil Housely, had to say about him

“It’s affected our group immensely. Not only so much from the scoring aspect, but just our breakouts are a lot cleaner. He can make a play in tight areas which allows us to get out of our zone quickly and that’s the biggest thing I think this year is different from our defense.”–Housely

Buddy, I would LOVE to get out of the d-zone quickly. Clean breakouts and plays in tight areas? Talk dirty to me. Joel would still be the coach and maybe the Blackhawks wouldn’t have made off-season moves designed to set the coaching staff up to fail.

I know what you’re thinking. “Hey Chief, shut the fuck up man! You spoiled brat, you just won 3 Cups. You don’t deserve anything”. I understand that thinking, but look it…Buffalo people are fine being miserable. They’re great at it. They prove it every day by living in a place like Buffalo. The Bills have sucked for basically 25 year straight now and the Sabres have also been largely trash and you kno what…it doesn’t matter. The parking lots are still filled with drunk people and broken tables. The NHL national TV ratings are always strongest in Buffalo no matter what. I was watching this show on netflix called “Meat Eater” about this guy who goes hunting all over the world. The host of the show somehow got to go hunting DEEP in the jungles of Bolivia with this culture which has almost ZERO contact with the outside world. They’re completely happy with their lives. They don’t look at instagram and get jealous of all these skinny betches traveling with their mans to 5star resorts. They don’t even know what a resort is. They just want to hunt monkeys and river fish and cook things up for their families. That’s the Sabres. They’re under 5 feet of snow watching shitty teams and can’t feel the pain of what it’s like to NOT win because they’ve never won. Me…I need the Blackhawks to win in order to survive. You can’t go from instagram betch life to uncontacted people life.

Let’s just say that the NHL Draft lottery Gods owe us one now. I am very anti-tank. The Gods hate tanking. It’s bad juju. I want the Hawks to win every night. I would love to be wrong about Bowman, Colliton, and the bulk of this roster. Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid, and maybe that aid will be Jack Hughes if the Blackhawks try to win every night.