Bob survives the trade deadline

[jRuutu 2,298]

 

 

Turnover, back straightened out, and eyes towards the bench. New York Americans are skating towards the other end and four of the Titans are trying to stop the Americans from scoring. Meanwhile, Jim Bob has only thing in his mind, do not get a minus, he starts skating towards the bench but its too late, Wang has scored the 1-0 goal. It does not matter though, Jim Bob is a survivor - he will get it right next time.

 

Speaking of Jim Bob being a survivor, the trade deadline was earlier this week, but Bob is still in Helsinki, which means that he has once again survived the trade deadline in VHL! A magnificent achievement for a player like Bob. We saw evidence of his lack of desire to skate back and fight for the team in that 1-0 goal against New York, which is happening so often that many fans and experts have been speculating if it's even worth it to have a player like him in the team? Jim Bob answered to the critics after the New York game yesterday:

 

''It's easy to judge afterward, what if Wang did not score and I made it to the bench, would I be the bad guy then? No. The second Wang scored that goal I was painted as the selfish player who only cared about not taking a minus, is it my fault that Wang scored a goal, if I understood correctly there were four other players on the ice and only one Wang, so do the math on that before jumping all over me with the comments. I'm trying my best out there, it's not easy to be the only player with a negative +/- in the team. Do I play defense? No. Do I skate back? No. Am I a team player? No. You know so try to look it from my perspective as well, I'm playing the game how I see its meant to be played, attackers attack and defenders defend. Unfortunately, we lost today, but there is always the next game, that is all I have to say.''

 

 

It is true, there is always the next game. Which for Jim Bob could mean anything. For example, Helsinki won Moscow not so long ago, Bob had 0+2 with 5 hits in that game and he was one of the better players, so he is notoriously up and down as a player, someone could say he is an artist, but we are getting dangerously close to a line of whatever Bob is doing not being something that an artist would do.

 

What happens in the future is still up in the air, nobody knows for sure what Bob and Helsinki are planning. There has been speculation however that Titans will be calling the young wingers Laine and Sens into the pro roster next year. If that is true that is something that is going to directly affect Bob's already somewhat limited role in the team. When looking at it from another perspective, having young rookies Laine and Sens sitting next to player like Bob in the dressing room might not be the right move in terms of trying to develop young players and to make sure they understand the importance of teamwork.

 

All we know right now is that Bob is in Helsinki and there have not been any reports on him testing the free agency market after the season.