News Article: The Connolly saga

[Sabretip]

Ever since he first laced up his skates as a precocious and outrageously talented youngster, Tim Connolly gave the impression of someone who viewed the attention he received for excelling at the sport as an irritant.

The same attitude appears to carry over into what he wants to reveal about his retirement.

Or, at the very least, a career hiatus.

It's hard to know which one for sure from the outside, which is exactly how the reticent Baldwinsville native tries to map it out.

What is certain is that after playing 697 NHL games since breaking in with the New York Islanders in 1999-2000, the forward is not skating professionally this year. He is apparently living in his home on Skaneateles Lake.

But doing what? And toward what end?

Who knows?

When recently contacted for an interview, Connolly, 32, said he was too busy to talk and hung up.

http://www.syracuse.com/crunch/index.ssf/2013/12/tim_connolly.html

No one will shed a tear, I'm sure....

Click to read more...

 

[Moskau]

He was potentially on his way to winning a Conn Smythe before he decided to skate with his head down into Peter Schaefer which is a shame.

I can't say anything good about the guy off the ice though. There won't be a 30 for 30 showcasing Tim Connolly that's for sure.

 

[Sabretip]

There won't be a 30 in 30 showcasing Tim Connolly that's for sure.

If a 30-for-30 episode could be devoted to the fraudulent John Spano, a special reviving the age-old formula of "talented-athlete-can't-get-a-break" around Connolly isn't hard to imagine!

 

[Moskau]

If a 30-for-30 episode could be devoted to the fraudulent John Spano, a special reviving the age-old formula of "talented-athlete-can't-get-a-break" around Connolly isn't hard to imagine!

I would pay to see Connolly smoking joints and becoming a yoga instructor though.

 

[Crazy Tasty]

It's a shame that it turned out this way for Timmah.
I love the playmakers and he had the skill and talent, just not fortitude and heart.

Hope things work out for him.

 

[DixonWard15]

if hockey was a non contact sport he would have been a perennial all star

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

A part of me does feel a little pang of sadness for Connolly. The dude lost a step somewhere in between concussions and was never able to fully recover. Meanwhile the fanbase completely turned on him because our GM kept insisting he was worth a ton of money for his lack of skill. I celebrated as much as the next sabres fan, the day he left, but it's still sad to see a man who seems so utterly broken.

edit - "lack of skill" is inaccurate. "Lack of 'heart' and work" ethic is more on the nose.

 

[barnell]

It didn't help that he got absolutely ruined in 2006. He was never the same after that.

 

[Stephen]

Had the brief misfortune of watching him on the Leafs, but man, there was something tremendously unlikeable about that guy.

 

[buffalowing88]

I'm sick of hearing Connolly didn't have heart or work ethic. Does anyone remember how big a role he played on the PK? You don't get in that position without jumping in front of shots and hustling. Connolly never coasted, he just skate in a defenseless manner.
My favorite Sabre of all time...because I'm a weird

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

He was potentially on his way to winning a Conn Smythe before he decided to skate with his head down into Peter Schaefer which is a shame.

I can't say anything good about the guy off the ice though. There won't be a 30 for 30 showcasing Tim Connolly that's for sure.

Running into Peter Schaefer?? You mean running into his chicken **** elbow... Schaefer was garbage he pulls that in today's NHL he's gone for 10+ games.

 

[Sabretip]

I would pay to see Connolly smoking joints and becoming a yoga instructor though.

When he first shaved his head, he had the look of a yoga instructor IMO

"Lack of 'heart' and work" ethic is more on the nose.

I'm sick of hearing Connolly didn't have heart or work ethic. Does anyone remember how big a role he played on the PK?

Excusing Connolly for hustling on penalty-killing assignments ignores the other times at even-strength and power plays where he often was lackadaisical in puck-pursuits or zone coverage. And, frankly, when I heard it reported several times from the media who watched team practices that Connolly was always the first to leave the ice rather than stay behind and work on individual things - especially at a time when his face-off success was miserable and Gaustad was sticking around to assist others with tips on winning draws, that was the end of my patience for anything Connolly did. Those dumb smirks and non-chalant dismissals he gave whenever interviewed just only added more sand in the Vaseline.

 

[ZZamboni]

I liked Timmah for about 4 seasons after he came over to the Sabres. Then, like the beginning stages of a cold, he started to annoy me. And like a full on cold, he was a major aggravation. And like a full on cold that turns into a strep throat, he was brutal and hard to swallow on a nightly basis.

And finally some amoxicillin came in the form of him leaving, and all was right with the world again.

That's my view on Glassman.

 

[Jacob582]

I'm sick of hearing Connolly didn't have heart or work ethic. Does anyone remember how big a role he played on the PK? You don't get in that position without jumping in front of shots and hustling. Connolly never coasted, he just skate in a defenseless manner.
My favorite Sabre of all time...because I'm a weird

I still like Tim Connolly.

 

[sabresfan129103]

Well, the guy can just chill for the rest of his life if he wants to. We know he's got to have enough money to do that. He's not old at all. Only 32. I used to think I could sit on my ass like that for the rest of my life like that, but now I don't think I could. I would have to be productive. Hopefully Tim can find something to do that he enjoys.

 

[msm29]

I've never seen a player (probably because I've spent most of my hockey fan career watching the Sabres over the past decade) run point on a power play like Connolly. They way he played the puck, moved defenders with fakes and drove to lanes looked like a point guard in the NBA. He could do special things at his best.

Too bad he was a dick.

 

[jBuds]

I've never seen a player (probably because I've spent most of my hockey fan career watching the Sabres over the past decade) run point on a power play like Connolly. They way he played the puck, moved defenders with fakes and drove to lanes looked like a point guard in the NBA. He could do special things at his best.

Too bad he was a dick.

I despise this man for various reasons. What a waste of talent; a pitiful acquisition that summarized everything the sabres were about in the early 00s... "Not enough"

 

[jBuds]

I'm sick of hearing Connolly didn't have heart or work ethic. Does anyone remember how big a role he played on the PK? You don't get in that position without jumping in front of shots and hustling. Connolly never coasted, he just skate in a defenseless manner.
My favorite Sabre of all time...because I'm a weird

He had no heart, poor work ethic, a sense of entitlement, and coasted with a high level of frequency. But someone who calls Connolly their favorite Sabre of all time is obviously blind to the facts.

 

[skibum]

I'm sick of hearing Connolly didn't have heart or work ethic. Does anyone remember how big a role he played on the PK? You don't get in that position without jumping in front of shots and hustling. Connolly never coasted, he just skate in a defenseless manner.
My favorite Sabre of all time...because I'm a weird

I'm with you. The guy dealt with a ridiculous amount of injuries, too, for many years. That's not easy to do year in and year out.

 

[Jim Bob]

I would pay to see Connolly smoking joints and becoming a yoga instructor though.

Ricky Williams came to mind when reading that.

I wonder if TC has some serious issues with shyness that didn't mix well with being a pro athlete?

 

[CrankyJay]

He had no heart, poor work ethic, a sense of entitlement, and coasted with a high level of frequency.

This post could have been about Stafford and it would be the same.

 

[liquid swords]

He had no heart, poor work ethic, a sense of entitlement, and coasted with a high level of frequency. But someone who calls Connolly their favorite Sabre of all time is obviously blind to the facts.

this. absolutely this. the guy wasted his talent just as much as any hit, concussion, or neck injury or whatever they said it was did. i honestly just pity him. i think he needs help. and i also wouldn't be too sure that he's been able to hold onto most of the money he made.

 

[Cirris]

I've never seen a player (probably because I've spent most of my hockey fan career watching the Sabres over the past decade) run point on a power play like Connolly. They way he played the puck, moved defenders with fakes and drove to lanes looked like a point guard in the NBA. He could do special things at his best.

Too bad he was a dick.

I think of Patrick Kane is now was a bit of how Tim Connolly was back then.

 

[Sabres Fan UK]

He had great hands, shame he wasted his own career and skill(albeit while making millions); He lacked desire, motivation and was just as much to blame as injuries were for his career ending.

 

[Sabre Dance]

I think it was Rob Ray who said he lived in Connolly's building and the guy was seriously depressed by fans getting on him.