IMO Girardi is a top 4 defenseman, especially if you give him a good partner. I don't think he's a top pair defenseman, though, and agree, he's being asked to do a little too much. Can't forget, he's still fairly young.
IMO Girardi is a top 4 defenseman, especially if you give him a good partner. I don't think he's a top pair defenseman, though, and agree, he's being asked to do a little too much. Can't forget, he's still fairly young.
He's young, but I think he's played enough to show us that there isn't much more upside there
There is a lot of upside to his defensive and physical aspect of his game; he's shown he may not have the best skillset but has good offensive instincts at times as well. He may not be the best guy in terms of distributing the puck or anything, but he knows when to put it on net, when to get it deep...I can't remember the last time I saw him turn the puck over at the blueline, or the last time I wish he would've pinched and didn't for that matter.
He COULD be a very solid 2nd pair defenseman for us if we decide to keep him around. If you asked me if I wanted a young, physical defenseman that scored 10 goals in his first full NHL season, I'd say sign me up. I just wish he'd be as physical as he is in the corners and behind the net in front of the crease.....
Girardi has been a 5/6 dman besides for that half a season where he played like a legit top four dman...but he's the "golden boy" on our team so fans for some reason just look the other way when he messes up. I never understood it.
Girardi has been a 5/6 dman besides for that half a season where he played like a legit top four dman...but he's the "golden boy" on our team so fans for some reason just look the other way when he messes up. I never understood it.
There are many legit second pairing quality guys who will look really bad if they're playing a first pairing role matching up against opponents best on a not very good team.
There's nothing top 5/6 about Girardi's time on ice or the difficulty of his minutes.
The thing that concerns me about Girardi is that he's regressed since he first came up.
Why the hell is he getting worse? He was once a steady defenseman when he was paired with Tyutin and has looked pretty mediocre since then.
He was getting much less ice time and wasn't relied on nearly as much. He also fit Renney's system much better where he could play more of a shut-down role. He's a decent skater but I wouldn't exactly call him "mobile". I honestly think we have the least mobile defense in the NHL; guys like Roszival are just butchered in this system that doesn't fit the current Ranger team.
Are you kidding me? Have you not been watching these games? Besides Staal, Girardi is our only reliable stay-at-home Defenseman. The guy has been very consistent all year long, with the exception of the first 2 weeks of the season.
Watch the tapes and see how many odd man rushes, a game, he's prevented/stopped. Did you know that he's 3rd on the team in Hits? Did you know that he leads the team in blocked shots? Did you know that he's 6th in the conference in the blocked shots dept.? I can go on and on with the quantitative measures to support my reasoning, but the fact that you guys get all over this guy just because the back of his jersey doesn't read "Staal" is ridiculous.
Morrissonn in Washington is a good comparable, he gets 1.95 on a 1 yr this off season max. The question is if the rangers sign him to that or the team he gets traded to at the draft does.
Does anyone really think that there are 60 top pair d-men and 60 2nd pair d-men to go around?
In an ideal world Staal, Del Zotto, McDonough and someone else (Gilroy? Sangs?) will be our top 4. Unless that unlikely scenario happens a guy like Girardi will be in our top 4.
I think Girardi is a better player than you guys are making him out to be...with that said I would have no problem whatsoever trading him if its a good return.
Originally Posted by Inferno272;2he's makes a2945746
I think Girardi is a better player than you guys are making him out to be...with that said I would have no problem whatsoever trading him if its a good return.
On a good team, he's a bottom-pairing D-man. As FlyLine stated earlier, aside from the quarter-season spurt a few seasons ago, I've seen nothing else that says he's anything more than that. And, you cannot give him $3 million per on a multi-year deal. He routinely gets beat to the outside, he's almost as bad as Rozsival handling the puck, and he makes at least one "WTF pass" a game. As much as Rozsival has his faults, and is severely overpaid, on his best days, he's a better D-man than Girardi can hope to be.
