Girardi Playing Well Below 100%
In an article on the Rangers trying to bounce back from their tough loss in Buffalo, Pat Leonard at the Daily News reports that Dan Girardi is playing well below 100%.
Girardi smirked and said “I feel good” when questioned about his health yesterday.
In case you haven't noticed, Girardi has been given the "A" again with Staal out of the line-up.
...got to figure Girardi's ankle is still tender and you have wonder how much it affected him on the touchdown pass from Pomenville to Vanek. Girardi also seemed to catch a Ryan Callahan shoulder to the chops during the game as well which was probably the last thing he needed. And if you remember he missed two game earlier this year with an undisclosed injury, so who knows if that's still bothering him as well.
...all I know is the guy is an absolute warrior and plays through pain more than anyone in the NHL.
Leonard also says that despite Arron Asham skating with the team yesterday, he is still a way aways from returning to the line-up.
Asham said yesterday he hoped to be back next week.
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At 70% he's better than most at 100%. The Vanek goal looked like a mental error more than anything. The Rangers looked tired against Buffalo, especially mentally. It was the tail end of a tough stretch
Girardi has actually taken a number of hits to the head recently and each time I get more and more concerned as he always has the same reaction - he gets up, shakes his head, goes to the bench, sits there for a minute, shakes his head again and then steps back on the ice. After what Staal went through, you would think he wouldn't do anything stupid but I really wonder about him sometimes. Between that, the ankle and what many were guessing was a groin injury, he absolutely is far from 100% but he would never admit it. (Old school as Torts would say lol.) I usually say him at less than 100% is better than most of our bottom D but if he's going to play like he did the other night, he really needs to go back to the pressbox and heal. And for me to say that, you know it's bad since I freaked out the two days he missed games lol.
@Melissa (blknblueshirts) HA! Defensive depth would be tested big time if Girardi had to sit out.
@KevinDeLury @Melissa (blknblueshirts) BIG TIME, Our 1 and 2 out, Mcdonagh Stralman and DZ would have to play huge time
@KevinDeLury It wouldn't be the first time the Rangers had to deal with it but let's be honest...is he really helping right now? He looked atrocious on Tuesday night. If he's that banged up, I'm more confident with Eminger and Gilroy (and no, I'm not actually confident with either of them but you know what I mean). Obviously if he can play, I would rather him in the lineup but right now it's just not pretty.
@Melissa (blknblueshirts) @slapshot13j @KevinDeLury Stralman is definitely more consistent than Del Z. I'd put him in the top 4. The guy is always so underrated....
@slapshot13j @KevinDeLury I thought McDonagh was worth more than them? (Sorry, I don't mean that in the way it probably is coming out but just thought that's what you were saying yesterday.) When I say entire defense corps, I mean Staal, Girardi, McDonagh, Del Zotto and one of the last four (you can take your pick lol)
@Melissa (blknblueshirts) @KevinDeLury yea I agree, but Staal and Girardi out is basically our entire defensive corps....
@slapshot13j @KevinDeLury Unless our entire defense corp goes down, I don't expect to see McIlrath in New York this year. I could be wrong but that's the impression I've gotten.
@KevinDeLury Absolutely Hamrlik is better. But I got the impression they didn't think he would be ready for a few more games and I was hoping that would be all Girardi would need to get better lol.
@Melissa (blknblueshirts) @KevinDeLury not gilroy, this could ask for a bring up from Hartford. Mcilrath....
One of these days, though I don't know when, the NHL is going to recognize Girardi for what he is.... the best defensive defenseman in the league!
@MikeBlue He finally did last year when he made the all-star game along with a bunch of defensemen who put up a lot of points.
Yea it was extremely visible last game, but I have seen it since he took that shot. Honestly with Staal already out and Girardi playing like he did the other night in Buffalo, not having 2 of our 3 top defenseman could be the downfall of this team. Our team may have a lot of superstars, but it is still focused around the defense and in my opinion both Girardi and Mcdonagh are playing through injuries right now and not able to give their best night out and we have no Staal. That is a tough pill to swallow for any team.
Also, the players had a team meeting yesterday if you guys didn't know
@slapshot13j That sounded like the meetings they have before every practice, i.e. they sit with the coach and go over video and prepare for the next game. I don't think that was anything special due to what happened in Buffalo.
@Melissa (blknblueshirts) From what Mcdonagh said, I got the feeling it was a players only meeting
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@slapshot13j Guess we just read it differently. Pretty sure we'll never know so as long as whatever it is worked, I don't care what type of meeting it was lol.
