There's a difference between being a likeable, team player and being an actual top level player. I like Dan, but he is not worth that cap hit. He racks up the two categories that seem like a high level defensive defenseman should rack up: Hits and blocked shots. But if you're doing either of those things it means you don't have the puck.
The fact is that while Girardi plays very hard and doesn't lose his head in the defensive zone, he has massive flaws: He doesn't know how to play in the neutral zone. He doesn't know how to handle the puck. And he's not very mobile. At 30 years old, he's caught on the wrong side of the aging curve. His contract is bad and will be even worse if it keeps us from keeping Stralman. The only saving grace is that if we manage to keep Stralman, Girardi's cap hit may become manageable so long as the cap keeps rising.
Sorry man - I just totally disagree with this. Girardi knows how to handle the puck. He's an adequate passer. We've seen him shoot out Hagelin Kreider or Brass on so many breakaways this year. I can think of at least 3 where I said "who made that pass?" and it ended up being Girardi. I believe the Brass slap shot vs. Montreal, for example, was a Girardi feed. He's a stay at home defenseman. You don't need 6 defensemen who push the play. I just think he's generally disliked by fans because what he does well he does awkwardly. He doesn't look the part of a top pairing D. If you look around the league, at salaries, and at first pairing D, I would bet he's a top pairing D on all but a handful of teams, and that his cap hit is reasonable. He's making $5.5M AAV and Matt ****ing Niskanen is going to get 4.5-5M. $5.5M for your top pairing D is not a crippling cap hit.
The fans that don't like him, like yourself (I'm assuming), don't because of the new puck possession stats that are all the rave. Those stats are useful - but they're just like any other stat. All of us have presumably been watching/playing hockey for a long time. I don't need a stat to tell me who is a valuable hockey player and who isn't. Dan Girardi is a damn good defenseman and a warrior. He's a great leader and a constant on our team, and the consummate professional.
The one point you made about racking up stats that mean you don't have the puck - no hockey team is going to control the puck all the time. What was the highest puck percentage team? 55%? I don't even know. But I'd wager that's about the percentage, which means they don't have it 40-45% of the time, and when you don't, you want a guy like Girardi back there. I'm not saying he's the greatest D in the world, but let's not drive the guy out of town because he "doesn't fit AV's system." He fits any system.
He's not being overvalued. He's being properly valued. Stralman was our best right handed defenseman last year by a large margin. If we wind up with two possession anchors in our top two pairs next season, then we're ****ed.
Stralman had a great season. But for all his puck possession prowess that is being preached, he consistently failed to hit the net when he got chances. He scored less than 15 points. He played with Marc Staal. I'm not ready to anoint Stralman as better than Girardi after one playoff run, or one year even. Girardi has been a #2 defenseman in this league for years.
That being said, I'd prefer to have them both because, like I said, I like Stralman. I think he's efficient and an underrated skater, and he's positionally sound.
