AvsCOL
Registered User
- Jul 16, 2013
- 4,951
- 5,386
Sammy is so valuable. Wish more people saw that.
Rumor: 2024-2025 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Talk | The Slow Crawl to the Season
- Thread starter forsbergavs32
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Bender
I'll eat pancakes on his grave!
- Sep 25, 2002
- 18,037
- 10,055
He is valuable in the things that he does well - puck retrievals and zone exits, puck distribution etc. I also believe he's got more offense in his game then he's been able to showcase with the Avs. The puck retrieval and zone exits are really an underappreciated part of his game by a lot of fans.
People tend to focus on the stuff he has trouble with - clearing bodies from the front of the net and getting outmuscled for pucks just due to sheer size disadvantage.
Since with the latter the puck sometimes ends up in the back of the net, people tend to remember that more than the rest.
niwotsblessing
Registered User
He also demonstrates a muffin shot. Where he found the shot for the game winner remains a mystery and he should try shooting like that on a regular basis.
- Apr 25, 2006
- 52,751
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Matches the eye test honestly. I thought they all looked pretty bad last night. Have to wonder if fatigue is starting to set it. We can't get bodies back soon enough.
- Jul 25, 2006
- 34,183
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Just to make it clear, I’ve never said Girard is not a good player, even if at times I bring up his name in trade proposals
I know, the second part of that was not directed at you. Just noting that perceptions of Sammy continue to be skewed. He has a bad night, he gets slagged mercilessly, he has a good night and it's quickly forgotten.
henchman21
Mr. Meeseeks
- Feb 24, 2012
- 67,145
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GoNordiquesGo
Registered User
I think its a small minority here that doesn't appreciate Girard.
It was well said above that he is very strong in specific areas of the game and weaker in others. Makes it a little harder to evaluate the overall player. Its easy to confuse his skating agility and ability to get the puck out of the zone with offensive ability. I saw somewhere recently stats about his ability to break/disrupt entry at his blue line and it was like top 20 in the league in 4-5 of these categories.
But 1-on-1 cover down low and against cycling, yikes...
It was well said above that he is very strong in specific areas of the game and weaker in others. Makes it a little harder to evaluate the overall player. Its easy to confuse his skating agility and ability to get the puck out of the zone with offensive ability. I saw somewhere recently stats about his ability to break/disrupt entry at his blue line and it was like top 20 in the league in 4-5 of these categories.
But 1-on-1 cover down low and against cycling, yikes...
BobRossColton
Registered User
If dubas is actually looking to sell already, we should be all over Drew O'Connor and Petterson @ 50%
Wood+
Petterson Malinski as a 3rd pair
Wood+
Petterson Malinski as a 3rd pair
Girard is actually an incredibly strong 1 on 1 defender... That's the thing I dont get with his critics. His ability to use his stick to disrupt what the forwards are doing and often times just remove them from the puck completely is unmatched on this team quite frankly.
Yeah, he struggles physically(Though not for a lack of trying either), and this becomes most noticeable particularly with net front scrambles. But along the boards he's actually extremely good at stick with forwards down low, keeping himself between them and the net, and disrupting them from what they want to be doing with the puck.
At this point his defense is the strongest part of his game IMO. His offense particularly shooting has dried up in recent years and he's become easier to predict and defend against because of his shot. And with the shot, the muffin part isn't necessarily the problem. Its his inability to get the shot through traffic with any regularity. The power of the shot really wouldn't matter if he could routinely beat the first defender at least, but his shots get blocked as much as EJs at this point and that's where the issues come from. And then because of his lack of confidence in his shot, Defenders can cheat on him way more and limit his passing options.
But overall he's a very solid Top 4 Dman. We'd be in a world of hurt without him and he's absolutely worth a $5M price tag especially when you see worse guys getting similar or more money these days. He's arguably been our 2nd best Dman this year(Malinski has actually been close to his level as well).
Yeah, he struggles physically(Though not for a lack of trying either), and this becomes most noticeable particularly with net front scrambles. But along the boards he's actually extremely good at stick with forwards down low, keeping himself between them and the net, and disrupting them from what they want to be doing with the puck.
At this point his defense is the strongest part of his game IMO. His offense particularly shooting has dried up in recent years and he's become easier to predict and defend against because of his shot. And with the shot, the muffin part isn't necessarily the problem. Its his inability to get the shot through traffic with any regularity. The power of the shot really wouldn't matter if he could routinely beat the first defender at least, but his shots get blocked as much as EJs at this point and that's where the issues come from. And then because of his lack of confidence in his shot, Defenders can cheat on him way more and limit his passing options.
But overall he's a very solid Top 4 Dman. We'd be in a world of hurt without him and he's absolutely worth a $5M price tag especially when you see worse guys getting similar or more money these days. He's arguably been our 2nd best Dman this year(Malinski has actually been close to his level as well).
I think Girard's net-front struggles would be less noticeable if his partner didn't also suck in front of the net. Manson should be an elite crease-clearer but IMO his positional sense is below-average at best.
If there's one thing that drives me nuts about Sammy's game it's that he settles for a lazy clear off the boards more often than I'd like. Dude needs to give Mark Barberio a call and learn the fine art of the short range chip shot. That dude was an absolute master at it.
If there's one thing that drives me nuts about Sammy's game it's that he settles for a lazy clear off the boards more often than I'd like. Dude needs to give Mark Barberio a call and learn the fine art of the short range chip shot. That dude was an absolute master at it.
Bender
I'll eat pancakes on his grave!
- Sep 25, 2002
- 18,037
- 10,055
Pettersson could be a TDL target depending on the price. That's the type of player I think the Avs would target as he can fill-in on the Top-4 if needed and is on an expiring contract.
As far as Drew O'Connor goes...
Gumballhead
Registered User
He's valuable to this team and his size isn't enough of a detriment to mention most of the time. He's fairly physical, especially for his size. And Hinote said on the after game last night that he works as hard as anyone on the team. I feel like we expect more offense from him because we had a really bad offensive D corps when he arrived. I don't even worry about scoring from him, it's not what he's focused on anyway.
hockeyfish
Registered User
I don't think we'd have the money for that. I don't even fully understand how they're going to fit Landeskog in if he returns during the season lol.
BobRossColton
Registered User
We won't need to move him when Mikko walks in the off-season.
Chiarelli
Registered User
- Jan 27, 2019
- 5,054
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Man I’d take a run at Blomqvist - better numbers than both our fools on a far worse team. Worst case Ontario you have a backup for this year and next signed for under a million and he’s be RFA . If you could, send Georgie the other way. If not, send Annunen to make the money work.
LOFIN
Registered User
- Sep 16, 2011
- 17,470
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Switching him and Annunen would do nothing, Bednar would still play Georgiev. And the Pens are not taking on Georgiev. Not like they are trading one of their only good goalies anyways.
I'm fairly confident the Pens ain't gonna move him. I think they'd LOVE to part ways with Jarry Garcia though.
- Jul 25, 2006
- 34,183
- 25,430
That’s why I said if Landy isn’t coming back, for at least the regular season. Then we can get Malkin and keep Landy on LTIR
