Easily one of the best d I have seen wearing the Ranger blue in my six decades as a fan.
A victim more of how the game has changed rather than is deteriorating skills. Not to diminish how those skills have deteriorated as they have, but in the "old" NHL, meaning even just five years ago, a veteran, stay-at-home dman, was invaluable. In this "old" NHL, Girardi could have played out his contract with the Rangers. But the game has changed and passed him by.
How soon we forget just how good he was: when he was emerging as a young d playing with Fedor Tyutin and has an experienced young vet when he made the all-star game/ How soon we forget that the heart of our Torts teams was the fact that we had 3 legit #1 d: McD, Staal, and Girardi.
So let's take a step back and appreciate him: undrafted, started his pro-career in the ECHL, but quickly rose to the AHL and then the Rangers. Made the all-star team, legit #1 shut-down d who Ovechkin had summer-long nightmares about, set the standard for shot-blocking with Torts, a heart and soul warrior who was proud to wear Ranger blue and made me proud to be a Ranger fan.
Easily one of the best d I have seen wearing the Ranger blue in my six decades as a fan.
A victim more of how the game has changed rather than is deteriorating skills. Not to diminish how those skills have deteriorated as they have, but in the "old" NHL, meaning even just five years ago, a veteran, stay-at-home dman, was invaluable. In this "old" NHL, Girardi could have played out his contract with the Rangers. But the game has changed and passed him by.
How soon we forget just how good he was: when he was emerging as a young d playing with Fedor Tyutin and has an experienced young vet when he made the all-star game/ How soon we forget that the heart of our Torts teams was the fact that we had 3 legit #1 d: McD, Staal, and Girardi.
So let's take a step back and appreciate him: undrafted, started his pro-career in the ECHL, but quickly rose to the AHL and then the Rangers. Made the all-star team, legit #1 shut-down d who Ovechkin had summer-long nightmares about, set the standard for shot-blocking with Torts, a heart and soul warrior who was proud to wear Ranger blue and made me proud to be a Ranger fan.
Way more sad today than when Callahan was traded
Easily one of the best d I have seen wearing the Ranger blue in my six decades as a fan.
A victim more of how the game has changed rather than is deteriorating skills. Not to diminish how those skills have deteriorated as they have, but in the "old" NHL, meaning even just five years ago, a veteran, stay-at-home dman, was invaluable. In this "old" NHL, Girardi could have played out his contract with the Rangers. But the game has changed and passed him by.
How soon we forget just how good he was: when he was emerging as a young d playing with Fedor Tyutin and has an experienced young vet when he made the all-star game/ How soon we forget that the heart of our Torts teams was the fact that we had 3 legit #1 d: McD, Staal, and Girardi.
So let's take a step back and appreciate him: undrafted, started his pro-career in the ECHL, but quickly rose to the AHL and then the Rangers. Made the all-star team, legit #1 shut-down d who Ovechkin had summer-long nightmares about, set the standard for shot-blocking with Torts, a heart and soul warrior who was proud to wear Ranger blue and made me proud to be a Ranger fan.
Also appropriate
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Easily one of the best d I have seen wearing the Ranger blue in my six decades as a fan.
A victim more of how the game has changed rather than is deteriorating skills. Not to diminish how those skills have deteriorated as they have, but in the "old" NHL, meaning even just five years ago, a veteran, stay-at-home dman, was invaluable. In this "old" NHL, Girardi could have played out his contract with the Rangers. But the game has changed and passed him by.
How soon we forget just how good he was: when he was emerging as a young d playing with Fedor Tyutin and has an experienced young vet when he made the all-star game/ How soon we forget that the heart of our Torts teams was the fact that we had 3 legit #1 d: McD, Staal, and Girardi.
So let's take a step back and appreciate him: undrafted, started his pro-career in the ECHL, but quickly rose to the AHL and then the Rangers. Made the all-star team, legit #1 shut-down d who Ovechkin had summer-long nightmares about, set the standard for shot-blocking with Torts, a heart and soul warrior who was proud to wear Ranger blue and made me proud to be a Ranger fan.
I think there's a lot to this but even so the last couple years he hasn't been able to play through all the injuries he was getting. They were taking a toll too.
Girardi was a 100%er in my eyes and being a Rangers fan since the early 70's I'd say he probably ranks in my top 20-25 favorite players over about 45 years.