good

I do have one question for you -- why do you get so defensive about Girardi, but not any of your other arguments that make no sense?

You know that all NHLers are good players ... like it or not, it's true ... i really don't want to be mean here but if you don't know that then i don't know what to say ...

Nobody is saying he isn't a good player compared to me and you. But when you compare him to every other defenseman in the NHL, he's one of the worst. There's no other way to put it.

you never sound mean, you sound uneducated.

For the billionth time, WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER NHL PLAYERS DAN GIRARDI IS NOT GOOD. WE ARE NOT COMPARING HIM TO YOU, ME, OR ANY OTHER PERSON ON THIS SITE. YOU HAVE TO USE PEER-TO-PEER COMPARISONS, NOT NHL PLAYER-TO-INTERNET TROLL COMPARISONS.

but even if he's bad compared to most NHLers he wouldn't be in the league.

I think I know the reason for the why RAIF defends Girardi so much. When RAIF changes his name to RangersandLightningFan we have have proof that RAIF is actually Dan Girardi.

But seriously we often criticize players for "not playing up their contracts." But can you really blame the player when the owner/GM offers a player way too much money or term. For instance why blame Clarkson for accepting 5.25 X 7 from the Leafs, or Phaneuf's. 7 X 7 from the Leafs, or Kessel's 8 X 8 from the Leafs. Is there a theme here?
I don't that much of Vlasic of the Sharks, but why did the Sharks offered him 7m X 8 years that pays Vlasic till he's 40 years of age. The madness seems to continue.

RAIF. I play RHD. Dan Girardi and me are fair comparisons. So anytime he wants to join me and my friends on Tuesday/Thursday afternoons at the local rink....let's see how he compares to THIS 63 year old.

Pittsburgh has Kessel at an appropriate cap hit now, too bad Ottawa didn't have the foresight to demand retained salary on Phaneuf and keep one of their bad contracts instead.

Mr Banks. Watching Phil for years as Leafs, he certainly wasn't a star. Long stretches of mediocrity or poor play. He would be a superstar in our non contact hockey team team though. IMO Phil landed in perfect spot in Pittsburg. Crosby and the other the Champs can egg him on to be at his best. Any other franchise, I think Phil declines with his disinterest in playing.
The Phaneuf trade. Don't know how anyone but Lou could have made that deal. The story goes, that Bryan was always in his office at the afternoon of a game. Lou met Bryan (maybe after drinks) and the deal was complete. One thing still had to be done. Convince Michalek to waive his NMC. The next morning, at Michalek dining room table, he waives NMC. Of course the next fall, Michalek was sent to the Marlies and Michalek in effect retired, and missed out on what might have a Conference Final run with his old the Senators. If Michalek had remained a Senator, maybe the Leafs would have had to retain 3m of Phaneuf's contract if they still wanted the trade to go through.

People do look at contracts and where they were drafted ... sure, Girardi is not a 5.5M type player, but he's still good ... Erik Gudbranson was picked really high so people look at how he hasn't turned into that kind of player, though i do think he's become a good 2nd pairing defenseman.

Dan Giradri is more than 2 standard deviations away in Shots Suppressed from 2015-2017. He is in a section of less than 2.1% of the league, and not in the good way.

When anyone compares NHL players, it is understood that they are comparing them relative to other NHL players. To give an example of what you are doing, Zach Rinaldo is not skilled with handling the puck. Compared to the 4th line of a USHL player, Rinaldo is "good" in terms of handling the puck. Zach Rinaldo is not skilled with handling the puck. Compared to Patrick Kane, Rinaldo is trash, in terms of handling the puck. The constant? Zach Rinaldo is not skilled with handling the puck.

Getting to the point of Suppressing Shots, according to data from ownthepuck, his Shot Suppressed / 60 minutes is >1. This means that during the game, he will not prevent shots from being taken. If you can refute this point with evidence that would offset this poor play, please do so. Otherwise, don't proclaim that Dan Girardi is a good NHL player.

We're not comparing Girardi to guys like Crosby and McDavid ... compared to those guys he's actually pretty bad, but almost every NHLer is pretty bad compared to those guys. Maybe he's not a top 4 d-man but he's definitely a guy who should for sure be in the main lineup, and i'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for Jeff Gorton to make.

AND EVERYONE ELSE... STEVIE Y AND TBL DONT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HEAVY, FORT GUARDING, MINUTE MUNCHING, EXPERIENCED D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Slow, yet Smart enough to know gap control and positioning! Certainly could have helped YOUR TEAMS, NYR also!!! End of story............

Great call Nashless. Girardi has somehow gone from an unwanted to a key member of a final four team. Quite possibly, Girardi maybe wouldn't be a fit on a number of teams, but with Tampa he found his niche. Kinda reminds of Larry Murphy when he let go by the Leafs for apparent poor play and then kept on playing and won Cups with the Wings.

People laugh, but we've sorely missed our Doorman. I'm pretty sure he could've helped Gardiner and TML also, or pit... Every gm, coach and team NEED D that you can just put out there and not have to teach them. Glue that keeps it all together, even if he gets caught slow footed once in a while, their teammates love them!

I don't know if anyone could help Gardiner and his bonehead plays . But your point is valid. Leafs did sign Hainsey and he played well though he was overused. Having Girardi playing would have help the Leafs for sure.
One great advantage Girardi had was....he was rich due to his years in the NHL, his buyout contract that goes on for years, so he was able and smart enough to pick a team that could have used him properly. And hey Yzerman and Cooper had the foresight too. And one contributor to the CapFriendly named "nashless"

And now, a while later, people are finally starting to agree with me about Girardi ...