Jaromir Jagr
Registered User
Yeah. They were. For better or worse. Remember, Stralman just a couple of years earlier was a training camp invite caliber player. Who was actually cut by the Devils. There was risk there for sure. We can all sit there and pretend the risk didn't exist of we want to continue flogging the horse's ashes.
Uhh and at one point Dan Girardi was an Undrafted free agent. What does past things have to do with anything? Stralman was solid for us for a few years. He was very clearly becoming a top end defenseman. Girardi was quite clearly declining. That was as obvious as ever in the final when stralman was our best player (sans Hank and mcd) and Girardi was quite easily our worst.
Stralman earned girardis contract. The only reason Girardi got it is because mcdonagh made him look like an above average defender that year with his Norris level play.