But I agree that the hype regarding Girgs got out of hand at the first part of last season, and the hype carried a bit too far. There was a lot of discussion about Girgs becoming even a legitimate first line center etc.
But the hype didn't arise out of nowhere. Girgs game overall and his defensive game was really good (not elite) for 20 years old guy. Nolan, Murray and Devine all praised Girgs. Sure, he fell while the whole team fell (Ristolainen was really bad after November/December throught TDL), and he got injured while the whole team got a lot better after the TDL.
It's fair to say that those talks about Girgs becoming a legitimate first line center were too jumpy, but I haven't really seen those kind of comments in a long, long time.
But it's pretty bizarre that for some reason the whole attitude has turned 180 degrees. Yes, it's true that the team is a lot better and especially at centre compared to last season. And it's clear that he is not the best center in the team.
But it's pretty strange to see Girgs getting so much criticism. He is far from perfect defensively (not even ROR is, he has made a lot of defensive lapses but his offense draws the attention elsewhere), but he has been one of the best forwards defensively. Despite him not being as productive offensively as hoped, he has been one of the biggest reasons for this team to be so good possession wise and defensive wise. All the metrics and at least my eye-test confirms it. He does a lot of good things defensively (but he makes mistakes as well).
When Girgs started in NHL, I remember Devine talking that they are viewing him as a power-forward winger. When Darcy got axed, and Murray came, he wanted Girgs to be a center, and he has been a center basically all the time since end of 13-14 season.
At the start of the season Murray said that Girgs might be a winger or a center. He was a winger only briefly, and was put back to center. And he has been playing a shut-down role, and has been really good at it. And I think that the management sees him a capable defensive center who has potential to be really good one defensively.
His 5v5 GA60 is ridiculous compared to other players. And his matchups and zone-starts combined have been the toughest in the whole team (even tougher than ROR's) and he has played most of his time with defensively challenging players.
http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...s=50&teamid=4&type=goals&sort=A60&sortdir=ASC
(I don't think he will sustain those kind of numbers, though)
He's not perfect, he makes mistakes and he's a work in a progress... But he needs a lot more credit for his play as a 21-years old guy playing in a really tough situation. I understand that shiny new toys like Reinhart, ROR and Eichel get all the attention, but I'm pretty baffled to see him getting as much criticism as he does. Is it all because of the lack of offence? Or is it all because of this pretty artificial Girgs vs. Larsson thing? I don't know.