Then you obviously don’t watch much Sabres hockey. The guy doesn’t take a shift off. He didn’t live up to his draft pedigree but is exactly the type who f bottom 6 player teams drool over for the playoffs.
Was he too rough on your team tonight?
I normally absolutely despise this whole, "you must not have watched him" retort. I find it dismissive and often used in place of an actual argument.
But in this case, i genuinely do have to wonder if it's the case here. Certainly, if they've watched a significant amount of Sabres hockey and haven't noticed Girgensons at all, they at very least, aren't watching for a lot of important things away from the puck that make a difference.
He's about as good, and "noticeable" as you're going to get from a bottom-6/4th line grinder. He's rangy, physical, energetic, responsible with the puck, positions himself well defensively and works hard every shift. He embraces his role and fills with with aplomb. Pretty much exactly what you'd like to see out that role player. Rather than a guy who pulls off a highlight reel dangle every third game, but spends the rest of the time giving a coach endless grief.
He also kind of stands out visually, as he's got some slightly peculiar mechanics to the way he gets around.
Kind of a little bit like Brady Skjei, where they both get around more than fine...but look a little different doing it.
Nah, it isn't just you. It just sounds progressive and hip to say he's fine and you're ignorant "lol".
As a Sabres fan, he's fine for what he does but he definitely is a disappointment in terms of the pick that we spent on him. He's got hands of cement and a lousy shot but he's a good character guy so it's not like he's bad for the team. But at the same time, it's bizarre for people to not call him a disappointment. He was supposed to become a Kunitz-type or someone who could at least contribute offensively and that has never been the case.
I still remember the loft "Kesler type" upside projections. People getting carried away with that one year where he played a de facto top line scoring role for a while and actually posted some points.
But realistically...he's carved out a pretty solid career, all things considered. He's not a star, but even with those Kesler-lite projections at the draft, he was always seen as more of a "high floor, low ceiling" type player. You hope for better, but a long career as a pretty ideal Bottom-6 grinder isn't hugely disappointing given his draft profile, and what happened with a bunch of other guys in that draft class.
This discussion is a perfect example of the over valuing of what it means to be a 1st round pick.
When Buffalo took Grigorenko 12th in the draft he was the biggest wild card. Might be the best talent wise, might bolt back to Russia, might flame out. Hell they couldn’t even agree on his age. We all know how that went.
They then took zemgus 2 picks later because he was seen as the safest pick in the draft. Mid tier 2nd line center at best, defensive bottom 6 at worst. He was never projected to be an offensive phenom.
He’s now pretty much reached his expected projection- a hard to play against, safe, great teammate, defensively sound, bottom 6 guy.
Would’ve liked more offense though but not upset that he’s still on the team.
Yeah. People seem to only look for the "upside" homerun picks. The reality is, a lot of picks even in the 1st round, bust out of the league entirely. Especially in weaker draft classes. Getting a good solid player for that long is pretty solid "value" for a draft pick. Not spectacular, but you have to be reasonably content with that.
I think people would be surprised too, at what a guy like Girgensons would've returned if he'd been moved at the deadline at some point rather than remaining a Sabre. I think that might've given some folks more of a gauge on the "value" of that sort of "premium bottom-6 forward" who brings some size, physicality, responsible two-way play, and a good honest effort every shift. Maybe that would've altered the perception of what "value" the Sabres got out of that initial draft pick. But they obviously preferred to just keep him around...
because of the value that type of guy has to a team. Even to a team that's spent most of his tenure in a cyclical rebuild mode.
