The former New York Rangers defenseman, Dan Girardi, went on the Spittin Chiclets podcast today as a guest to share some stories from his time playing in New York City.
Dan Girardi spent 11 seasons playing for the New York Rangers and he was certainly a fan favorite. The people of New York City loved Girardi for his blue-collar mentality as an undrafted player that had to work his way up to the top.
Girardi spoke a lot about how special his time with the Rangers was. He is currently tenth on the organization's all-time list for games played, finishing with 788 games played as a Blueshirt from 2006-2017.
I'm not sure if a lot of people know this, but Girardi is the franchise leader for most postseason games played as a skater, having played 122 games. He recorded six goals and 27 assists for 33 points across those games. The only other player with more playoff games played is Henrik Lundqvist with 130.
As a player, the main thing that he tried to focus on was consistency. At times it was tough for him to sustain his style of play, which was a defenseman that always paid the price. As he got older and the Rangers brought in more offensive defensemen, Girardi transitioned his game into a guy that consistently put his body on the line, blocking shots, killing penalties, and putting his body on the line night in and night out.
As Ranger fans know, there were a ton of highs and lows during Girardi's career, but one thing that everyone can agree on is that he poured his heart and soul into this organization. The role he took on is a tough one to sustain as we are seeing it with current Ranger, Ryan Lindgren, who plays a very similar style to that of Girardi.
One of the funnier stories that Girardi told on the podcast was the "Hank Stare" in reference to when a shot would go off of a player and by Rangers goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist. Girardi said that he and another veteran defenseman, Marc Staal, got it the most.
Girardi said "I tried to get my stick on everything. I tell all my kids on my team, stick-on-puck that's the best skill to have. Active sticks, it's disrupting everything, but maybe if I go back in time when the guy is going down the wing, like a nothing flip on the net, why even put the stick there unless I can really get there because those shots sometimes are the ones that go in."
One thing Girardi really got to expand upon was the 2014 Stanley Cup run against the Los Angeles Kings.
"The Stanley Cup Final in New York City was unreal. You don't know how many times you're going to get there and unfortunately, we just couldn't get it done. I think we had three overtime games, yours truly gave one up to Mr. Game Seven, Justin Williams, in Game 1 for the overtime winner."
This was one of the tougher moments to watch as a Rangers fan, but Girardi has truly taken this like a champ. On the podcast, he went into depth about this goal saying "That's hard to get over, that was a tough one, but you got to move past it. All the boys are great, I had to stand up in the media and take it like a champ and go through it. I think everyone had a lot of respect for that."
Girardi's ending in New York wasn't an easy one as the team bought him out in 2017 with three years remaining on his contract that had a $5.5M AAV.
He went on to say "Jeff Gorton called me, I wouldn't say I saw it coming. I didn't like the feeling. I got a concussion the last game of the year and I tried to come back for the Pittsburgh series right away. I tried to come back too early, we lost in 5 in Pittsburgh and that was the last game I played as a Ranger. I didn't like how it was going that year either so that call was right before I was going to pick up my son from school, that was a long walk."
It's unfortunate that this was the end of Girardi's playing days in New York because recency bias didn't allow the fans to give him the true appreciation that he deserved for everything he gave to the organization.
He said that his favorite memory in New York was the 2012 season. He was an All-Star and also finished in sixth place for the Norris Trophy while getting two votes for first place.
My personal favorite story that Girardi told on the show was about the cheers from the Madison Square Garden crowd. Ranger fans love cheering for their goalies as we hear the "I-GOR" chants now, which were formerly "HEN-RIK" chants when Lundqvist was minding the cage.
Girardi said that he along with Marc Staal and Ryan McDonagh would always joke on the bench during those chants "Me, Staalsy, or Mac would have a big block and the next shot Hank would save it. They'd be cheering [HEN-RIK] and we'd be like [STAAL-SY, D-MONEY], never once got that (laughing)."
Some other guys that Girardi told stories about on the podcast were Sean Avery, John Tortorella, Kevin Hayes, Keith Yandle, and many more former Rangers.
He is currently a development coach for the Buffalo Sabres, but Girardi should always be respected and appreciated for his time as a Ranger.