Jim Playfair comments on Giordano (And the history of finding him)

[monkeyman]

Gio has great hockey sense. I think defensemen with a high hockey IQ can adapt and tend to to have longer careers. I'm more worried about re-signing him.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think Richie Regehr would have turned into a solid player as well - but injuries de-railed him. I fully admit that when I saw him and Gio on the ice - I like Richie better.
Yet another example of things I was really wrong about.

Many were on that same boat, I don' think it is a stretch to say that at that time Richie was the better player.

However Giordano has worked his ass off to develop, and become the player he is today.

I was always intrigued to see what Richie Regehr would have become if not for concussion problems.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

He's only 31, and a d-man. They always mature slower and enter their prime years later than forwards, Gio is just now entering his prime. No reason to think he can't have another 8 or 9 years of solid productivity, plenty of time for our young core to develop and become a real threat in the league

Gio is definitely a late bloomer, and he seems to be in great shape, but let's not pretend that he's superhuman. The average NHL d-man has been retired for 2 years at his age, and very few players get better when they hit their 30s.

This is his prime, it's not going to get better...we just hope he can sustain it for as long as possible. He might play into his late 30s, but I don't think it's the wisest thing to assume that he'll be at this level for more that 3-4 more years. He plays a smart game, and that will allow him to stretch things out, but let's not pretend that he's going to be Nik Lidstrom.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think Richie Regehr would have turned into a solid player as well - but injuries de-railed him. I fully admit that when I saw him and Gio on the ice - I like Richie better.
Yet another example of things I was really wrong about.

same here

A lot of really good players came out from that tryout. Giordano, Wideman, Regehr 2.0... I think we had 2 forwards that actually saw NHL duty from their PTO.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Was Iginla the only captain Gelinas mentioned?

I'm not sure he mentioned captains at all.

I'm not talking about Iginla, I'm talking about Giordano.

Both his former headcoach and current assistant coach think he's marvelous, the former head coach going so far as to call him his captain, the current assistant going so far as to call him the best leader he's been around.

That's all I said.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

Gio has great hockey sense. I think defensemen with a high hockey IQ can adapt and tend to to have longer careers. I'm more worried about re-signing him.

It's pretty awesome to see him sniping PP goals from Cammi's old spot.

There really is nothing this man can't do on the ice.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Gio is definitely a late bloomer, and he seems to be in great shape, but let's not pretend that he's superhuman. The average NHL d-man has been retired for 2 years at his age, and very few players get better when they hit their 30s.

This is his prime, it's not going to get better...we just hope he can sustain it for as long as possible. He might play into his late 30s, but I don't think it's the wisest thing to assume that he'll be at this level for more that 3-4 more years. He plays a smart game, and that will allow him to stretch things out, but let's not pretend that he's going to be Nik Lidstrom.

oh, let's pretend he will be

[Street Pharmacist]

As far as his play goes, I believe there's more to it than talent. For the vast majority of hockey players (I'm including Gio here) there's lots of factors that affect how they are playing. Chemistry (Brodie has been the ying to his yang), system (defense have the green light and the forwards come back well), coach's trust (Hartley believes in him), role (he is looked at to score, not just defend), confidence (got to be confident right now), etc.

I do not want to detract from his talent, but I don't think it's a slam dunk he does this well if he's in say, St Louis.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Table 5

the average NHL d-man has been retired for 2 years at his age

Can you elaborate on this? Because it makes little sense to me.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by heep223

Can you elaborate on this? Because it makes little sense to me.

I think average retirement might be misleading because of all the retirements of guys who never erally make if for moore than a couple years. I think it'd be more accurate to take guys who play for more than 5 or 7 years (i.e. established NHLers) and then see how long their average career is.

[automaton 3]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think Richie Regehr would have turned into a solid player as well - but injuries de-railed him. I fully admit that when I saw him and Gio on the ice - I like Richie better.
Yet another example of things I was really wrong about.

I don't think you were wrong - at that time Ritchie looked to have lots of promise.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by heep223

Can you elaborate on this? Because it makes little sense to me.

I got it from this handy little graph.
http://www.quanthockey.com/Distribut...stribution.php

Obviously needs to be taken in context as it doesn't take into account all the factors of an NHL player, but my point was that what Gio has done tends to go against relative expectations for a player in the NHL. Yes, he's a late bloomer and an outlier, but I don't think its reasonable to expect that because he bloomed in his late 20s, everything else gets pushed back as well. At the very least, our long-term plan shouldn't be based on him being a force late into his 30s...even if we all hope he is.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

Gio has great hockey sense. I think defensemen with a high hockey IQ can adapt and tend to to have longer careers. I'm more worried about re-signing him.

What reason is there to worry? The cost is not an issue. He is the captain of a young team taking steps forward and improving. What reason does he have to go play somewhere else?

[heep223]

Interesting, that's a cool site. Correct me if I'm wrong but it doesn't adjust for actual NHL players vs. fringe players who then retire because they can't quite make it, which would bias the data toward earlier ages.

Anyways, I don't think it's unrealistic to expect that Gio has 2-3 more years at or close to his prime. So maybe in that second or third year we could actually be a contender...

Man I wish we had better D prospects!

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by heep223

Anyways, I don't think it's unrealistic to expect that Gio has 2-3 more years at or close to his prime. So maybe in that second or third year we could actually be a contender...

I don't think its either, and I think he could still be a solid d-man after that anyway...I just don't think we should be assuming that we can rely on him to be the lynchpin of our defense for the next decade.

TJ Brodie on the other hand...

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Was Iginla the only captain Gelinas mentioned?

To answer your question, no. He mentioned that Giordano was the best leader he's ever seen. He was on the Fan 960 post game show last night and made mention of this. Here's my paraphrased quote from last night in the PGT:

Interesting stuff from the post game on the Fan…

Martin Gelinas just said that Mark Giordano is the greatest leader he's ever been around. Just for reference, Gelinas mentioned he has been around: Iginla, Messier, Nieuwendyk, Ron Francis…

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

What reason is there to worry? The cost is not an issue. He is the captain of a young team taking steps forward and improving. What reason does he have to go play somewhere else?

I should be clear, there is no indication he won't re-sign here, and I agree, he has every reason to stay and I do think he'd be more inclined to stay here, all other things being equal. I'm just paranoid by nature, I worry about everything.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

I'm just paranoid by nature, I worry about everything.

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you. I agree btw I view paranoia as simply knowing all the facts.

But let's be honest Gio will re-sign. I could see 6X6.5M (ie. taking a discount so we can build a contender).

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by heep223

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you. I agree btw I view paranoia as simply knowing all the facts.

But let's be honest Gio will re-sign. I could see 6X6.5M (ie. taking a discount so we can build a contender).

Giordano's name is being seriously bandied about as a legitimate consideration for the Norris Trophy. This puts him in the $8.0 m range, and there is not really such a thing as a "home town discount" with players of his calibre.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Giordano's name is being seriously bandied about as a legitimate consideration for the Norris Trophy. This puts him in the $8.0 m range, and there is not really such a thing as a "home town discount" with players of his calibre.

You're probably right....though Duncan Keith comes to mind with a 5.4M cap hit. Though when I think about it, that was a long term back diving contract that will be very different than Gio's.