Annual expectations thread 2023/24: #28 Zemgus Girgensons

[dudacek]

No one was surprised when Z put up his usual 10 goals and 18 points last year while supplying hard skating, defensively responsible play. The fact he only missed 2 games to injury might have been a bit of a shock.

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=130896

A healthy Zemgus will move past Mike Foligno and Rick Martin this year and into 10th place on the all-time Sabres’ games played list. After a decade of wearing the blue and gold, he has yet to play a playoff game. Both the Sabres and Girgensons had options to switch things up this year in free agency, but each signed up for at least one more try.

What do you expect from Girgensons this year?
(Last year’s takes here)

 

[mjd1001]

8-12 goals, one of the, if not the best forward killing penalties.  A group of people criticizing him and wishing he would get replaced with a 'young guy' because they don't know, or at least don't appreciate the fact he is, in his all around game, above average for a 4th liner.

[steveoath]

He will try hard, every shift. 

[Porous Five Hole]

I was very much looking forward to voting 15-20 points, hard skating, defensively responsible play and injury. It was a gimme and it made me laugh out loud at the poll last year. 

[Pimlach]

None of the above.  
 

12 goals, 26 points.  Good two way game.  4th line 

[Zamboni]

Girgs plays around 60-70 games. And snags 18-25 points.

[thewookie1]

He will score Buffalo’s 1st playoff goal since Brad Boyes. End of story, other than that he’ll be his usual 20-25 pt man who works his ass off every night.

[Night Train]

Standard Girg

4th checking line. Penalty kills. 10 goals. I have zero issues with his role. 

[dudacek]

Can’t wait to see him force a turnover late to seal the Sabres first playoff win since April 22, 2011.

[LabattBlue]

I expect him to be a 20-20 guy.  No…not goals and assists, 20 medium, 20 hot. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

10 g 8a like every year.

[Norcal]

Be the good teammate he is

Sit and support when the rotation calls for it 

Keep trucking 

[Weave]

https://x.com/billhoppenhl/status/1709358613448335692?s=46&t=p3ru85CQsNxLZ4fOTNRLJQ
 

I give up on trying to embed twitter links from my phone.

[SabresBaltimore]

Just now, Weave said:

https://x.com/billhoppenhl/status/1709358613448335692?s=46&t=p3ru85CQsNxLZ4fOTNRLJQ
 

I give up on trying to embed twitter links from my phone.

 

[Pimlach]

Solid guy.  Would love to see him cleanly run people over more often too.  Make other team’s defense less comfy.  
 

 

[JohnC]

An article in the Buffalo News on Girgs by Mike Harrington. He has a fourth line role that he does very well in conjunction with Okposo and probably Krebs. Hopefully, he can score a few more goals. 

 

https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nhl/zemgus-girgensons-buffalo-sabres-nhl-detroit-red-wings-don-granato/article_f277becc-6217-11ee-9121-c35e9b368c50.html#tncms-source=login

 

[bob_sauve28]

8 minutes ago, JohnC said:

An article in the Buffalo News on Girgs by Mike Harrington. He has a fourth line role that he does very well in conjunction with Okposo and probably Krebs. Hopefully, he can score a few more goals. 

 

https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nhl/zemgus-girgensons-buffalo-sabres-nhl-detroit-red-wings-don-granato/article_f277becc-6217-11ee-9121-c35e9b368c50.html#tncms-source=login

 

Ten years ago this week, in a building that no longer exists, Zemgus Girgensons was a 19-year-old basking in his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres.

Reminded by reporters after practice Tuesday, Girgensons smiled and said he had seen the anniversary pop up on his Twitter feed the night before. It was Oct. 2, 2013, at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena in a game most remembered as the Red Wings’ return to the Eastern Conference.

In skill, intensity and even emojis, Dylan Cozens packs a punch in middle for Sabres

Cozens tweaked the Leafs on social media and made a different statement on the ice Saturday vs. Columbus.

The Sabres lost, 2-1, but Girgensons scored Buffalo’s only goal with 7:24 left, putting his first NHL shot on goal into the net after a misplay by Wings goalie Jimmy Howard.

“I remember vividly. The building’s not around but I’m never gonna forget that,” said Girgensons, whose linemates that night were Brian Flynn and Mikhail Grigorenko. “It was a cool experience. I definitely remember my first shift I got pinned in my zone with (Detroit stars Pavel) Datsyuk and (Henrik) Zetterberg on the ice. It was over a minute long I think. Remember that the most, but in the end, I got a goal so that was special of course.”

[K-9]

I simply expect the Gus we have seen since he’s been here; 100% effort whether we are up 5 goals or down 5 goals in a game. Hustle plays that never show up in the stat sheet that result in a goal for the Sabres or in a goal denied to the opponent. Night in and night out of exemplifying what it means to never cheat the game. 

[RochesterExpat]

30 minutes ago, SabresBaltimore said:

 

“Old man worries he would be the only old man in the locker room and wanted a slightly younger old man to be with him.”

[SabresBaltimore]

49 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

“Old man worries he would be the only old man in the locker room and wanted a slightly younger old man to be with him.”

Girgenson is 29. He's 2 years younger than Skinner. And 6 years younger than Okposo. Calling him a slightly younger old man is kind of a reach. He's certainly not a young player anymore, but he's still probably got several more years in the league left in him as a role player.

 

This reminds me of when reporters asked him if he'd contemplate retiring if he didn't return to the Sabres, and he was like "I'm only 29". I think he seems older just because he's been around for 11 seasons.

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, SabresBaltimore said:

Girgenson is 29. He's 2 years younger than Skinner. And 6 years younger than Okposo. Calling him a slightly younger old man is kind of a reach. He's certainly not a young player anymore, but he's still probably got several more years in the league left in him as a role player.

 

This reminds me of when reporters asked him if he'd contemplate retiring if he didn't return to the Sabres, and he was like "I'm only 29". I think he seems older just because he's been around for 11 seasons.

He’s a very young man, early on the back nine of his career.

[SwampD]

7 hours ago, Weave said:

https://x.com/billhoppenhl/status/1709358613448335692?s=46&t=p3ru85CQsNxLZ4fOTNRLJQ
 

I give up on trying to embed twitter links from my phone.

I think someone said you just change the "x" in the address to "twitter".

[SabresBaltimore]

2 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I think someone said you just change the "x" in the address to "twitter".

That is correct

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I think someone said you just change the "x" in the address to "twitter".

I tried that.  Didn’t work for me.

I hate Elon Musk.

[SabresBaltimore]

Just now, Weave said:

I tried that.  Didn’t work for me.

I hate Elon Musk.

The issue may be that when you do that you're only changing the display text and not the embedded url. Typically when you copy/paste a url it uses the url as both. 

Like this:

<a href="https://x.com/LLysowski/status/1709661985481044161">https://x.com/LLysowski/status/1709661985481044161</a>

 

So you could end up editing to:

 

<a href="https://x.com/LLysowski/status/1709661985481044161">https://twitter.com/LLysowski/status/1709661985481044161</a>

Such that the display name looks right but the link is still going to x.com

The other thing I've noticed is the forum code seems to detect a twitter address and converts it when you paste it. So if it's not the first thing, it may be you need to change the URL and THEN paste it into a forum post. Not paste it and change it.

 

Ideally the forum code would just get updated to work with both, but that's easier said than done because they'll have to do a deployment.