The Buffalo Sabres have a handful of players currently on one-year contracts. Adam begins examining their fates, starting with the one who is missing in action.
Let me start off by saying that I like Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons. How can you not have a special place in your heart for the Lovable Latvian?! With that being said, my man-crush on Zemgus began during the 2012-13 NHL Lockout. I was starving for hockey, so I followed the Sabres farm club, the Rochester Americans. At the AHL level, Zemgus seemed like a hard worker who showed up each and every shift and game. I thought to myself, “After the lockout, he will be a part of the Sabres.”
The lockout was eventually resolved that season, though Zemgus was not called up to the Sabres. It wasn’t until the 2013-14 Season that Zemgus became a Buffalo Sabre and played a full season (https://www.nhl.com/player/zemgus-girgensons-8476878?stats=career-r-all&season=20162017).
Though the Buffalo Sabres sucked under then Head Coach Ted Nolan, I felt as if Zemgus played his best hockey as a Sabre during those two seasons. It seemed liked he carried over his hard work ethics from Rochester to Buffalo. Heck, in 2015, he was voted to the All-Star Game!
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A lot has changed since that All-Star season. Zemgus has a new head coach, is playing on the 3rd and 4th lines, and is pretty much a ghost this year. This season, Zemgus has played 44 games and tallied 5 goals and 6 assists. Surprisingly he is tied for 10th on the team with points, which aren’t exactly flashy numbers.
What do I—a non-hockey expert—attribute his poor play to? I partially blame his useless coach, who constantly changes the lines every other shift. I also put some fault on him. He does not seem to play like the hungry player were once saw. Most games, I don’t even hear Buffalo Sabres announcer Rick Jeanneret call Zemgus’ name, which leads me to ask, Where’s Zemgus “Waldo” Girgensons? I’d like to see his hard work effort back. Lord knows that we could use it, especially with a team that can only seem to play a consistent 20 minute game…sure there’s an off night in there for the Bums where they show up for a full 60 minutes, but they are few and far between.
As I put my Labatt Blue Light down to look into my Crystal Hockey Puck, I’m trying to see Zemgus’ future. I still see him playing hockey, but I can’t tell if he’s going to be playing hockey at the armature level with the Buffalo Sabres, if GMTM (General Manager Tim Murray) will trade him at the trade deadline to the Ottawa Senators, or if the Las Vegas Golden Showers will pick him up this summer in the Expansion Draft.
I asked my daughter Annabelle what she thought of Zemgus Girgensons and she just gave me a blank stare…then she went back to sucking her thumb…I guess that’s what 5 month old babies do.
Long story short, Zemgus needs to step up his game, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about him.