Buffalo Sabres: Girgensons deserves the playoffs more than anyone
Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons is the longest-tenured member of the team and he’s never seen a playoff appearance.
Not taking anything away from Jeff Skinner, another member of the Buffalo Sabres who has yet to enjoy a playoff appearance in his 10-plus seasons in the NHL, but no one in the organization deserves a postseason experience more than Zemgus Girgensons. And yes, Zemgus, I’m speaking directly to you.
You stuck around with arguably the NHL’s worst team throughout the 2010s and early 2020s. An organization that saw regime change after regime change, yet you were the only constant.
In fact, you made the 2015 All-Star Game because, well, there was no one else. It was also a year when you scored a career-high in points – 30 total. You never quite played to expectations, yet you also never played poorly enough for the team to give up on you.
Zemgus Girgensons deserves playoffs more than anyone on the Buffalo Sabres
Not to mention you missed an entire season there because of a lower body injury. You constantly found yourself falling behind younger talent, even when that talent was just passing by because regime change after regime change doomed this organization.
You saw the fanbase lose interest, and you saw an increasing number of empty seats at the KeyBank Center thanks to the team’s poor play. Then this season, you became part of the NHL’s youngest team, a group no one outside of Sabres circles gave even a remote chance.
There was a good chance you’d be traded at the trade deadline this year if and when the Sabres (again) fell out of contention early. Only they didn’t fall out of contention. And tonight, against the Carolina Hurricanes, you can be part of a team holding one of the eight playoff spots as Act II of the 2022-23 NHL Season ends if the Blue and Gold win.
At the absolute least, you can be part of a team that can finally make a legitimate playoff run when Act III begins on February 11th. Yes, Zemgus Girgensons, you can finally, after a decade of being the last man standing after a series of perpetual starts, stops, sputters, and stalls, be part of a potential playoff team.
light. More. Sabres vs. Hurricanes prediction and odds – Game 50
There are no guarantees here. But the Sabres are closer to a playoff appearance for the first time in 12 long years. And if anyone on this team, or really, anyone in this league deserves it, it’s you, for simply being the last man standing through all the adversity and obstacles you and this organization faced in that span.
Article Source: After lean years, Zemgus Girgensons enjoying Sabres’ playoff push by Bill Hoppe
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