Small sample sizes in sports can be very misleading. They can be noisy. But sometimes they give you a vibe that either makes you never want to see it again, or makes you want to see way more of it. The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a little bit of both regarding their newest defenseman, Sam Girard.
Overall, it has only been a handful of games for him with the team and it has been a very mixed bag of results. There is always an adjustment period with players when they switch teams mid-season, and sometimes
it can take a few games to fully settle in. There is a human element to it. You are moving to a new city, probably without your family for the time being, being put into a new team, with a new style of play and expected to just seamlessly transition into it, all while dealing with the everyday things that come from moving. It might not always be the best representation of what you are as a player right away.
There is also a learning curve for the team trying to figure out where the new player fits, and what their best role is.
When Girard first arrived in Pittsburgh, he was put on the team’s second defense pairing alongside Kris Letang.
My initial reaction to that was one of genuine interest. Mostly because throughout his career Letang has always played better when he has been paired with more mobile defenseman that could keep up with him and the pace of play he helped generate. When they tried to pair him with a steadier, “stay-at-home” type of guy that would, in theory, “cover for him defensively,” it never, ever worked. Brooks Orpik. Rob Scuderi. It just seemed to do more to hold him back and waste his skills.
The counter to that would probably be, “well what about Brian Dumoulin?” But peak Dumoulin could move. Really well. He was hardly a statue out there, and skated well enough to be a perfect complement.
Given that one of Girard’s best skills is his ability to skate, it seemed like something worth trying. And it was.
It just right away never looked right. It never felt right. Girard seemed like he was playing a step slow and always hesitating. There was a clear lack of confidence and some indecisiveness. The pairing itself always seemed to be pinned in its own defensive zone and always seemed to be the source of a Grade-A scoring chance against or goal against. It may have only been a handful of games, and some of the underlying numbers may have still been decent, but it just never felt right.
A lot of it is simply the fact Letang is not the same player he was at his peak, and is not playing particularly good hockey right now at this stage of the season regardless of who his partner is. It could also have just been the fact neither player had really adjusted to one another. Sometimes the chemistry just is not there. Whatever it was, they simply needed to try something new.
On Sunday against the Boston Bruins, they did.
That was when they put Letang back with Ryan Shea, a pairing that had some success earlier in the year, and Girard with Ilya Solovyov.
The results were significantly better. Especially as it related to the Girard-Solovyov pairing.
They not only produced fantastic results together as a defense paring, they also more than passed the eye-test.
Girard looked more confident and decisive than he had in any game he had played with the Penguins to this point. He also seemed to have a better chemistry alongside Solovyov, which maybe should not be a huge surprise since they were previously teammates in Colorado earlier this season. There may have been more of a confidence level and trust.
Or it could have just simply been one of those noisy small sample sizes.
Either way, I want to see more of it to find out. To find out if that pairing can work and be productive, and also to find out if Solovyov can be a player here.
He is still only 25 years old, had posted strong underlying numbers in Colorado, and has mostly played well when given an opportunity with the Penguins. With his assist on Sunday, he already has four assists and is a plus-six in his first six appearances with the team, including at least one assist in each of his past three games.
Given that, and given that there seems to already be at least some sort of chemistry between him and the Penguins newest defenseman, it would only make sense to keep giving it a look. Especially if the only trade off is sitting Connor Clifton. Clifton is a fine depth defenseman over an 82-game season, but he also strikes me as the type of player that could get badly exploited in a best-of-seven playoff series when teams are actually putting in serious pre-scouting efforts and heavily line-matching. The physical play is nice, but the lack of mobility and puck-moving could become a problem.
They might have a better alternative. They will only know for sure if they give it a chance.
