It wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine with Dan Girardi.
If the New York Rangers have had many players with rollercoaster-like careers, the Welland, Ontario native’s was reminiscent of Kingda Ka.
Girardi began his Rangers career as an undrafted free agent. An offensive defenseman by trade in juniors with the Barrie Colts, Guelph Storm and London Knights, he was signed by the Rangers and played with the Wolf Pack in 2005-06. After playing well in his second year in Hartford, Girardi was called up and was never to be sent to the AHL again.
Once he got to the NHL, then-coach John Tortorella made Girardi buy into filling the role of a shutdown, defensive defenseman.