There is loyalty, and then there is blind loyalty, and sometimes they are the same.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault is not the first coach in the history of sports to show allegiance to a player who has rewarded him, repeatedly and courageously, in the past.
Whether that comes back to bite Vigneault, or to repay him, remains to be seen.
Vigneault is between a rock and a hard place with alternate captain and courageous server of his team, defenseman Dan Girardi, a black-and-blue, above-and-beyond type whose game has clearly slipped. Some would/will say, or have said, collapsed.