Eurolanche

Girard: It’ll be special

Newly-acquired defenseman Samuel Girard will make his Colorado Avalanche debut in tomorrow’s game against the Ottawa Senators, the first game of the team’s double-header as part of the NHL Global Series in Stockholm, Sweden. The diminutive rearguard is in his first NHL season after turning pro last season with the Milwaukee Admirals of the NHL, being drafted 47^th overall by the Nashville Predators in 2016. In six games with the Admirals, Girard scored one goal. This season, he played 5 games for the Predators, scoring a goal and adding two assists. Despite this, he was a relatively unknown player to most Avs fans, as most of them had to look up his name after it was announced he was part of the return for Matt Duchene. Most of the players didn’t know much about Girard either. The exception was Tyson Jost, who played with Girard at the Hlinka Memorial in 2015, where they celebrated gold together. “I think I was the only guy who really knew [him] when he came to the team, so I just wanted to make him comfortable. We won a gold medal together and whoever you win gold on the international level together, you always seem to kind of stick together,” said Jost for Eurolanche. “It’s awesome to have him by my side, he’s the same age as me, too. We have that friendship going on right now. He’s an awesome player and I know the Avalanche are excited to have him.”

(Source: The official Twitter account of the Colorado Avalanche)

“It’s special, for sure. I only got here like two days ago, so it’s all new to me, both the team, the relations, but I think it’s good for me to join the Avs. We are a young team, we try to stick together and to win,” Girard told Eurolanche following the team’s practice on Thursday. Girard is confident he’s got what it takes to earn a spot on the team. “I want to be part of the team and play. I’ll do everything possible to stick with the Avs.” The entire trade was rather hectic for the young defenseman, as he was with the Predators in LA when his agent broke the news to him. “My agent called and told me I was traded, so I had to get my luggage, flew to London and then to Stockholm. It was a really long day for me, I slept for like three hours. Today, I just tried to relax a bit to make sure that I’ll be ready for tomorrow.” Girard comes from a system that raised a lot of quality defensemen in Nashville, which he says had a positive impact on his development. “It was great to play with such great defensemen to start my career, but I’m really happy to join such a talented group that has players like Barrie, MacKinnon and Landeskog. I think that being here will help me to grow not only as a player, but as a person as well.” Girard practiced on the team’s first power-play line, manning the point together with Tyson Barrie and will probably see even-strength minutes with Erik Johnson.

Michal Hezely, the author of this article, was given media accreditation for the entire NHL Global Series and is reporting directly from Stockholm, Sweden.

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