Meet Eric Godard
In all the whirlwind surrounding whom the Penguins will sign in free-agency, combined with the re-signing of many players from last year, one signing has been put to the bottom of the radar. That is the signing of enforcer Eric Godard.
Eric Godard
His signing comes as an attempt to fill the skates of Georges Laraque, who recently signed with the Montreal Canadiens. The 6′4″, 218 pound winger comes to the Penguins from Calgary with little proven in the NHL other than he has a knack for finding the penalty box.
The 28-year-old enforcer has recorded 481 penalty minutes in only 200 career games. The kid shows promise in his fighting ability. In what I’ve seen he works the jersey grab/jab technique while waiting for the right time to hit with a cross or an uppercut.
As a winger, he doesn’t provide much offense. In five NHL seasons, Godard has produced only eight points (3 G, 5 A). Also, he has had trouble showing the consistency needed to be a regular in the league (yahoo.com)
In the 2006-2007 season, Godard was assigned to Calgary’s AHL affiliate in Omaha three different times. Health has also been an issue in his career.
Godard’s upside is that he has been known to get under the skin of opponents and has found familiar foes in the Western Conference. The hopes likely are that Godard will provide the team with the power missed by Laraque and the instigator lost in Jarkko Ruutu (signed with Ottowa).
Pittsburgh can take confidence in that he is coming off his longest and most consistent NHL season to date. His 74 games played and 171 penalty minutes are both career highs. Also, he experienced a six-game series loss to San Jose.
His signing, combined with Miroslav Satan’s addition, rounds out the right wing position along with Petr Sykora and Tyler Kennedy.
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Chris Gates
Chris Gates
My name is Christopher Gates and I will be a senior at Kent State University in Ohio this fall. I am studying to be a sports writer, majoring in newspaper journalism. I currently write for the student run newspaper at Kent State, The Daily Kent Stater. I also work at the student run radio station Black Squirrel Radio. At the Stater I am on the sports staff. I have written for soccer, football, basketball, wrestling and field hockey. At Black Squirrel Radio I am on the news team. There I do news updates that are aired once a week at quarter to, and quarter past each hour. Also, I am a live on-air play-by-play analyst for Kent State men’s basketball. In other sports coverage, I have recorded halftime shows for all of the football games that we broadcast. Lastly at the radio station, I am a DJ and have a sports talk radio show every Sunday night from 10 p.m. to midnight (subject to change this fall).
I am originally from Pittsburgh, PA, and hope to one day be able to write on Pittsburgh sports. I have a passion unlike any other for sports, and have dedicated my life to becoming an expert in as many areas as possible. I hope to one day be able to write about Pittsburgh sports, as well as do on-air sports talk radio. I’m currently a Promotions Assistant at 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh.
I created this blog in order to spur conversation about the Pittsburgh Penguins and the National Hockey League. My family has had season tickets for quite some time, so I’d like to think I have a pretty good knowledge of the team and the NHL. Please, when reading, feel free to comment about any articles you read. I would love to get conversation going about anything and everything dealing with my pieces. In order to leave a comment, either click on the title of the entry and scroll to the bottom of the page, or click on comments at the bottom of each post. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy it!
You can contact me at Christopher.G.Gates@gmail.com
