Girts Galvins Rookie Experience

[Girts 763]

Girts Galvins - LW - Warsaw Predators
 

 

Girts Galvins took the ice for the Warsaw Predators in Season 83 as a VHL rookie after being selected 17th overall in the S82 Entry Draft. Girts came into his rookie year with around 420 tpe, top 15 or so in the class and is now closing in on 550 at the start of the playoffs. It was an interesting year with the VHL moving to the new attribute system and I think this really effected Girts numbers in his rookie season. During his time in the VHLM and VHLE he was a scoring superstar, racking up over 75 goals through 2 seasons, 43 in the VHLM and 32 in the VHLE, however his rookie season in the VHL would see him only score 7 goals and he had a horrible start of only 1 goal in the first 46 games. To say his rookie year wasn't what he expected in terms of his production would be an understatement. He came into the season thinking he would be able to contribute and perhaps even challenge for rookie of the year, but he barely did anything on the ice despite having a good amount of tpe. Galvins was on the 2nd line for Warsaw with good linemates but still couldn't produce for some reason. He saw no powerplay time all season and averaged under 19 minutes a game which may have been a factor but he understood his role and had no problem with it. While it appeared many other rookies were playing close to 30 minutes a game and powerplay which was a big reason for their production on smaller rosters, Warsaw had 7 forwards so they had to split up the minutes between Girts and veteran Brian Moreau, which is understandable. That said, it was probably one of the reasons his goals and overall stats were lower than other rookies of similar tpe and he also had an absurdly low shooting % of 4.29% which didn't help. He did add 20 assists which isn't bad but it was definitely frustrating at times not scoring, he didn't let it get him down though and he kept working hard every week to improve. 

 

Team-wise Galvins and the Predators had a great season, so he was excited about that and while he wasn't producing much he also wasn't a liability out there, which definitely was a positive. He was also happy to see his fellow rookie and teammate Bran Payne having a great season as a top 4 defenseman for Warsaw and his ex teammate Bo Johansson from Bratislava having an awesome rookie season for Chicago. The Predators had a huge year as a team and finished top 4 in the league, top 3 in the dominant European Conference with a record of 46-21-5, good for 97 points. They earned a first round bye and have a good chance to go deep in the playoffs. It's possible Girts could finish off his rookie season with an exciting run to the cup but even if not it will be great to get some playoff experience. 

 

Overall while Girts Galvins rookie season was a disappointment stats-wise it was a great success team-wise, so he's happy about it. You have to bide your time and earn your opportunities sometimes and there's no question Girts did that in his rookie season. He looks forward to more opportunities and better production in his sophomore season while hopefully being able to contribute to Warsaw's continued success!

Edited May 28, 2022 by Girts