There isn't much to be said of Eric Godard that hasn't been addressed already in comments here on Pensburgh. In all likelihood, Godard will not be returning to Pittsburgh next season. It's not so much a matter of expense as it is getting more bang for the buck. Why settle on a one-dimensional enforcer when the team can employ the likes of a maturing defenseman like Deryk Engelland or a third/fourth-liner like Mike Rupp to do the same thing?
Godard has a total of 18 points in 335 career games. If you didn't know his role by now than that, along with his 833 career penalty minutes, should be all you need to know.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter where you stand with regards to fighting or general goonery when it comes to a player standing up for his goalie. At times that can be as simple as a check or shoulder shrug to a guy who gets a little too close to the crease. Other times, it requires a jump over the boards, a race down the ice and a full-on beatdown to a guy who just doesn't know when to stop. You know, like Godard did in the game against the Islanders on Feb. 11.
Not surprisingly, Godard was handed a 10-game suspension for that incident. Odds are you'd have a hard time finding a single person in that locker room who wasn't patting him on the back for his actions. If I had to take a guess I'd say the team even offered to help pay for the suspension with a little money from Marc-Andre Fleury's swear jar (I'm not entirely sure if this exists or not. Just go with it).
Despite averaging nearly 5.5 penalty minutes per game (for a total of 105), Godard finished fourth overall on the team in PIM. He was however the only player in the Penguins' "100 PIM or More Club" to average over five per game. So that has to count for something. Somewhere.
What more can you say about Godard? You could probably copy and paste this season review into another template next season and just replace "Penguins" with whatever team he lands on next year, should he actually part ways this offseason.
Thanks for the memories big man. The attack on Haley will not be forgotten.