Brian Boyle is a good short-term fit for the New York Rangers
It has been quite the offseason already for the New York Rangers who have made impressive move after impressive move in order to accelerate their rebuild.
After acquiring the rights to stud defenseman Adam Fox, the New York Rangers traded for blueliner Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets before drafting Finnish phenom Kaapo Kakko with the No.2 overall pick in the 2019 Entry Draft.
Then, of course, came the crowning moment when, despite rumors suggesting the New York Islanders were the preferred destination, the Rangers won the opening day of free agency after signing elite forward Artemi Panarin to a seven-year, $81.5 million contract.
It was a moment of utter euphoria for everyone connected with the New York Rangers and has provided hope that a return to the Canyon of Heroes for the Blueshirts could happen sooner rather than later.
Of course, there is still work to be done and General Manager Jeff Gorton will have to work his magic once more when it comes to signing Trouba to a long-term deal, in addition to working out what to do with Chris Kreider and thrashing out contracts for restricted free agents in the ilk of Pavel Buchnevich, Brendan Lemieux and Tony DeAngelo.
Anyway, all of the above has been discussed in depth and will continue to be dissected the deeper we get into the offseason.
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For now, it makes for interesting reading when studying the Rangers roster as it is currently constructed.
Once again, the Blueshirts will enter 2019-20 with one of, if not the youngest rosters in the NHL and they have a slew of high-end skill players that excel in the more artistic side of the game we all love.
What is lacking, however, is a dollop of grit and an abundance of toughness and experience that you need in order to succeed in the NHL and compete for championships.
This is where Brian Boyle comes in. The 34-year-old veteran forward is currently on the lookout for a new home and, despite his advancing years, it is fair to suggest that he still has plenty to offer.
Could the unrestricted free agent and former Ranger be interested in a return to the Big Apple and taking on the role as a leader on a young and hungry team?
We’ve thrashed out the pros and cons for the New York Rangers bringing Brian Boyle back to Broadway, before giving our final verdict…
Pros to signing Brian Boyle
We’ll start by saying that we personally believe there are far more positives than negatives when it comes to handing Brian Boyle a deal, and we’ll map them out here.
Firstly, the center would bring a wealth of experience to Madison Square Garden and that is an invaluable commodity that you can’t have enough of in the modern day NHL.
It takes on even more importance when you consider that the New York Rangers will more than likely be even younger in 2019-20, once again carrying the mantle of having one of the most youthful rosters in the NHL.
With high-end talent such as Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov, Adam Fox, Libor Hajek, Brett Howden, Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil all set to play starring roles in 2019-20, having someone of the ilk of Boyle in and around the locker room will be crucial and extremely beneficial for this collection of young stars who are looking to make their mark on the NHL.
Also, and much like Artemi Panarin, having a player of Boyle’s vast knowledge in the building will help to take some of the pressure off the Rangers’ young studs.
He has been there, seen it and pretty much done it all during his distinguished career in the majors, which has taken in six teams, 766 regular season games, 216 points (124 goals, 92 assists) and 30 points in 114 postseason contests.
If the going gets tough and, let’s face it, there will be more growing pains next year even with Panarin on the roster, who better than Boyle to be able to step in and help guide some of these rookies and prospects through the peaks and valleys of a gruelling NHL regular season.
Boyle is also a high-end character player. He’s shown it time and time again throughout his career, but perhaps the most defining moment of his time in the NHL came in 2017-18.
Diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in September 2017, Boyle showed tremendous courage to play on throughout that year before announcing in October, 2018 that he was in remission.
If that wasn’t enough, the forward tallied the first hat trick of his career on Hockey Fights Cancer Night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Boyle is a battler and he’s exactly the kind of player and man you would want in the trenches with you. He would act as a shining example to those fresh faced youngsters in the locker room, and who better to learn from when it comes to handling yourself on and off the ice.
Let’s not forget about Boyle’s prowess on the ice too. He may be in the twilight of his career but he still has a lot to offer and would slot in as a valuable fourth-line center.
He’s an expert in the faceoff circle with a career winning percentage of 50.2%, including winning 50.2 percent and 52.3 percent of his draws with the New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators respectively in 2018-19.
He blocked 50 shots, dished out 145 hits and had 22 takeaways in total last year, proving that he’s still a powerful two-way forward who can play a 200 lb game and excel in both the offensive and defensive zones.
Boyle is tough as they come too. Standing at 6’6″ and 245 lb, he can hit like a train, dominate on the forecheck and he’s also not afraid of dropping the gloves in order to protect and stick up for his younger team-mates.
It would be remiss to gloss over the offensive production, however. Boyle, taking into account his stints with both the Devils and the Predators in 2018-19, tallied 18 goals and six assists for 24 points.
And, for arguments sake, just imagine the boost in production Boyle could enjoy if he ended up manning a fourth-line alongside Jesper Fast and Brendan Lemieux.
There is certainly plenty of upside to bringing Boyle back to New York on a team-friendly deal with the intention of the 34-year-old acting as a mentor and a leader for this young Rangers team who are on the cusp of being a contender in the NHL once more.
Cons to signing Brian Boyle
In truth, we can’t think of too many negatives when it comes to signing Brian Boyle to a short-term deal.
The main concern of course is the salary cap. The Rangers have a lot of maneuvering to do with some major decisions still to navigate.
As already mentioned, the New York Rangers front office still need to lock Jacob Trouba down to a long-term deal, with the defenseman expected to be paid in the region of $7.5 million per year.
Brendan Lemieux, Tony DeAngelo and Pavel Buchnevich are all restricted free agents and they will also need new contracts, with the latter likely to see the biggest hike in pay following his breakout year in 2018-19 when he posted 21 goals and 17 assists for 38 points in 68 regular season games.
There are a vast array of avenues Jeff Gorton and NYR President John Davidson could go down, including buyouts for the likes of Kevin Shattenkirk, Brendan Smith, Matt Beleskey and Marc Staal.
They could also opt to trade a few valuable pieces, most notably Chris Kreider, Vlad Namestnikov, DeAngelo or Buchnevich.
Whatever way you dress it, the next few weeks will be both big and complicated for the Rangers and they will need to address their current cap issues before turning their attention to any more free agents, which is the biggest blemish on any pro / cons sheet for signing Boyle.
The other minor caveat to consider is that by signing Boyle you would be blocking the progress of a younger player.
However, the other side to that argument of course is that any potential deal with Boyle would likely be a short-term one and the players most likely to occupy the fourth-line center roles are either Boo Nieves or Lias Andersson.
Nieves, while a useful player, is a clear downgrade on Boyle and Andersson, despite having a high ceiling, hasn’t yet put together a large enough body of work that impresses and he could even benefit from being around a player and character of Boyle’s caliber.
Conclusion
We feel there are way more positives than negatives when it comes to discussing the potential of ending Brian Boyle’s misery and taking him off the free agency market.
He boasts character, leadership and toughness in abundance and he’s a tried and tested fourth-line center in the NHL.
You could use him on the penalty kill and in other key matchup situations against the opposition’s top lines when the heat of the game is perhaps too much for some of the team’s younger players.
He has of course played at Madison Square Garden for the Rangers before, posting 90 points (44 goals, 46 assists) in 355 regular season contests.
Next. Implications of the second buyout window. dark
Given his age and where he is currently at in his career, it wouldn’t be crazy to think that Boyle would be tempted to take a discount in order to return to New York on a short-term deal and be part of a team that is clearly trending in the right direction.
Of course, the Rangers have a litany of contractual and cap issues they need to navigate their way around first, and that will have to take priority given some of the pieces they need to lock down to new contracts.
But, should the Blueshirts handle their business and have a little bit of room left in which to bolster their roster for 2019-20 further, then they could do worse than bringing back Brian Boyle to the Big Apple.