Brian Boyle is a good short-term fit for the New York Rangers
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.