Rangers: Barclay Goodrow’s debut didn’t go as planned

For those of you who were excited to see Barclay Goodrow’s debut with the Rangers – we’re sorry. At 13:49 of the first period, he received a game misconduct for boarding Islanders’ forward, Kyle MacLean. As a result of the five-minute power play, Casey Cizikas would end up giving the Islanders a 2-0 lead. It was an abrupt end to the new addition’s first game as a Blueshirt.

A major reason why Goodrow was brought in was for his aggressive nature. The Rangers spent this off-season looking to become harder to play against and he will make that happen. It was clearly one of their biggest objectives of the summer. They signed players like Jarred Tinordi and Patrik Nemeth to toughen up their blueline. They also traded for enforcer Ryan Reaves and winger Sammy Blais. Dryden Hunt and Greg McKegg also aren’t afraid to engage in the physical side of the game. All of these guys will throw the body around for them this season and that’s a very good thing with everything that happened during the team’s previous campaign.

Yet, let’s focus solely on Goodrow now. In 55 games last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he had 111 hits to go along with 52 penalty minutes. Thus, there is no question that he plays with a real edge. However, he also was of course effective when it came to his production, as he had six goals and 14 assists on the year. If this kind of offensive success can translate over to the Rangers, he will be a nice signing for them.

Yet, another big reason why the Rangers wanted Goodrow so much is because he works extremely well on the penalty kill. He was a mainstay on Tampa Bay’s this past season and helped them have the fourth best penalty kill rating in the league at 84.3%.

It also does not hurt that he is capable of playing all three forward positions if needed. Injuries will inevitably occur as the year progresses, so he can replace key forwards in the lineup if they have to miss time. Furthermore, this aspect about his game will allow the Rangers to mix and match their lines if chemistry seems off.

Don’t worry Ranger fans – you will have a lot more chances to see Goodrow again

Thankfully, Ranger fans, you will still have plenty more opportunities to see Goodrow play for the team. If all goes according to plan and no trade occurs as his contract ages, he should be a part of the team’s forward group for the next six years. There will be a lot more preseason, regular season and hopefully postseason games where No. 21 will agitate opponents, produce solid depth scoring and successfully kill penalties.

The real question at this point is if Goodrow will face any consequences for his hit. We will have to wait and see what ends up transpiring. Lastly, the Rangers ended up falling to the Islanders 4-0.