The Rangers' signing of Derek Boogaard isn't great news for the team.
Boogaard is an enforcer, brought in to protect Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist.
Donald Brashear was brought in to do that last season, but he proved to be too much of an on-ice liability to be effective.
Brashear's game was incomplete, his fighting wasn't great, and he ultimately proved to be more of an albatross than a safety net. Brashear wound up banished from the Rangers.
The Rangers finished last season with the tough Jody Shelly and Brandon Prust, who not only kept teams from running the Rangers, but who also proved to have flashes of offensive skill toward the end of the season, especially when the two were playing with Artem Anisimov.
And that's the thing about the modern NHL. If you have players like Boogaard, who are only on the ice to fight or to scare opposing teams, you really need a lot of firepower in your top lines. Because when guys like Boogaard are on the ice, not only is your offense grinding to a halt, but there's a decent chance an opposing scoring opportunity will also be yielded.
And the Rangers aren't deep enough ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Steven Ovadia
Derek Boogaard Makes Rangers Tougher, but Not Better
July 2nd, 2010 by Steven Ovadia Leave a reply »
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