The New York Rangers agreed to terms with unrestricted free agent forward Derek Boogaard, 6' 7", 270lbs. On July 1, the enforcer turned his punching prowess into a four-year, $6.5 million treasure from the Rangers. With the retirements of long-time enforcers Donald Brashear and Georges Laraque,
Boogaard is now the NHL’s governing heavyweight champion. Now, all he needs to do is go out and aggressively defend that status.
Derek Boogaard New York Rangers
In 2009-2010, Boogaard saw the ice in 57 games with the Minnesota Wild, recording four assists and a team-high 105 penalty minutes. He led Minnesota in penalty minutes in four of his five NHL seasons, and ranks second in Wild franchise history with 544 career penalty minutes. Boogaard led the Wild with nine fighting majors. Nine fights and 105 penalty minutes may not cut it in New York.
Indeed, this season Boogaard needs to police the ice and get involved in the fisticuffs, a role which he has tended to shy away from these past few seasons. In 2005-2006, he racked up a career-high NHL 16 regular season fighting majors, nowhere near the 31 regular season fights that he engaged in while playing in the WHL. Boogaard now has the pressure of having to perform in one of toughest, most-pressure packed environments in the NHL. Ranger fans will be none too impressed with Boogaard if he refuses to step up and drop the mitts. They will be looking for him to play like the great intimidator who in the past clocked Trevor Gillies with an awesome uppercut and laid out Todd Fedoruk.
Boogaard can be an imposing physical presence and deterrent. Some evidence of this can be found in the fact that Minnesota's record was 29-22-6 when he was in the lineup, and 4-0-0 when the behemoth tallied a point. The Boogie Man has seen more playing time over the years, logging a career-high 11:58 minutes of ice, December 19, 2010, at Ottawa.
Boogaard has never been a prolific penalty amasser in the NHL; in 2008-09, Boogaard led the Wild with just 87 penalty minutes. Yes, he can play a regular shift. But, for Boogaard to be successful he needs to scrap more often, and not kid himself into thinking he is a finesse player. He appeared in 255 career regular season contests over five seasons with the Wild, logging two goals, 12 assists, 14 points; he surpassed the 500 career penalty minute milestone with 11 penalty minutes on January 13, 2010, against Vancouver.
Derek Boogaard Hockey Fights
As a rookie in 2005-06, Boogaard established personal bests in games played (65), goals (two), points (six) and penalty minutes (158). His first NHL fight came in the preseason, September 20, 2005 against Andrew Peters of the Buffalo Sabres. His first official NHL scrap took place in Minnesota against Anaheim tough guy Kip Brennan. Boogaard dropped Brennan with a big right hand in the first period. Boogard’s 158 penalty minutes established a Wild rookie record, ranking 11th in the NHL – top among rookies.
Boogaard registered his first NHL point with an assist on October 14, 2005 vs. Vancouver, and scored his first career goal with the game-winning goal on October 19, 2005 vs. San Jose. Also, Boogaard has notched one assist and 44 penalty minutes in 10 career post-season games as a Minnesota Wild.
The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native, originally Minnesota’s seventh round choice in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, may have a busy 2010 season. Now that Boogaard is in the Patrick Division, he will have plenty of chances to match up against his greatest rivals, Jody Shelley, Philadelphia Flyers (six fights), and Eric Godard, Pittsburgh Penguins (five fights). The heavyweight crown is Boogaard’s to flaunt; hockey fight fans would like to see him defend it with honor, and get involved in the rough stuff much more frequently than he has in recent seasons.
Brian D'Ambrosio - Brian D'Ambrosio is the author of more than 500 published articles and seven books, including From Haikus to Hatmaking: A Year in the Life ...
