Rangers Analysis: How To Better Utilize Derek Boogaard

at least for one game to have Boogard stationed in front of the net and see whatthe results would be. The man is damn right scary!!!. Colton Orr whom rarely back down from a fight said no last Friday night. I agree with you Joe by the means boogard has not warrented any stupid play and you can tell nobody on the opposing team says nor does anything to any of the Ranger players. I would however, send him after the next guy that runs the king to send a stronger message to the other 28 teams. I also agree with putting Avery on the same line with Boogard and BB and that would be an very interesting combo. IMHO, it seems there is some sort of experimenting with Torts. I do not see him not at least entertaining the idea to utilize Boogard in the manner you described above as well as keeping the 5th/6th D-pair in alignment. I do hope to see McD soon and an exit of Emimger.

Have very little to do with Boogaard. Whether he’s on the ice or not for more than 5 minutes a game isn’t doing much to change the fact that they’re yielding over 4 goals against a game.

I think he deserves more ice time and putting him in front of the net on the PP is an innovative idea which I don’t see Torts trying, but I would love to see it. I am very disappointed that he hasn’t fought anybody yet. I ve never seen him fight and can’t wait until it finally happens.

The fact that we’re talking about giving real minutes to Boogaard means that the rest of the team is incapable of creating scoring. If the top 2 lines were perfomring, this discussion would be superfluous. This team looks like the late 1990’s early 2000’s vintage. Particularly without number 10. Lots of skating up and down, missed open nets and really bad defense. It’s going to be a long depressing season if nothing changes drastically. Giving Boogard an extra 2 or 3 minutes per game is not going to make a difference.

I personally love the idea of putting Boogaard in front of the opposing teams net to screen the goalie. It’s not like the other team’s D (aside from maybe Chara) is going to be able to move him. I would even go so far as to put him on the 2nd PP unit.

Avery is the only guy I see that gets in front of the net on this team.
The PP isn’t working so it certainly wouldn’t hurt to try using Boogey on it..

I just looked at Boogards’ fighting record on hockeyfights.com and it is damn impressive. Not only does he win 90% of them, most of the time he does it in a convincing fashion. I have a feeling his first fight will be against Orr tomorrow.

He has more points than fights after the first two weeks of the season. Who had money on that? An assist and no fights. He hasn’t taken a single bad penalty, and his presence alone has kept things calm.

People seem to forget — Boogaard had nine fights last year. NINE. Single digits. He ranked somewhere around 45th in the leage in fighting majors. He isn’t there to be Knopka and fight every game just to make a scene. He’s there to do exactly what he’s been doing: create an intimidating presence that keeps the opposing team at bay. THAT’s why he was brought in, and it’s worked perfectly so far. He’s been useful in a very non-flashy way.

Whether or not it keeps up has yet to be seen. The Rangers haven’t rolled into Philly yet, and we all know that’s the true test. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that the Gaborik-Carcillo incident last year was the moment of clarity & confirmation that this team needed Derek Boogaard. I doubt we’ll see a repeat this year… but I do see a crushing hit from Boogaard on Dan Carcillo. A message of, “things have changed, so think before you act.”

To your 3rd line point… I wouldn’t mind seeing Boogaard get a chance with Avery; standing in front of the net while opposing players try to budge him to no avail and an eventual cross-checking penalty. Seems good in theory. But I highly doubt it would increase production. A ‘screen’ that big can also act as a 2nd goalie if the player doesn’t know when to move, or is too slow to maneuver out of the way of a Girardi slap shot.

Yes to trying it. It will be a good barometer of whether he should get more minutes. Sometimes, a player will look good in 4th line minutes because they are up against other 4th liners, so I’d temper my expectations. But it’s worth a shot.

Give him more minutes, let him play with Avery and Boyle.

The more Boogaard sees the ice the more likely he is to make an impact on the game. If this guy doesn’t have at least two fights by the 15 game mark I am going to be shaking my head at how much money he is being given. The Rangers need to show that they aren’t going to tolerate guys like Armstrong boarding Gaborik and taking him out for 2-3 weeks. We need players to play with some grit and muscle. Boogaard would make one hell of a screen, and while I’d never put him on the PP (unless we were desperate and he practiced with deflections and screens in practice) he could do something with 3rd line ice time- he is getting paid enough to learn how to do that and to play on the RW if Avery plays LW.

I like the ideas Joe.

Bottom line is, if we’re gonna win without Gabby, we need to find out how to get more out what we have. Mixing up Boogaard’s assignments and putting him in more situations is a good way to do that.

We’re not gonna outscore the other team without Gabby, and we’ve seen over the past seasons that “Everyone Play D, All The Time” is not a viable option. The guys we have left offer a mix of skill of grit, why not go with our stregenths. Become a game the oppostion doesn’t want to play. Avery chirping at ‘em, Boogaard throwing hips and shoulders, and most of the team given the green light to drop the mitts when they feel like it. It can’t hurt.

I would LOVE to see Boogey skate with Avery and Boyle! Boyle is much improved thus far and Avery has been a visible presence on the ice. Boogey is no superstar, but you are absolutely right- park him in front of the net and let everybody shoot. Without Gabby, we need all the offense we can generate. Time to go old school. Problem is Torts, he sucks.

That line of Aves, Boogy, and Boyle sounds great haha.

Great minds think alike. Last game I was wondering the same thing during our horrible powerplays. Boyle and Boogard camped right in front. Worth a shot> Seems that our powerplay is already figured out…pressure the points. Having them down low would force some ok manpower to focus closer to the net.

An although he has not had much time on the ice I think he has had more chances then I would have imagined. the problem with him is the fast past games. You want him to be punishing on the forecheck but he does not have the speed to get back on the backcheck.

And to those people that say he has done nothing in preventing dirty play, I kinda disagree. dirty hits and crashing the goalie will always happen. And it is up to the players on the ice at the time to take care of that. But I do see a little less of us being pushed around after whistles and scrums. I think with a bit more ice time he could add to the overall toughness to the team.

boogaard the benefit of the doubt…i dont think i was ever as skeptical about him as a lot of people…despite agreeing hes making a ton of money for the job he does.

i’m glad he’s been doing well…and i really do think he’ll get a few goals this year…i seem to catch him taking at least one shot a game with that extremely limited ice time.

oh and you know you’ll all be excited to see boogy in the first/all philly game this year….i knwo i cant wait for it….nothing more id like to see than a bloody mess made of daniel carcillo or scott hartnell…not that either would fight him.