For a guy that stands 6-foot-7, 244-pound Brian Boyle
expectations were so small coming into the season that he probably couldn’t
even see them. What was expected from
Boyle was that he either missed the team or played his role from 2009-10 as a
fourth line center who could be used to kill penalties. We are talking about a guy who coming into
the season had 12 goals and four assists in 107 career NHL games. That was not what the Rangers got from Boyle,
at least for half a season.
Boyle put in the work to ensure his career as an NHL player
was not over and remade his skating stride with the help of Olympic figure
skater Barbara Underhill. The work with
Underhill was noticeable from the beginning of camp as you saw a player who was
better able use his size and strength in all phases of the game and put him in
positions to contribute significantly more offensively.
Boyle went from a player who scored four goals and two
assists in 71 games to a player that chipped in 21 goals along with 14 in
assists while playing in all 82 games.
He led the team in shots (218) and hits (240) as well as became a
critical piece for coach John Tortorella to use in many big situations. His improved play and production earned him
increased ice time as well, playing a career high 15:45 per game this year.
Boyle shined in the Rangers forechecking system that allowed
him to use his size and strength in the corners and along the wall. Partnering with Brandon Prust, and Ruslan
Fedotenko on possibly the Rangers most consistent line during the season, the
forechecking system allowed this line to generate scoring chances and give the
team energy. Along with his even
strength contributions, once again partnering with Prust, Boyle was one of the
top penalty killers on the team and the pair was always a threat to go the
other way and score shorthanded.
The questions that exist for Boyle this summer are much
different than last year. Going into
last summer the questions were about if he was truly an NHL player, which he
answered emphatically this season that he is.
Next year with raised expectations, the questions will revolve around
whether this season was a sign of things to come or a fluke career year that he
cannot repeat. No questions really exist
about his abilities on the defensive side, but they do in terms of his goal
scoring and his season splits did not help that.
Let us take
a look at the breakdown of Boyle’s numbers by month.
|
Month
|
Games
Played
|
G
|
A
|
Shots
|
|
October
|
10
|
4
|
0
|
19
|
|
November
|
16
|
6
|
1
|
35
|
|
December
|
12
|
7
|
4
|
36
|
|
January
|
14
|
4
|
1
|
45
|
|
February
|
12
|
2
|
3
|
36
|
|
March
|
14
|
1
|
1
|
39
|
|
April
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
8
|
As you can clearly see there was a significant drop in the
offensive numbers late in the season.
Boyle had only one goal over the final 19 games of the regular season,
and none in the playoffs. Following the
All-Star break, Boyle only recorded three goals in 30 games. It is possible that much of the drop in
offensive production had to do with him simply being out of gas from playing so
much more this season than he ever had before at this level.
Another thing that could certainly help Boyle in terms of
adding more offense to his game would be a more significant role on the power
play as many have called for during the season.
His size should make in a weapon in front of the net and he did have
four goals with the man advantage despite only playing 50:31 there this
season.
A refresher course with Underhill on his skating,
improvement on faceoffs, and work on being better finishing in front of the net
will be key for Boyle this summer to prove this year was not a fluke, but the
start of his breakout. There is no
reason to think that Boyle will not put in the necessary work to take that next
step based on what he has done before.
Grade: B+ (Compared
to offseason expectations clearly an A, but due to second half slide in offense
given raised first half expectations he dips slightly)
