Posted by If I told you Derek “The Boogeyman” Boogaard had the 36th-most fighting majors in the NHL during the ‘08-09 regular season, would you be surprised? Because, that’s what hockeyfights.com tells me.
Now, the pro-Boogaard fan would say that he’s been such an effective fighter during his career that he now only has to fight nine times a season in order to do his job. That’s probably fair. The man is huge, for one, with a long reach. And he is a good fighter. Remember the time he caved in (future teammate) Todd Fedoruk’s face? (Watch from about 1:00 – 1:12.) Or how about the time he broke Jody Shelley’s helmet in a fight? One would think those kinds of things would garner some attention from the other pugilistically-inclined gentlemen in the league, quite possibly serving as a deterrent to future antagonistic activities towards Boogaard.
On the other side of that coin, however, is Boogaard’s noted inability to have a positive effect on a hockey game in, really, any other manner. In 208 regular season and playoff NHL games, Boogaard has amassed 2 goals and 9 assists. While it’s true not many enforcers are able to supplement their on-ice production with goals and assists, it’s also true that Boogaard has struggled more than most of his fellow gladiators when violence has not, in fact, been the answer.
Consider that, among Boogaard and the 35 players with more fighting majors than him last season:
- The average number of goals was 4.97. He had zero.
- He was one of only four with zero (0) goals (Belak, Cote and Peters)
- The average number of assists was 6.58. He had three.
- Only nine players had fewer assists than his 3 (Godard, Brown, Shelley, Prust, Belak, Hordichuk, Dorsett, Peters and Ivanans)
- The average number of points was 11.56. He had three.
- Only three had fewer points than his 3 (Belak, Ivanans and Peters)
- The average amount of TOI was 8:55. He had 4:59.
- Only three had less average time on ice per game than his 4:59 (Cote, Godard and Peters)
- The average number of GP was 67.31. He appeared in 51.
- Only three appeared in fewer games than his 51 (Brown, Prust and Peters)
- The average number of fights was 15.8. He had 9.
Looking at those stats, it’s very difficult to say that Derek Boogaard has any value on the ice other than as a pugilist – and that’s only in the rare instances in which he actually gets to be a pugilist.
“But, he’s a deterrant just sitting on the bench,” or so the Boogey/enforcer apologists say. Not so fast. Most true enforcers don’t initiate things with players below their weight class. Ross Bernstein’s fun read “The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL” talks about this ad nauseum. So you don’t usually see Raitis Ivanans giving Sidney Crosby a face wash after a whistle, for example. In other words, it’s not from the true heavyweights that one needs one’s own nuclear option sitting on the bench as a not-so-subtle reminder of the penance for looking askance at one’s skilled players.
On the other hand, you are much more likely to see Sean Avery giving Sidney Crosby a facewash after a whistle. These middleweight types who are prone to strike out at the skilled aristocracy of the league in an attempt to put them off their game and (hopefully) win favor from the coach (the memory of bus rides through northern Alberta – or southern Texas, for that matter – never being that far away from this type of player’s immediate memory, in all probability) to retain their claim to a roster spot, while effective occasionally, are the force against which one would like one’s enforcer to act as a deterrant, even just sitting on the bench making sure the bench doors still work.
The problem with that is the middleweight malefactor’s general irreverance for the unwritten rules of conduct vis-a-vis nefarious on-ice behavior. This lack of respect, as it were, for their colleagues in the NHL is exactly why having an enforcer on the bench is no longer the deterrant it was when Marty McSorley was in his prime. To paraphrase the immortal words of Reuben Tishkoff: “This sorta thing used to be civilized, you’d hit a guy, his enforcer’d whack you, done.”
Sean Avery probably knows Boogaard could kick his butt in a fight. But if Avery knows Boogaard’s only going to be on the ice for a few minutes a game he can probably avoid him anyway. And, if they ever do end up out there together, the worst that could happen to Avery is that he might take a slash or a cross check as Boogaard tries to get him to retaliate – because Boogey’s not going to fight Avery due to the size imbalance. And Avery’s content to just run away from a man of Boogaards stature in the first place. Given the foregoing, how exactly does Derek Boogaard sitting on the Wild bench prevent Sean Avery from going out and slashing Mikko Koivu with impugnity? He doesn’t.
So, with only a very small sample of NHL players willing to engage Boogaard in fisticuffs, an inability to forestall injurious behavior against his more-skilled teammates and a remarkably paltry record of offensive contribution, paying a Derek Boogaard $950k (cap hit) seems like a massive waste of money. Remember: the Wild is a team that is looking for all the offensive contributions it can squeeze out of its roster. The thought that some kid with some (any?) amount of offensive potential has to languish in junior or Houston because the Wild has Derek Boogaard on a one-way deal so he can keep the end of the bench warm is particularly galling.
But, therein lies the rub. Who in their right mind would trade for a one-trick pony (who can’t even get on stage to do his trick) that’s going to cost nearly a million dollars against the cap? Likely, no one.
So, while it would almost definitely benefit the team to divest itself of Derek Boogaard, Wild fans should probably not expect that to happen until he becomes a UFA on 7/1/10.
Nick in New York
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