Johnny Boychuk earns seven year deal with the Islanders.
Johnny Boychuk is still very highly regarded in Boston community. He’s so well regarded because he is one the nicest players in the NHL. He is great with the fans, and well respected by other NHL hockey players. His ‘Johnny Rocket’ slap shot was a beauty to behold and a terror to those who tried to stop it. Boychuk is a big and intimidating presence, but has found himself in very few fights in his career. (When he does fight though, watch out.)
Johnny Boychuk was given up by Peter Chiarelli to the New York Islanders for two second-round draft picks. This trade was universally reviled by the Boston Bruins fan base, and it seemed to be the catalyst for a lot of the bad luck that plagued the team this season. Having Johnny Boychuk stabilizing the Bruins blue line would certainly have found the Bruins in a much better position than hanging on to the second wild card slot in the Eastern Conference.
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The New York Islanders knew what they had in Johnny Boychuk, and the used him to far greater effectiveness than Claude Julien did. (It’s even worse when you factor in the injuries to Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg this season.) Boychuk has been an outstanding addition to the Islanders. The thirty-one year old leads all Islander defensemen with thirty-two points, twenty-five assists, and a +17 rating. He’s been an outstanding spark for the team, and the organization rewarded him with a fantastic contract.
This deal locks up Boychuk as an Islander (in theory) till the end of the 2021-2022 season. While the contract does have a no-move clause to it (a lesson learned from Chiarelli perhaps?), it’s not outside the law of possibility to see Johnny Rocket in a spoked ‘B’ again.
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Was Johnny Rocket overpaid? Maybe. Six million a year might be a little too much, but most Boston analysts knew the Boychuk could have easily commanded five million a year in Boston. The Islanders front office made the right call by giving Boychuk a number that would guarantee his acceptance.
The bad news for the B’s is that there is no way the Bruins could afford him (even if they could make the moves work) for at least the next three seasons. The Bruins have too many long-term, no-trade clause contracts of their own, and it would just be too hard for the Bruins to make that kind of move without relying on at least four or five league minimum contract players on the roster.
The good news is that Johnny Boychuk still has a lot of love for the city of Boston. He won his Stanley Cup here in 2011, and played for the Bruins for six years. He seemed to have been heartbroken over the initial trade to Long Island. Next year, the team moves to the Brooklyn, and New York City just might be a little too big for the Boychuk clan. There is a possibility that we could have Boychuk playing for the Bruins again. Until then, we can all glare daggers at Peter Chiarelli for making this damnable trade in the first place.