New York Islanders Re-Sign Johnny Boychuk- YES YES YES!

On a quiet March afternoon, the New York Islanders continued to make noise by re-signing veteran defenseman Johnny Boychuk to a seven-year, $42 million deal. It was general manager Garth Snow‘s second significant re-signing in the past two weeks (Nick Leddy being the other) for the organization and another clear signal that the Islanders are going to be around for a while.

The Islanders acquired Johhny Boychuk a week before the season began back in October from the Boston Bruins for a couple of second-round draft picks. While most people recognized he would be an immediate upgrade to the blue line, the same old rhetoric returned: “no way Boychuk is going to re-sign with that organization,” “they can’t sign anyone,” “they’ll trade him by the deadline,” etc. These were the Islanders…they’d find a way to screw this up too, right?

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Well, not exactly. Between the development of key players like Hart-candidate John Tavares, Kyle Okposo, Travis Hamonic, to the acquisition of key veterans like Boychuk, Leddy, Jaroslav Halak, to the arrival of youth, something with this Islander team clicked this season. They are still young in key spots and still need to learn things that only come with experience, but the team and organization overall took two steps forward this season. And when you can demonstrate to players you are good enough to win, they notice. Surely Johnny Boychuk noticed this is a good, young team with quality depth all over and if things continue to progress, have a legitimate chance of being perennially contenders. It’s a far cry for an organization that rightfully earned rants against them as recent as last summer.

It’s a “big-league” move by Snow who had until July 1st to sign the impending free agent. Boychuk’s return solidifies the Islanders’ top defensive pairing with Nick Leddy and allows guys like Travis Hamonic and Calvin deHaan to remain on the second pair. Boychuk brings a championship pedigree and swagger to the Islanders, something they’ve missed greatly these past two decades of ineptitude. He’s a top-pairing defenseman that teams throw wads of cash out come free agency and if you’re fortunate enough to land, you never let go. For the first time since the Kenny Jonsson–Adrian Aucoin days that the Islanders have a bonafide top defensive pairing.

For Boychuk, he gets the big payday he was seeking and likely last big contract of his career. He recently turned 31, and although he didn’t earn a full-time job with Boston until he was 26, it’s hard to fathom he’ll see a big payday again at age 38 when the contract expires. The contract tops Brooks Orpik‘s deal from this past summer (five years, $27.5 million) and by all accounts seems fair for a player of his caliber. Could Boychuk have extracted an extra half a million bucks from his hometown Edmonton in free agency? Possibly, but if the man also wants to win throughout the duration of his contract, the Islanders can offer that (yes, it feels weird saying that too).

Will it be a contract the Islanders regret? Maybe in year six or seven when Boychuk has lost a step and still pulling in a significant salary, the revisionist historians will claim how awful the move was. I’m here to tell you not to listen to them. For today, tomorrow, and for every day after that, this is a great deal and was a “must” for the Islanders. The Islanders had the good fortune of Johnny Boychuk falling into their lap as the Bruins dealt with cap issues. What was the likelihood the Islanders would be able to acquire another top-pairing defenseman this summer? Slim or none?

And if by year six Boychuk is a shell of himself physically, the team still would have had the benefit of him imparting his wisdom and experiences on the youthful roster. It also doesn’t hurt that he has the biggest pair of…um…”guts” on the team and brings an element of that toughness to the team that it would sorely miss without him in the locker room.

The signing also gives Garth Snow some flexibility over the summer with some of the team’s defensive prospects. Currently Ryan Pulock and Griffin Reinhart are universally considered the next couple of Islander prospects that could make an impact for the big club. Does Johnny Boychuk’s signing make Reinhart available for trade over the summer? You can never have too many quality defensemen around, but will the temptation be there to try and acquire another winger to ride shotgun with Tavares? Time will tell.

People laughed back in October when Snow acquired him. Other teams’ fans laughed when the thought of Johnny Boychuk re-signing was brought up. They were ready to laugh on July 1st when he left for free agency.

After today, Islander fans finally got the last laugh.

YES YES YES!

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