Former Rangers center returns to New York with chip on shoulder, new Sharks role

NHL: Vancouver Canucks at San Jose Sharks
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Barclay Goodrow has certainly been looking forward to this game Thursday ever since the New York Rangers placed the center on waivers in June and he was claimed by the San Jose Sharks in an agreed upon move by each team.

It’s safe to say the 31-year-old was more than a bit pissed off to be cut loose by the Stanley Cup contending Rangers after he played a huge role for them reaching the Eastern Conference Final in two of the past three seasons. What was a cost-cutting business move by the Rangers was something much more personal for Goodrow.

“I didn’t like how things were handled. That’s just how it went down. I didn’t like how it happened, but we’re all past that. It was a while ago. You have to move on,” Goodrow told reporters Wednesday. “It comes with the territory of this job. There’s nothing you can do but put your head down and keep working.”

When asked if that gives him extra motivation for the game Thursday, he replied, “Yeah. For sure.”

Goodrow, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning, was an alternate captain with the Rangers and a highly-respected teammate. Though he only scored four goals with 12 points in 80 games last season, his big-game pedigree shined in the postseason, when he scored six goals, including two game-winners, in 16 games.

But with three years at $3.64 million per season left on his contract, the Rangers couldn’t justify paying Goodrow that salary to play on the fourth line, even when he was also a key penalty killer.

Goodrow didn’t like being waived, nor that he wasn’t notified about it until right before it happened. And he didn’t like the arrangement with the bottom-feeding Sharks even more so because they were on his no-trade list.

But here is, back in New York, with a Sharks team that’s 5-2-1 after a brutal 0-7-2 start.

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Barclay Goodrow was Rangers playoff hero before being waived

NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs-New York Rangers at Washington Capitals
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The Rangers may see a lot of Goodrow on Thursday night. He was elevated to the Sharks top line with No. 1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini and veteran wing Tyler Toffoli when they practiced at Chelsea Piers on Wednesday.

He’s already averaging more than two minutes TOI compared to last season (14:52 to 12:34). That should be elevated even more against his former team at The Garden.

Goodrow earned the promotion, even if it likely is more of a result of playing the Rangers. But in his last game, a 4-3 shootout win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, Goodrow scored his second goal of the season to tie the score 3-3 in the third period, and also dropped the gloves with Nick Seeler for a rousing fight.

In 241 games with the Rangers, Goodrow had 76 points (28 goals, 48 assists), including an NHL career-high 33 points in 2021-22. His most memorable moment probably came in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final when he scored the overtime winner against the Florida Panthers.

Goodrow, of course, is back where it all started. He began his NHL career with six seasons playing for the Sharks before he was traded to the Lighting, won the Cup twice, and then signed with the Rangers.

The return to New York is one he’s looking forward to.

“I still have a lot of close friends on that team. I have a lot of good memories. [We had] a couple of long playoff runs. I loved my time there,” Goodrow said. “It was kind of just unexpected,  personally, for how it ended. But we’re past that, and I am a Shark and happy to be here.”

Jim Cerny is Executive Editor at Forever Blueshirts and Managing Editor at Sportsnaut, with more than 30 years of ... More about Jim Cerny
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