Rangers, Barclay Goodrow agree to six-year contract
Barclay Goodrow of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates with the Stanley Cup after the 1-0 victory against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 at Amalie Arena on July 7, 2021. Credit: Getty Images/Mike Ehrmann
An hour after the NHL’s expansion draft roster freeze expired Thursday, the Rangers announced they had come to terms on a six-year deal with unrestricted free-agent forward Barclay Goodrow, whose negotiating rights they acquired Saturday from the two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
According to Goodrow’s agent, Ian Pulver, the contract is worth $21.85 million, an average annual value of $3.64 million. PuckPedia reported the deal includes a 15-team no-trade list.
Goodrow, 28, was part of the third line of the Lightning, which played a key role in Tampa Bay winning its second straight championship. In 18 playoff games for the Lightning, he had two goals and four assists, and in 55 games in the regular season, he had six goals and 14 assists, plus 52 penalty minutes. He led the Lightning in hits in the regular season with 111 and was tied for second in hits in the playoffs with 68.
On Saturday, before teams were required to submit their protected lists for Wednesday’s expansion draft and the roster freeze went into effect, the Rangers sent a seventh-round pick in the 2022 entry draft to Tampa Bay to obtain the right to negotiate with Goodrow before the opening of the free-agent signing period July 28.
A 6-2, 203-pounder, Goodrow fits the bill for the Rangers, as far as helping them get grittier, tougher and harder to play against. In a conference call with the team’s beat reporters Monday, Rangers general manager Chris Drury said of Goodrow: "He just checks off a lot of boxes . . . the bigger the game, the better he seems to play; he’s a winner, he’ll be able to walk in our locker room and talk about what it’s like to play in the playoffs, and to win Cups.’’
A native of Toronto, Goodrow signed with the San Jose Sharks as an undrafted free agent in 2014 after ending his junior career with Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League. He was up and down between the Sharks and the minor leagues for three seasons before becoming a regular. San Jose dealt him to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline in 2020 for a first-round pick and minor-leaguer Anthony Greco. (Greco, a Queens native, is currently under contract to the Rangers and played in Hartford in 2021.)
After the COVID-19 pandemic halted play in the NHL, the Lightning won the Stanley Cup when the season resumed in the bubbles of Toronto and Edmonton. Goodrow’s linemate on Tampa Bay, Yanni Gourde, was selected off the Lightning roster in the expansion draft by the incoming Seattle Kraken.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
