B2B Champ traded to the New York Rangers

July 30, 2021 · 0 Comments

Just nine days after becoming a back-to-back Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Aurora native Barclay Goodrow has found himself in the Big Apple.

The Lightning dealt the 6-foot-2 centreman to the New York Rangers in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

Goodrow was expecting to become an unrestricted free agent by July 28. But on July 22, the Rangers officially signed Goodrow to a six-year, $21.6 million contract with a $3.6 million AAV.

“Barclay is pretty excited. He’s very excited and being close to home is nice. Just to get something solidified was a relief to him,” his mother and Aurora resident, Janice Goodrow, said.

“New coach there. New GM. Everybody is starting fresh, I guess, in the fall. It will be another new adventure.”

Goodrow will now be playing under new head coach of the Rangers Gerard Gallant. Goodrow scored a thrilling overtime goal two years ago as a member of the San Jose Sharks to knock out Gallant’s Vegas Golden Knights in the first round.

Moving into this season, Janice Goodrow said that Barclay will have to transition living outside the city. In Tampa Bay, he was 90 seconds away from Amalie Arena. This time around, he is will be around an hour away from Madison Square Garden.

When Barclay lifted the cup in the bubble last season, Janice and her husband John had the pleasure of witnessing their son lift the illustrious trophy.

This time around, having watched games three and four against the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal, the Goodrows flew down to Tampa Bay for game five. They had the pleasure along with a nearly packed house at Amalie Arena to see the Lightning lift the trophy yet again.

Goodrow recorded four points (1G, 3A) in the series against the Habs out of his six points in total in the playoffs. Arguably his best moment was setting up Blake Coleman’s diving goal with one second left in the second period of Game Two.

“He came back from his injury with a renewed strength and was fully determined to help the team out. That third line in Tampa really just clicked. They played so well together. It was nice to watch him play on a line that was really making a difference.”

Goodrow, who played alongside Coleman and Quebec native Yanni Gourde, recorded a combined total of 24 points in the playoffs.

Now, the line has seemingly disbanded. Goodrow is off to the Rangers, Gourde was selected by the Seattle Kraken in the Expansion Draft and Coleman finds himself a free agent.

By Robert Belardi