Five years after the Rangers brought Barclay Goodrow to Broadway, the signing still sits in that awkward space between smart hockey sense and expensive reality.
When Chris Drury made the move on July 22, 2021, the Rangers were coming off their third non-playoff season in four years. Drury had only been general manager for a few weeks after owner James Dolan fired Jeff Gorton and John Davidson in early May.
Henrik Lundqvist was gone, and Igor Shesterkin had not yet become the elite goalie he’s since turned into. Drury wanted championship experience, and Goodrow fit that brief.
The Rangers first acquired Goodrow’s rights, then signed him to a six-year deal worth an average annual value of $3.64 million. The contract also included a 15-team no-trade list, a detail that would matter later.
Goodrow was 28, fresh off back-to-back Stanley Cup titles with Tampa Bay and coming off a 20-point season - six goals and 14 assists - after the Lightning had landed him from San Jose in 2020. For a player who had earned $925,000 a year while collecting those two rings, it was a major jump.
Goodrow’s first two seasons in New York gave the Rangers plenty to like. He wore an “A” in all three years with the club, and he became a trusted voice in a room that had been without a captain since 2017-18.
The Rangers didn’t name Jacob Trouba captain until before the 2022-23 season, so Goodrow’s presence mattered even more on a team hungry for leadership. He was popular with teammates in the same way he had been in San Jose and Tampa Bay, and the value of that kind of championship pedigree was never lost on people around the organization.
On the ice, his best work came early. Goodrow set career highs with 13 goals and 33 points in 2021-22, then followed with 11 goals and 31 points the next season.
Those remain the only two times he has reached double figures in goals and the only times he has topped 24 points. In 241 games over three seasons with the Rangers, he finished with 28 goals and 76 points.
His offensive numbers fell off in 2023-24, when he managed four goals and 12 points in 80 games. Still, he found another gear in the playoffs, scoring six goals and eight points during the run to the Eastern Conference Final.
He also delivered the best postseason of his career, with six goals in 16 games - half of his career playoff total. Two of those goals came while the Rangers were short-handed, and he also scored the overtime winner against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the East Final.
That’s the case for the signing: the Rangers got useful production, leadership and a player who showed up in the biggest moments. If he had been making the $925,000 he earned in Tampa Bay, there’s no doubt he would have looked like a bargain.
But the other side of the ledger is harder to ignore. Once the Rangers nearly quadrupled his salary, the expectations changed. Overpaying a bottom-six forward is never a clean move, and Drury eventually had to deal with the consequences of that contract.
The no-trade protection made the exit even uglier. By the summer of 2024, the Rangers were pressed against the cap and needed to clear money.
Drury couldn’t find a trade partner for Goodrow because of the modified no-trade clause, so he placed the 31-year-old on waivers in July 2024. The Sharks claimed him.
Goodrow was unhappy, and the way Drury handled it drew criticism.
Goodrow later made clear he had not seen it coming. During his return to New York in November 2024, he said, “It was just a surprise,” he said in November 2024 during his return to New York.
“I was never given any inclination or whatever that I wouldn’t be back with the team and that happened. That was a while ago, I’ve tried to move past it.”
The Rangers’ move to waive him was blunt, and Drury’s approach only got more forceful after that. A few months later, he traded Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks after months of back-and-forth with the defenseman. Drury also told the other 31 GMs that he was willing to trade Trouba and veteran forward Chris Kreider, and when that message became public, the damage in the locker room was irreversible.
Goodrow has not found the same success in San Jose. In two seasons with the Sharks, he has 10 goals, 20 points and a combined minus-55 rating, and the team missed the playoffs both times, just like the Rangers did.
So was the signing worth it? On the ice, Goodrow probably delivered what the Rangers could reasonably expect, and maybe a touch more. But the price tag, the cap crunch and the messy ending make it a deal that never fully escaped its own contradictions.
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