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Former enforcer Georges Laraque sounds off on Rangers handling of Derek Boogaard

George Laraque

Montreal Canadiens right winger George Laraque warms up before facing the Colorado Avalanche in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Friday, Feb. 13, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

When you’re born to be an enforcer in the NHL, it’s a role you carry out even after you’re out of the game. Former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque is fulfilling the role of enforcer once again today as he stood up for his fallen friend Derek Boogaard. Boogaard’s untimely passing on Friday has led to numerous outpourings of emotion and Laraque is taking a stand of a different kind for his friend.

Laraque today alleged that Boogaard’s team, the New York Rangers, handled him poorly and lobbed heavy accusations towards the team and coach John Tortorella regarding Boogaard’s ability to contribute with the team.

Etienne Laberge of Sun Media has the story from an upset Laraque.

“He was cleared to play at the end of the season and the team just told him to take the rest of the year off,” Laraque told NHL HOME ICE on SiriusXM Radio. “You know how much pressure that puts on a guy? He was ready to play with the contract he had and the team says, ‘It’s OK, just take the rest of the year off.’ On top of that, he told me his coach was not a big fan of him.

“I don’t want to insinuate anything that happened and the cause (of his death) or whatever but I would have been frustrated if I was in that situation. The fact he was inactive so long and those two incidents happened, it clearly didn’t help him.”


That’s a hefty accusation towards the Rangers who signed Boogaard to a four-year, $6.6 million contract before last season. If Boogaard was indeed healthy and eligible to return, the Rangers telling him to stay home makes the signing all the more questionable. As for why the Rangers may have sent him home, Laraque says that Tortorella did not think much of Boogaard as a contributor on the team.

“He told me John didn’t really like him as a player,” Laraque said. “I don’t know what John thought or what he said.

“All I know is that Derek told me he was cleared to play, to come back, that he wanted to play and the team told him to take the rest of the year off, to get ready for next year. He didn’t tell me who told him that, he just told me the team said that.”


If that’s the case it’s highly unfortunate and while we won’t know what caused Boogaard to pass away at the age of 28 for another couple weeks at most, these sorts of accusations aren’t likely to be met well by the Rangers.

Everyone is hurting here. Laraque is hurting because he lost a dear friend and the Rangers are hurting because Boogaard was a valued member of the organization off the ice at the very least. Sometimes when things like this happen and people are in pain, the accusations start going around during the grieving process.

The other side of this is just how useful is an enforcer when a team is desperate to make the playoffs? That’s the position the Rangers were in towards the end of the season and despite Boogaard having scored a goal this year, his role was very simple and one that didn’t demand many minutes on the ice. With how tight ice time was for the Rangers at the end of the year, it’s possible that Boogaard wouldn’t see the ice even without an injury anyhow.

Still, it’s a sad time for all those involved and this kind of drama is tough for all to take. Let’s hope that there’s nothing to be had here and it’s just the tough words of a heartbroken friend and colleague sounding off in frustration.