Through stints with the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, San Jose Sharks, and most recently with the New York Rangers, Dan Boyle put together an impressive, accolade-filled NHL career. The 39-year-old Boyle didn't manage his best season in 2015-16 with the Rangers as he struggled at times to stay productive and even on the ice for Alain Vigneault's group.
If it was the final season of Boyle's professional career - and the fact that his contract is up and he's less than a year away from his 40th birthday seem to indicate as such - it's probably not how he envisioned going out, especially not with the Rangers coming so close to conquering the Stanley Cup mountain over the past few years and choosing to take one more crack at it with the same core.
But while Boyle should walk away from the game and the league with his head held high, it seems the emotion of the Rangers' locker clean-out on Tuesday got to him. Boyle lashed out at a pair of Rangers beat writers, Larry Brooks and Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post, and requested that Brooks specifically leave the locker room media scrum before he would speak.
The exchange itself is fairly entertaining, so we'll let you get a taste for yourself. Here's one account of how things went down...
"I don't want him here," said Boyle.
"What?" Brooks said. "You know, the feeling's mutual, man."
"Nobody likes you. Nobody respects you. Just so you know," said Boyle.
"OK," said Brooks.
"At least I'm leaving here with the respect of my teammates," said Boyle.
There was some cross talk, before Boyle said, "I have no respect for you. I want you to get the [expletive] out."
"I don't care what you think," said Brooks.
"I can tell you to get the [expletive] out if I want to!" said Boyle, his voice now raised.
"You can, but I don't have to listen to you," said Brooks.
"Yeah, ya do!" said Boyle. "I want him out. And that other [expletive] clown, Brett, or whatever the [expletive] his name is. Everyone else is fine. I want him out. It's my right."
Apparently, more words were exchanged before Rangers staff intervened and tried to soothe both sides.
Considering Brooks once called Boyle the "most regrettable decision" of former Ranger GM Glen Sather's long tenure as the team's top personnel man - really it was Sather's decision to allow Anton Stralman to leave in free agency and signing Boyle as a pseudo replacement - it kind of makes sense that Boyle's not Brooks' biggest fan.
As for Cyrgalis, he apparently wasn't there for Boyle's outburst, but he too has been critical of the Blueshirts defender, especially after the Rangers were eliminated by the suddenly unstoppable Penguins.
Cyrgalis seemed unfazed.
Boyle is an athlete nearing, or at, the end of the line. It makes sense that he would be so emotional. As writers, we sometimes forget that our subjects, these players, are flesh-and-blood beings with families and lives outside of the sport they're paid handsomely to play.
Was Boyle a liability this season for the Rangers? Yes. Does that make him any less of a man? No.
But there was no need for Tuesday's incident, on either end, entertaining though it was.
