Boyle seizes chance to stand out

Ignored because of his size after his college days, the defenseman has been both productive and durable.

By TOM JONES
Published December 28, 2005

TAMPA - Every year while in college, Dan Boyle would wait to be taken in the NHL draft and, every year, his name was never called.

Didn't matter what kind of season he had. He was all-rookie in his conference as a freshman. Twice he was an All-America. He was finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey's equivalent to the Heisman.

He put up big numbers season after season, enough that his name still stands among the leaders at Miami (Ohio) in practically every offensive category. But NHL scouts saw only one set of numbers: 5-10, 190.

"My size was the only thing holding me back," Boyle, 29, said. "To never get drafted was very upsetting to me. This is when there was 12 rounds in the draft and you would think one team would be willing to take a chance. No one could see past the size and it was awful. Not one team would give me the chance."

Now, it's a good bet 29 other teams would love to have the Lightning defenseman. His overtime goal in Thursday's 5-4 victory against the Hurricanes gave him 10 goals this season, just three from his career high. He is on pace for 22 goals, which would make him the first Lightning defenseman to crack the 20-goal mark, and he is fourth among NHL defenseman with 30 points.

"Never getting drafted has definitely been motivation for me," Boyle said. "It still is to this day."

As Lightning associate coach Craig Ramsay puts it, no one is interested in small players, especially on defense. "Everyone wants (Ottawa's 6-foot-9 giant Zdeno) Chara," he said.

"But there's room for a little guy if he's willing to battle. Danny Boyle, in my mind, has turned out to be one of the really good battlers for us, especially for such a small player."

Boyle always had the skills. He was a slick-scoring forward, the best kid on his squirt team in Ottawa when he was 10. That was when his coach, Bill Coveny, moved Boyle to defense.

"The guys we had on defense were all really slow," Boyle said. "I can't remember if it was a one-game thing and he just put me back there and I ended up staying there or what. But I've been back there ever since."

Problem was, Boyle didn't grow into the typical NHL defenseman. So he patterned himself after a small offensive defenseman, Brian Leetch, and ended up as one of the NCAA's top defensemen. But no scouts compared Boyle to Leetch though Boyle never shied away from contact.

"You can't be scared or you're behind the 8-ball right away," Boyle said. "But you've got to be smart positionally. You have to be deceptive and use all the tricks to get around the (big) hits.

"No, the only thing I was afraid of was not getting the chance. I knew if I could just get the chance, I was going to be okay."

The Panthers eventually gave Boyle a chance by signing him as a free agent in 1998, but they ended up giving him to the Lightning for a fifth-round draft pick in January 2002.

"When I saw him in Florida, all I really knew was he had good feet," Ramsay said. "We were told he had some tools and we needed an (offensive guy) on defense and why not give him a shot? But see, a guy like that has to be given a chance over a period of time. A player like that can't show what he can do in one game."

Like all offensive defenseman learning on the job, Boyle had his ups and downs. A good night's work could be ruined by a bad pinch here or a turnover there. But the Lightning stuck with Boyle through his learning stages and he has become, arguably, the team's best defenseman.

Since joining the Lightning Boyle has 37 goals and 105 assists in 233 games, has played well defensively and has become something small defenseman are not supposed to become: a workhorse. He averages more than 24 minutes a game, which places him 13th among NHL defenseman. Last week when the Lightning was down to five defenseman because of an injury to Pavel Kubina, Boyle played an incredible 36 minutes, 40 seconds.

Not bad for a guy who every team in the league once thought would never be good enough to play a second in the NHL.

[Last modified December 28, 2005, 00:37:18]