Getting to Know Philippe Boucher (Penguins New D-Man)

I have insider info! Well, I guess I make it sound more exclusive than it is, but it's still a point of view from a Dallas Stars fan.

My good buddy Kena from "Girls Are Real Sports Fans Too" is a HUGE Dallas Stars fan, so I jumped at the chance to ask her to give a brief summary about Boucher and what we can expect from the Penguins new D-man.

So, a BIG thanks goes to Kena for the following summary!!

Since I'm the “nutty” Stars fan who divides her loyalties with the Penguins, Stephanie decided that I'd be the perfect person to cover the recent trade, that sent Dallas Stars defenseman Philippe Boucher to the Pittsburgh Penguins in trade for Daryl Sydor. I hope that everyone realizes that this is all just my opinion and that I may have missed something.

Ok, I'm going to try to skip stuff you already know. [If you want to know most of the stuff I'm skipping [LINK HERE] I'll try to cover what you might not know.

A couple of things that the Pens media might not be telling you. He has a little problem with injuries. Last year, he spent quite a bit of time on IR early with a shoulder injury (he's really tough, and when Matti Norstrom had an eye injury, Boo toughed out the shoulder injury for a month, so he could recover. Didn't leave the team hanging, very classy) and missed a good part of the playoffs last year with a strained hip. In fact this fall, he missed most, if not all of training camp with.

On the bright side, he's really good on PK and had a stretch in which he scored gobs of shorthanded goals. He can score from the point, block shots and pass out of the defensive zone. He's a big guy who can and does push people around and he doesn't even seem to be trying while he's at it. He's an “all-around” defenseman, rather than just a “specialist”. Two seasons ago, he had one of the best offensive years for a defenseman in Stars history. Also two seasons ago, he was in the the top 5 in blocked shots for most of the year. He was on pace to do the same last year, if not for all the injuries.

You can look forward to really insightful interviews because he's a very intelligent interviewee.

I'm sure I've forgotten to mention something, but I feel that this is a pretty good overview. My personal opinion is that the Penguins are getting the best out of this trade.