Can't really speak for how he looks in the AHL, but I thought he looked great last year in the WJC. He was a force the whole tournament and showed how his skills can blend together to create a guy who can bulldoze through the defense, supplement his teammates with his forecheck, has a decent to great shot, and does all the little things right.
I think it's too early to write him off completely. Hopefully next year he has no injuries and gets plenty of play time in different situations.
100% agree, he looked dominant in the WJC and showcased his skill. People that are writing off his raw upside have probably never seen a single highlight or shift-by-shift and just look at numbers.
The reason his AHL numbers were so poor as well was because he's missed the majority of the last 4 seasons and Belleville plugged him on the 4th line with lower minutes so he can actually get adjusted to pro hockey after missing so much time (then he gets hurt again).
He's also the kind of player that will produce well with skilled players. Just to give an example, if you play Austin Watson with Tim Stutzle, Watson will not produce. If you play Boucher with Stutzle, Boucher will put up 60 points.
He legitimately has 2nd line skill, speed and IQ (along with a good compete level) but has never played on a line with skilled players in his life to showcase it. The dumbest thing Ottawa could do would be to trade him for a late round pick now, ride it out, see if he can at least be a good bottom 6 option in a couple years and go from there.