Prospect Info: Tyler Boucher (F) - PART III

[Sun God Nika]

Tyler Boucher ? More like Tyler Buster

 

[SENATOR]

Tyler Boucher ? More like Tyler Buster

He was never a buster. Just a kid who was not drafted in the late second round. Montreal did a lot of those reaches to draft future busted players for "size identity". And that's why it has the worst draft record of any teams in the league. Ottawa is the second worst. Ottawa has the most knowledgeable hockey base in the world, but not enough funds to hire adequate personal. It creates a perfect storm, when the fan base is smarter then the Ottawa hockey office. It is a disaster PR. It does not help, that local media is totally dependent on only one major franchise in town and is completely muzzled. And that's why an inadequate management takes advantage of this.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Fair points. I was just looking to balance out some of the takes on here. There are a fair amount of posts writing him off as a complete bust who won't play in the NHL or that his upside is that of a 4th liner and I think that is too dismissive of his upside. I also find that some of those posts are relying heavily on his production this year to make such judgments and I think it can be subject to its own contextual criticisms. For one Albie O'Connell, BU's coach, got fired at the end of the season and during his time as a head coach BU players have had pretty underwhelming production. Then with the 67's when I pointed out the quality of players on the team and how that impacted Boucher's production others dismissed it as inconsequential.

I think at this point there is a lot of uncertainty about what Boucher's actual upside is, and what reasonable inferences we can make based on his pre and post draft production about what that says about his potential upside. I can certainly see that argument where a more conservative projection is the more practical approach. It might be better to project a lower upside and be pleasantly surprised if proven wrong than to project a higher upside and be disappointed if he doesn't achieve it.

We know that if Boucher is a success then we are probably looking at a 40 to 60 point player. 60 points would be phenomenal with all his other attributes but I can certainly see why people are skeptical of him attaining such a projection. But now that he has been drafted, the question is how can he be developed to maximize his abilities.

From my subjective take in having watched a fair amount of his play, I have a few opinions. Let's look at a couple of his attributes.

First, let's look at his shot. He has a powerful and quick, NHL caliber release. Given his athleticism he will likely have a very powerful shot at the NHL level and quite likely one of the more powerful ones on the team. The accuracy of his shot is lacking. From what I have seen it looks like he attempts to rely on positional play to set up dangerous shots rather than trying to remain stationary and look to pick corners. I don't think BU or the 67's allowed him to play to his strengths. Neither team could sustain possession in the offensive zone and both team struggled to get him the puck when he was in an ideal position to get a dangerous shot attempt off. This negatively impacted his production as he was forced to rely on being in less ideal positions, being stationary and trying to pick corners.

I believe his positional play as a shooter will lead to a fair amount of goals at the NHL level. I am confident in his ability to sneak through the opposition and find spots where he isn't well covered. I also think he will get angle on the goalie where his quick and powerful release will lead to goals. At this level however, if he can't rely on his teammates to allow him to get into ideal shooting positions or they can't get him the puck when he does, then he needs to display more patience with his shot. He has done it a few times where he is right on the goalie but from a distance he is making it a bit easy on the goalie by not looking to fake a shot or use the movement of other players to obstruct the goalie's vision.

On a slightly related note, I would like to see an improvement in his ability to deflect the puck. On the powerplay he is sometimes posted up in front of the goalie and I think if he could refine his skill set of deflecting the puck that it would get him some more goals. He could also improve his ability around the net as there is certainly room to score some garbage goals that would up his overall production. At the NHL level I think he will need to rely on deflections and net presence garbage goals to go along with his smart positional play shots. While he could score more goals by being patient with the puck at a distance while in a stationary position, I am not sure if that is where he will generate the most of his offensive at the NHL level so I don't know if it would be best for him to prioritize that.

Secondly, I am going to lump together his puck handling, passing and playmaking. I could separate out this categories but it will take less space to address them all together. He has very underrated passing and playmaking abilities but I would say they are more limited to deep in the offensive zone. Once he gets below the dots, that is where he consistently generates the majority of his high quality passes. In this zone of the ice, he reads the defense well and is great at exploiting opportunities to get the puck to open teammates and setting them up for dangerous shot attempts. From my viewings both the BU and 67's players struggled to convert on these chances. At the NHL level there are more talented players and I believe that it will become more evident how effective he actually is in this part of the ice.

He does a decent job of carrying the puck and skating it through the zones, but he isn't as effective at carrying it through traffic. Where he runs into challenges is when he tries to pick up loose pucks along the boards and his over reliance on dangles. Along the boards when pursuing loose pucks he isn't always hard enough on his stick so this can lead to him over skating the puck. He also likes to make quick pivots, curlbacks and turns along the boards and sometimes his rapid change of movement leads to a loss of the puck. I do think this is an improvable attribute however. As he develops he will find ways to control pucks better in those kinds of situations. The other issue he has is that he relies too heavily on quick dangles. He is capable of dangling the puck but it almost seems like his skill set is better suited for the quick dangle to a quick pass or a quick shot than actually trying to dangle his way through players. I think when that is combined with his skating, that he can create rapid changes in direction with both his feet and the puck to create passing and shooting lanes rather than to maneuver his way through and around opponents.

I think he relies on playing a skilled game when he should play more of a power game. If he shields the puck better then he can rely on the quick pivots and quick dekes to better set up the passes and shot attempts. When he doesn't deploy enough of a power game, his dangles can lead to a loss of possession or at the least an interruption of possession where he is forced to regain it. Those interruptions close the window on the quick pass and shot attempts that could lead to more offense. Instead those situations lead to the goalie making the right adjustments, reading the play better to prevent a pass attempt from leading to a more dangerous shot and for similar adjustments to be made by the opposition defense. I also think that by playing more of a power game he could control the puck along the boards longer and allow more of his teammates to set themselves up in ideal positions and to fatigue the opposition from more of a cycle game. It may also allow him to win more battles around the net where he can score some garbage goals and set up some quality passes around the net.

He can make quality passes in other zones of the ice but his bread and butter will be deep in the zone. That is where we should look to get the most offense out of him.

I could comment on his skating but I think it can be summarized as near the upper echelon. There will always be room for improvement but his acceleration and edge work are high end. He will never have problems getting around the ice and will likely get to positions and create openings that many others players won't be able to. His challenge his to combine that skating with the rest of his game; to shield and protect the puck, and to combine it with his stickhandling, dekes, passes and shot attempts. Finding a way to combine these things will lead to him maximizing his offensive abilities.

That is my summary at this point but I would be happy to discuss this in further detail if you have some opinions and feel it would be beneficial to elaborate on this matter.

IMO you are obviously very high on him. I think you over estimate him in every category you mentioned.
Its amazing how much further ahead Sillinger is over Boucher. You want to talk about a NHL shot and release. Night and Day.
Much further ahead in every way imaginable except for delivering punishing hits, something Boucher should have enough to be able to translate..

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

IMO you are obviously very high on him. I think you over estimate him in every category you mentioned.
Its amazing how much further ahead Sillinger is over Boucher. You want to talk about a NHL shot and release. Night and Day.
Much further ahead in every way imaginable except for delivering punishing hits, something Boucher should have enough to be able to translate..

even the physical play is a little tenuous.

Its the only thing that he does at an "elite" level so we are all hoping it translates but but it's one thing to be leveling kids vs hitting full grown NHLer's who are holograms in how they move and anticipate compared to OHLers and the USHL.


Lazar was supposed to be a +physicality player in the NHL as well, until he wasn't.

 

[aragorn]

even the physical play is a little tenuous.

Its the only thing that he does at an "elite" level so we are all hoping it translates but but it's one thing to be leveling kids vs hitting full grown NHLer's who are holograms in how they move and anticipate compared to OHLers and the USHL.


Lazar was supposed to be a +physicality player in the NHL as well, until he wasn't.

Curtis Lazar led the Bruins with186 hits this yr, so he is a physical player.

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

Curtis Lazar led the Bruins with186 hits this yr, so he is a physical player.

And I doubt any of them put any fear into NHLers.

Same with Boro, lots of hits but intimidates no one.

 

[aragorn]

And I doubt any of them put any fear into NHLers.

Same with Boro, lots of hits but intimidates no one.

More nonsense, Boro did intimidate players.

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

More nonsense, Boro did intimidate players.

I never saw it. Good at rubbing out players and he would catch a few with good ones.

But seemed to me most NHLers loved playing against Boro lol.

 

[Micklebot]

And I doubt any of them put any fear into NHLers.

Same with Boro, lots of hits but intimidates no one.

Boro hit like a truck, his fighting didn't intimidate but he mostly fought because guys had to stand up for someone he crushed. His physical play definately took a toll on the opposition, he wasn't Scott Stevens out there but he was absolutely a plus hitter. I suspect Boucher will be the same, only he'll hit opposition D on the forcheck

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

Boro hit like a truck, his fighting didn't intimidate but he mostly fought because guys had to stand up for someone he crushed. His physical play definately took a toll on the opposition, he wasn't Scott Stevens out there but he was absolutely a plus hitter. I suspect Boucher will be the same, only he'll hit opposition D on the forcheck

Off the top of my mind I don't remember any truly devastating Boro hits. Neil, Volchenkov, Sutton heck even Karlsson hits I remember. But none for Boro. Do you remember any?

I think we are also forgetting how many times Boro chasing hits cost us. Any NHLer worth his salt would take advantage. When he caught them it was good, but even then a lot of plays where the player took the hit to exploit Boro chasing, causing an odd man rush.

 

[Cosmix]

He was never a buster. Just a kid who was not drafted in the late second round. Montreal did a lot of those reaches to draft future busted players for "size identity". And that's why it has the worst draft record of any teams in the league. Ottawa is the second worst. Ottawa has the most knowledgeable hockey base in the world, but not enough funds to hire adequate personal. It creates a perfect storm, when the fan base is smarter then the Ottawa hockey office. It is a disaster PR. It does not help, that local media is totally dependent on only one major franchise in town and is completely muzzled. And that's why an inadequate management takes advantage of this.

I agree that it is too early to place a label like "bust" on a player drafted in 2021.

I don't know what assessments you are using to declare Ottawa as having the second worst draft record in the league. What evidence do you have to support that?

I don't know where you got this from: "Ottawa has the most knowledgeable hockey base in the world".

 

[Micklebot]

Off the top of my mind I don't remember any truly devastating Boro hits. Neil, Volchenkov, Sutton heck even Karlsson hits I remember. But none for Boro. Do you remember any?

I think we are also forgetting how many times Boro chasing hits cost us. Any NHLer worth his salt would take advantage. When he caught them it was good, but even then a lot of plays where the player took the hit to exploit Boro chasing, causing an odd man rush.

Absolutely, him crushing Konecny comes immediately to mind, he also laid out a ton of guys under Boucher's LD step up system, and was alway hitting guys in the corners and finishing his hits hard, the whole step up system was practically designed for players like him.

He certainly got out of position looking for hits, particularly earlier in his career, but to suggest he wasn't a heavy hitter seems like an odd claim.

 

[Cosmix]

even the physical play is a little tenuous.

Its the only thing that he does at an "elite" level so we are all hoping it translates but but it's one thing to be leveling kids vs hitting full grown NHLer's who are holograms in how they move and anticipate compared to OHLers and the USHL.


Lazar was supposed to be a +physicality player in the NHL as well, until he wasn't.

I never viewed Lazar as a physically tough player.

Based on what I have seen of Boucher, and it is minimal, I do not view him as a physical player like Neil.

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

Absolutely, him crushing Konecny comes immediately to mind, he also laid out a ton of guys under Boucher's LD step up system, and was alway hitting guys in the corners and finishing his hits hard, the whole step up system was practically designed for players like him.

He certainly got out of position looking for hits, particularly earlier in his career, but to suggest he wasn't a heavy hitter seems like an odd claim.

I think Boro was more of a volume hitter than a heavy hitter.



Lots of hits but few if any that would rattle NHL players. I did not watch the Konecny hit live but seeing it now yea it was nice.



this one would have been nice if it wasn't blatant interference lol

 

[Burrowsaurus]

What difference does it make whether or not the Rangers were planning on picking him? Does it make it any less of a squandered pick at 10 if the Rangers were going to pick him a few picks later? We're really grasping at straws if a rumour that another team was interested in him is providing justification for the pick. What a yikes selection.

Justification for the pick is that sens thought he was the best player at 10th overall.

 

[aragorn]

I think Boro was more of a volume hitter than a heavy hitter.



Lots of hits but few if any that would rattle NHL players. I did not watch the Konecny hit live but seeing it now yea it was nice.



this one would have been nice if it wasn't blatant interference lol

I think you just made my point.

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

I think you just made my point.

because of what?

this is real intimidation

 

[ottawah]

Probably the closest comparable I can find based on how people think is Cody McLeod. I think there is likely a bit more offensive upside for Boucher, but some downside on the physical end. But close to the same size and somewhat comparable D+1 draft stats (.58 PPG vs .47, .9 PIM/G vs .2.2).

So the question I ask myself is would I trade a high first round pick for the career of McLeod? Would I trade this years #7 (which is close to #10)?

A resounding no.

I do not care how physical he is. If he cannot learn to generate offense, its going down as a bad pick.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Probably the closest comparable I can find based on how people think is Cody McLeod. I think there is likely a bit more offensive upside for Boucher, but some downside on the physical end. But close to the same size and somewhat comparable D+1 draft stats (.58 PPG vs .47, .9 PIM/G vs .2.2).

So the question I ask myself is would I trade a high first round pick for the career of McLeod? Would I trade this years #7 (which is close to #10)?

A resounding no.

I do not care how physical he is. If he cannot learn to generate offense, its going down as a bad pick.

This is an interesting perspective. You're saying the Boucher pick might go down as a bad one? That's a pretty bold claim, you're bound to get some pretty extreme pushback on that one.

 

[Ashrum]

I think the most important thing for him this summer will be building his body up so he reduces his injuries.
Continuous time off over the next years he will be a bust because he is already behind where he should be but he can easily make up the development as long as he is healthy and plays.
I wanted Sillinger so bad last draft and seeing him be so much better then what I was expecting makes this worse but Boucher is no Brandon Lee even if sillinger is as impactful as kopatar. You can't win them all.

 

[BondraTime]

He’s more than fine physically, and I am not that worried about the injuries he’s gotten.

He is going to make the NHL with the game he plays.

We need to forget about his draft position, because that will never look wise, but he’s absolutely a future NHL player in some capacity. I’m hoping we get a Clutterbuck out of him, and that would be viewed as a good pick if he were taken where he was generally ranked.

He will have a good season next year as a 19/20 year old with the 67’s. Am hoping for a 75ish point season over 62ish games, but that may be a bit ambitious, I do expect a point per game minimum though.

 

[JungleBeat]

Basically got a guy like Max Jones. Whatever.

 

[Byron Bitz]

“He’s not Tom Wilson, that’s not fair to the kid” — Trent Mann on TSN 1200 today.

Maybe if the guy who drafted him doesn’t think he’s gonna be the next Tom Wilson we shouldnt either.

 

[BondraTime]

“He’s not Tom Wilson, that’s not fair to the kid” — Trent Mann on TSN 1200 today.

Maybe if the guy who drafted him doesn’t think he’s gonna be the next Tom Wilson we shouldnt either.

It was a ridiculous comparison to begin with, not similar in any way whatsoever aside from the fact they both play physical

 

[cudi]

It was a ridiculous comparison to begin with, not similar in any way whatsoever aside from the fact they both play physical

more Raffi Torres than Tom Wilson for sure.