Prospect Info: Tyler Boucher (RW/LW) - Don`t sleep on Tyler Boucher

[JD1]

Pronman's most recent writeup on Boucher, from the pipeline article

13. Tyler Boucher, RW

19 years old | 6-foot-1 | 205 pounds | Shoots right

Drafted: No. 10 in 2021
Tier: Projected to play NHL games

Skating: Below NHL average
Puck skills: NHL average
Hockey sense: Below NHL average
Compete: Above NHL average

Analysis: Boucher has had a tough go it at the last two seasons due to various injuries, and a slow start at Boston University that resulted in him leaving to go to major junior. Boucher is a good player, not No. 10 pick good, but someone I think can fill a role in an NHL lineup. His physicality is high end. He’s a big, strong winger who relishes contact and can lay some huge hits. Boucher has some puck skills and can beat checks. He’s not going to score that much, though, due to a lack of offensive IQ and NHL speed, but he could be a “hard to play against” bottom-six winger who plays every day.

Nothing wrong with that. Hard to play against physical 3rd liner.

No mention of shot which might be Boucher's best asset

 

[Sweatred]

Nothing wrong with that. Hard to play against physical 3rd liner.

No mention of shot which might be Boucher's best asset

Yes - a soft admission.

 

[Micklebot]

Nothing wrong with that. Hard to play against physical 3rd liner.

No mention of shot which might be Boucher's best asset

Strangely he does include a rating for other prospects shot, Jarventie, Sokolov, Kleven Hamara and Greig all listed as above NHL average shot, so we can assume Boucher would probably get an above average or better,

 

[RAFI BOMB]

 

[Hale The Villain]

Pronman's most recent writeup on Boucher, from the pipeline article

13. Tyler Boucher, RW

19 years old | 6-foot-1 | 205 pounds | Shoots right

Drafted: No. 10 in 2021
Tier: Projected to play NHL games

Skating: Below NHL average
Puck skills: NHL average
Hockey sense: Below NHL average
Compete: Above NHL average

Analysis: Boucher has had a tough go it at the last two seasons due to various injuries, and a slow start at Boston University that resulted in him leaving to go to major junior. Boucher is a good player, not No. 10 pick good, but someone I think can fill a role in an NHL lineup. His physicality is high end. He’s a big, strong winger who relishes contact and can lay some huge hits. Boucher has some puck skills and can beat checks. He’s not going to score that much, though, due to a lack of offensive IQ and NHL speed, but he could be a “hard to play against” bottom-six winger who plays every day.

Agree with most of that, except his skating is not bad at all. It's more of a strength than a weakness. Not sure where he's getting that from.

 

[Micklebot]

Agree with most of that, except his skating is not bad at all. It's more of a strength than a weakness. Not sure where he's getting that from.

I thought maybe he inverted puck skills and skating when I first read it.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Nothing wrong with that. Hard to play against physical 3rd liner.

No mention of shot which might be Boucher's best asset

He's probably encompassing that in his skill category.

Personally I separate the two because there's a lot of players with little skill that can hammer a puck. Big strength component to shooting ability.

 

[Sweatred]

Agree with most of that, except his skating is not bad at all. It's more of a strength than a weakness. Not sure where he's getting that from.

Well …. He avoided saying his shot was above average nhl … and if he also said his skating was above nhl it’s getting hard to be so down on him…. Unless he wanted to hammer his hockey IQ harder.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Well …. He avoided saying his shot was above average nhl … and if he also said his skating was above nhl it’s getting hard to be so down on him…. Unless he wanted to hammer his hockey IQ harder.

The reason he labelled Boucher's skill as NHL average instead of below average is because of he's incorporating his strong shot into the evaluation.

Boucher isn't talentless but he'll probably be a below average puck-handler once he gets to the NHL.

 

[Korpse]

Agree with most of that, except his skating is not bad at all. It's more of a strength than a weakness. Not sure where he's getting that from.

Just looking at other ratings I would say Pronman values edges a lot. Boucher is more of a straight line skater who imo is pretty explosive. His mobility laterally isn't bad and he has a strong base. He also gave Pinto a below average rating, who again doesn't stand out in terms of lateral movement but is a powerful skater. I think his approach to evaluating skating is flawed, there's no magical attribute that makes skating good or bad. There's different styles of skaters, to pigeon hole one style as the best is wrong imo. He also gave Stutzle 'NHL Average' for puck skills which I'm floored by.

He only included a shot rating if it was good or bad. The absence is a good indication he views it as average. From what I've seen with low quality video, he has a heavy shot but there's room for improvement with his release.

 

[Sweatred]

The reason he labelled Boucher's skill as NHL average instead of below average is because of he's incorporating his strong shot into the evaluation.

Boucher isn't talentless but he'll probably be a below average puck-handler once he gets to the NHL.

Oh I agree with that… is he saying “is NHL average” or “projects as … NHL average” sorry… I don’t do the Athletic.

 

[Micklebot]

The reason he labelled Boucher's skill as NHL average instead of below average is because of he's incorporating his strong shot into the evaluation.

Boucher isn't talentless but he'll probably be a below average puck-handler once he gets to the NHL.

Idk about that, lots of prospects in his pipeline had a category for shot, not sure why he'd separate it out for other guys and combine it for Boucher

 

[ottawah]

Boucher isn't a defensive player as of now, no clue where that's coming from.

No, but the vast majority of "defensive" players in the NHL (from the CHL, even NCAA) were not defensive players there either, they were far too valuable offensively to use in that position. Then when it became obvious they could not make the NHL on offense, they became defensive players.

Nearly 100% of role type players in the CHL almost never make it to the NHL, hence why I'm more concerned with offense from Boucher than defense at this point of his development.

 

[JD1]

There's no substitute for playing hockey games. For a variety of reasons, some injury, some pandemic, some actually having had COVID, Boucher has played very little hockey the past two years. It might take him longer to get it all together.

But it seems purely from a skills point of view, that he's projecting to be an NHL player. Just having average NHL skating and shooting coupled with a high compete level typically makes a good NHL player

 

[Ice-Tray]

I wish Methot would talk more in those interviews.

 

[Micklebot]

There's no substitute for playing hockey games. For a variety of reasons, some injury, some pandemic, some actually having had COVID, Boucher has played very little hockey the past two years. It might take him longer to get it all together.

But it seems purely from a skills point of view, that he's projecting to be an NHL player. Just having average NHL skating and shooting coupled with a high compete level typically makes a good NHL player

Hockey IQ to me is the key, though I'm not going to put a lot of faith in Pronman's assessment there. A guy like Schubert had all the tools you could ask for, and his compete level while perhaps not on Boucher's level wasn't problematic.

On that note, I always liked Schubert... Probably could have had a longer career had he been willing to play 4th liner winger, but he wanted to be a Dman, and I don't blame him for that.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Boucher isn't a defensive player as of now, no clue where that's coming from.

Physical forwards always get labeled “two way”.

 

[Micklebot]

Physical forwards always get labeled “two way”.

So... Watson is a two way forward? Ovechkin on the other end of the spectrum?

I don't see it. Maybe you just mean they don't get labelled as one dimensional?

 

[Cosmix]

How have you determined he is, "on course" to be a good player for us?

In the last 3 years he hasn't played much but when he has his scoring has not been to the level of a prospect expected to make an NHL roster, let alone be some elite 3rd liner.

What are you basing your statement on?


Asking a young group of pro athletes to throw games so that the team can have a better draft pick would never happen.

Benching all of the good young players would also draw attention as there are rules against tanking. What exactly was the team supposed to do?

There are ways and mean beyond throwing games and benching.

 

[Icelevel]

I wish Methot would talk more in those interviews.

Not allowed. Wally will bite.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Well …. He avoided saying his shot was above average nhl … and if he also said his skating was above nhl it’s getting hard to be so down on him…. Unless he wanted to hammer his hockey IQ harder.

Did you read the post with the skills listed,It says his skating is below average , (which it isn’t).

 

[RAFI BOMB]

It would have been nice to see a video clip of this.


On the Wally and Methot show, Brent Wallace did mention that Karlsson was skating with these Ottawa players. They have a pretty good group there.

Zub is also out there and now they got DeBrincat with them as well.

 

[Ice-Tray]

That’s quite the posse for ottberia

 

[OD99]

That’s quite the posse for ottberia

It's like when Rocky trains in Russia. They have to get away from all the things they truly love and immerse themselves in to hockey hell so they can focus and get ready.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

In the Wally and Methot show, Boucher mentioned how he weighed himself at the end of last season and he was down around 193 lbs. That with being healthy and able to train properly this offseason that he is up around 208-209 lbs.

He mentioned that he prefers to play at over 200 lbs and didn't feel as strong when he was down around 194-195 lbs, which seemed to be most of last season. He also mentioned that the heaviest he weighed this offseason was 215 lbs but he didn't feel as quick as he would like so now he is down around 208-209 lbs.

It will be interesting to see how he looks in the prospects tournament and preseason games now that he is at a more optimal weight.