Prospect Info: Tyler Boucher (RW/LW) - Don`t sleep on Tyler Boucher
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Senator Stanley
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If you don't know what's going on, why jump to such an extreme conclusion?
BrawlFan
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- Apr 17, 2009
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I hadn’t seen the picture of the sling. I scanned the last few pages and didn’t see an update clearly. So I found it suspicious that he’s been hurt then played then hurt again but it would have made some impact for a longer time. Clearly
Golden_Jet
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BrawlFan
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The Devilish Buffoon
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As I said on a draft day. The kid is a waste of any draft picks and will never make NHL. It takes 10 min of vids to see he is no good for NHL on any line. WTF? People still post about him?
Golden_Jet
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The Devilish Buffoon
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BondraTime
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Not really.
He’s an ECHL/AHL tweener.
Incredibly bad pick, and has had incredibly bad injury luck. Recipe for disaster.
I thought he was a guaranteed NHLer, because he was basically a 4th liner max. Just skate and hit. Hard to not live up to those type of draft expectations (which were definitely initially inflated because of where he was drafted). He still may, but it’s going to be a slow burn.
His lack of production in the NCAA and CHL is nearly unheard of for a 1st round prospect, let alone 10th. He’d have likely been ~ppg in his 19 year old season. Finished his CHL tenure, all post draft, at 31 points in 48 games.
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jbeck5
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- Jan 26, 2009
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Why is he not even good at skating and hitting in the AHL?
Ive seen him with other real NHL prospects over the years, and though he didn't deserve to be drafted that high and clearly lacked skill, he could skate with them, hit with anyone, and had weight on his shot.
How can he not even translate that into a 3rd line checking role?
Has he lost a step? Has he stopped hitting? What's going on?
BondraTime
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Nothings going on, it’s just the reality of the situation. He’s not a very good pro hockey player, or bring anything more than hitting. He’s not good offensively, or defensively, and he’s not a guy like Rempe who will just toss knucks.
We went for an archetype, very foolishly, and it failed.
Micklebot
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- Apr 27, 2010
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No, it was NYR that liked him at 16, but the point remains, we didn't think he'd slide to the second so we inexplicably took him at 10.
BoardsofCanada
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This was the scouting report back in 2021 before the draft:
There’s no player more physical in the draft class. Sometimes, it’s a small nudge, an extra cross-check, or a smart play to cut off the hands. There’s also plenty of bone-crushing hits along the boards. His physical game is insane. Perfectly balancing scoring and supporting positioning, he’s always a passing option. He’s also a crafty shooter, shooting under defenders’ sticks or changing the angle.
He was obviously highly regarded based on his time in the US NTDP and word is that other teams were also looking at him in the first round. Just bad luck that Ottawa got him.
When he failed to put up points in the CHL, that to me was the biggest red flag. I could be wrong, but I can't think of a single prospect that was below point per game in juniors and successfully made the NHL.
There’s no player more physical in the draft class. Sometimes, it’s a small nudge, an extra cross-check, or a smart play to cut off the hands. There’s also plenty of bone-crushing hits along the boards. His physical game is insane. Perfectly balancing scoring and supporting positioning, he’s always a passing option. He’s also a crafty shooter, shooting under defenders’ sticks or changing the angle.
He was obviously highly regarded based on his time in the US NTDP and word is that other teams were also looking at him in the first round. Just bad luck that Ottawa got him.
When he failed to put up points in the CHL, that to me was the biggest red flag. I could be wrong, but I can't think of a single prospect that was below point per game in juniors and successfully made the NHL.
Senator Stanley
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People will continue to rehash the pick, but it's kind of beside the point now.
I think he should be viewed as if he were a toolsy mid-round pick who's entering his second (or you could argue first, given time missed) pro season. He'll play bottom six minutes, he won't produce much because he isn't a creator and isn't on the top power play unit, and you're really just looking to see him to stick in his role and outplay a similarly situated prospect like Pettersson.
Next year is the earliest I would hope to see some kind of breakout. Cole Reinhardt was a toolsy mid/late round pick who, just now in his fifth pro season, is starting to produce offence and look like a future NHLer. Boucher won't last that long in the organization, because of his 10OA baggage, but it could take him that long to become a player.
I think he should be viewed as if he were a toolsy mid-round pick who's entering his second (or you could argue first, given time missed) pro season. He'll play bottom six minutes, he won't produce much because he isn't a creator and isn't on the top power play unit, and you're really just looking to see him to stick in his role and outplay a similarly situated prospect like Pettersson.
Next year is the earliest I would hope to see some kind of breakout. Cole Reinhardt was a toolsy mid/late round pick who, just now in his fifth pro season, is starting to produce offence and look like a future NHLer. Boucher won't last that long in the organization, because of his 10OA baggage, but it could take him that long to become a player.
It was the start in the NCAA that confirmed his offense was sub par, as his USNDP history had shown.
There have been some sub ppg players from the CHL over the years, although not many that were actually drafted in any round. They largely have been late bloomers, whereas Boucher was an early bloomer.
I'm still hoping he can carve out some level of career, both for the team and especially him as anything I have read seems to indicate he is a very well liked teammate. Its not his fault in the least he was picked where he was, and perhaps could have hampered his career by pushing him too early. If he would have spent another year or even two developing in the USHL and then going NCAA I think things may have come out better. But as a top 10 pick, he pretty much had to follow a trajectory he was not ready for.
I am viewing him as a mid second round pick (where based on scouting he should have gone), that gives him extra development runway for me.
Reinhardt though is a late bloomer. 198th overall in the WHL draft. Boucher was an early bloomer, identified as a top 30 US player in his age group at 16.
Senator Stanley
Registered User
I understand the late bloomer-early bloomer distinction*, but Boucher has had such a strange path since joining the NTDP, with Covid and injuries and bouncing between leagues. He hasn't played consistently enough for me to conclude he's a guy who just developed and plateaued early. At this point, his development has been stunted to the point that he more resembles a guy like Reinhardt (who I only single out because he appears to be breaking out), who arrived in the AHL with pro-hockey physical tools and needed time to develop his game.
I realize I'm making the optimistic case for Boucher, here. He could also just not develop.
*Another interesting example of a guy who at different points might have been considered an early bloomer and a later boomer, is Stephan Halliday. He was a top player in his U16 age group coming out of the GTHL, but then he goes to the USHL instead of the OHL and ends up being passed over in two drafts (at which point some might have concluded he plateaued as a GTHL star). Now he's 22 and - start of this season aside - looks like he could be a "late bloomer".
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Perhaps, there are always some. But its pretty rare.
I certainly think there is some development left in Boucher. He is definitely a better player than the stats line shows this year. But can it be enough to get more than a cup of coffee. Unlikely. But he has 18 months to figure it out. If he has not shown massive gains in the next 18 months, its hard to see him getting another contract with us.
Larionov
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Eight games in Belleville this year and his stat line is, to paraphrase former Raptors coach Sam Mitchell, zero, zero zero. No goals, no assists, no points. He has six penalty minutes and is a minus one. Do the kid a favour and send him to the ECHL where there is a chance he can maybe keep up and get in on a goal once every few games. Right now he is just taking up space that an actual prospect could use.
