When the Canucks cut Evan McEneny over the weekend, it seemed certain that they would have to place him on waivers. After all, it had been five years since the Canucks signed him, and that seemed to be the main criteria for him being waiver-eligible. Only, it turned out to be a touch more complicated than that and he was sent down to the Utica Comets without having to clear waivers.
On Monday, however, the Canucks did put their first player of the preseason on waivers: Reid Boucher. It seems fitting that the first player that they claimed off waivers last season is the first player they’re waiving in this one.
It’s a shame, as the 24-year-old Boucher’s key ability is one of the most difficult: scoring goals. While Boucher has consistently received bottom-six ice time in the NHL, he has scored goals at the rate of a top-six forward.
Boucher has 17 goals in 112 career NHL games, which doesn’t immediately sound impressive, but that changes when you take into account his ice time. His career goals-per-hour is 0.83, right around the rate of a high-end second-line forward. He’s just never really been used that way.
The closest he got was when he got the chance to play with Sven Baertschi and Bo Horvat last season. The trio held their heads above water in terms of puck possession and seemed to have the right fit with complementary skills: Boucher added a sniper’s finish to Baertschi’s playmaking and Horvat’s net-drive.
Scoring goals is one of the hardest things to do in the NHL, as the Canucks proved last season, so waiving someone who has legitimate high-end finishing ability seems like a bad idea. There’s just one issue: all that Boucher can do is score and he has yet to prove that he can do that on a consistent basis when given more ice time.
Even worse for Boucher, the wings got a lot more crowded for the Canucks heading into this season. The Canucks added Thomas Vanek and Sam Gagner in free agency, re-signed restricted free agent Anton Rodin, and have prospects like Brock Boeser, Nikolay Goldobin, and Jake Virtanen pushing to make the lineup.
With all that competition, Boucher needed a strong performance in training camp and the preseason and it just didn’t happen. While Boeser has led the NHL in preseason scoring, Virtanen has scored at a point-per-game pace, and even Goldobin has put up 3 points in 4 games, Boucher has been held off the scoresheet.
To be fair, Boucher played just the one game and it was in China against a veteran Los Angeles Kings team. Meanwhile, Boeser, Goldobin, and Virtanen have been playing against more prospect-heavy squads in Canada. There’s no denying that Boeser has had a much easier time rackin up points than Boucher, but Boeser has taken the opportunity and run with it.
Waiving Boucher at this point seems to be tantamount to saying that Boeser has made the team, which makes complete sense. The Canucks were going to need to waive one of Boucher or Rodin in order for Boeser to make the team if they want to carry eight defencemen.
This doesn’t necessarily mean Rodin has made the team: Virtanen has had a strong preseason and the Canucks could still decide to sign Scottie Upshall.
As for Boucher, he was claimed three times off waivers last season, but he’s also a year older and this is a time when a lot of players are put on waivers. He’s likely the best player available on waivers today, but most teams are likely more concerned about sorting out their own roster cuts than adding another player from the waiver wire.
Assuming Boucher gets through waivers, he should play on the first line in Utica. He scored 4 goals in 5 games last season and had 32 points in 34 games the year before. If he can score at a similar rate this season, he’ll put himself in a good position to be a call-up from the farm if the Canucks have injuries to their top-six.
