Earlier this season, it seemed like the Canucks had forgotten that the waiver wire existed. Fans watched as player after player slid through waivers without a claim, while lesser lights regularly filled the Canucks’ lineup. Claiming a player like Sven Andrighetto or Teemu Pulkkinen seemed like safe moves for a team that had little to lose.
Wednesday, however, the Canucks finally made their move, claiming Reid Boucher from the New Jersey Devils. This was the second time this season the Devils have lost Boucher on waivers.
Boucher has had a busy month, though not on the ice. He was first waived by the Devils on December 2nd and was claimed by the Nashville Predators. He played just one game with only 7:15 in ice time before sitting in the press box long enough that he needed a conditioning stint and was sent down to the AHL on December 11th.
After four goals and five point in five games for the Milwaukee Admirals, the Predators called him back up, but only played him in two more games, playing under 10 minutes in each. He even scored a goal, finishing off a breakaway despite the Minnesota Wild’s Jared Spurgeon draped all over him.
That wasn’t enough, apparently, for the Predators to keep him around and they waived him on January 1st. On January 2nd, he was reclaimed by the New Jersey Devils. They waived him again on January 3rd.
That brings us to the present, where he is now a member of the Vancouver Canucks.
It’s been a tough month for Boucher, summed up by the tragedy of his sparsely-populated Twitter account:
I hope this is his real Twitter account because this is tragic :( pic.twitter.com/NKuQWN0Pvq
— Gráinne (@wholegrainne) January 4, 2017
“Maybe now I’ll get an actual opportunity.” I just want to give him an actual hug.
Boucher was selected in the fourth round of the 2011 draft by the Devils and first gained attention when he broke Steven Stamkos’s franchise record of 58 goals with the Sarnia Sting. As a 19-year-old, he scored 62 goals and 95 points in 68 games that season, then made the jump to professional hockey.
Success came quickly in the AHL, where he immediately began scoring goals, finishing with 22 goals in 56 games in his rookie season. He has 63 goals and 110 points in 169 career AHL games and put up 19 goals and 32 points in 34 games last season, but has yet to establish himself in the NHL.
Boucher took a step forward last season, playing 39 games with the Devils and scoring 8 goals and 19 points, but he had just two points, both assists, for the Devils this season. Gerard Lionetti from Devils’ blog All About the Jersey suggested this was a make or break season for Boucher and so far everything is breaking bad.
At just 23, Boucher still has room for growth and development, so the Canucks are making a reasonable bet. The question marks around him are whether he can produce offence at the NHL level given the opportunity and whether his size and defensive shortcomings will allow an NHL coach to give him that opportunity.
Given his ice time, Boucher has actually produced a decent amount of points and has legitimate top-six upside thanks to his skating and shot. With the Canucks, Boucher might actually get top-six opportunities, particularly with Jannik Hansen out of the lineup.
The Canucks need more young players with skill and goalscoring ability, so taking a chance on Boucher makes sense.
