Outside of his wrist shot, I've never seen any high end skill in Boucher's game. Unless we're taking the view that things like physicality are a skill.
Part of what limits Boucher is actually a concerning lack of skill. If you watch him, he's not comfortable skating with the puck on his stick. He shows small-area puck skills when he's standing in place, but as soon as he's asked to do things with any pace it falls apart.
The Sens under Dorion/Murray either had a blind spot for this kind of thing or just didn't value it when evaluating prospects. Colin White and Curtis Lazar were first rounders who also lacked NHL-quality puck skills and hit walls in their careers' because of it.
"High end skill" might be too ambiguous of a term here as it seems to create different connotations to different people. There are aspects of his game, particularly his skating, shot, and his passing over short distances below the dots that are suggestive of a player that could produce significantly more than he does. I think these attributes are relatively high end in and of themself.
If I have the time I might try to capture the little details that I think Boucher has done well during his time in Belleville and create a video, like I have in the past, so people can see clear examples of what I am referring to and make their own judgments on it.
From a performance standpoint, I don't think Boucher's issues are primarily skill related. I think he is not as dynamic as other skill players but I think he is quite skilled in a more narrow set of attributes, and I think he is on the higher end of the skill range for those attributes.
I think Boucher's issues are a lack of deception and a bit of an issue with poise and composure. When I watch him play I think he can become single track minded. What I mean by that is that he sees what he wants to do and then gets laser focused on doing that and only that. For example, Boucher will have the puck, see an opportunity t shoot it, pick the spot where he wants to shoot it and then proceeds to shoot it as hard and fast as possible.
One problem with that approach is that there is no deception at all. If the shooter and the goalie both know that the goalie has an opening high glove, then it is going to take a damn ridiculous shot to beat a goalie there. That is part of the reason why high skill players demonstrate poise and composure to deceive the goalie through a feint, or wait for something to happen on the ice to distract the goalie or obstruct his vision.
Boucher sometimes shows pose and composure with the puck and sometimes shows some deception, but it is a weaker area of his game and it is an area he needs to improve on.
Another issue might actually be coaching. Bruce Boudreau said during the trade deadline that he thought the Sens players lacked clearly defined roles, which actually makes a lot of sense. This is likely an issue both in Ottawa and Belleville. Boucher is not as dynamic of a player, so he probably would benefit from a coach understanding his competencies and limitations and then define a role for him to play to his strengths and not spend a lot of time doing the things that he isn't going to be great at.
Boucher is at his best when he is below the dots. He shows good vision and can make crisp passes behind the net and in the corners and generally anywhere around the net. His hands tend to look a lot better when he is stationary or when relatively little skating is involved. He has a good shot, but it seems like he would score more goals consistently by being in the paint. He is a big body and strong so he can be a nuisance around the net. He should be working on screening goalies, causing havoc around the net, obstructing goalies vision with aggressive battles with d men, deflecting pucks and playing clean up duty.
There are aspects of his game that are a bit like Brady Tkachuk, One difference is that Tkachuk knew what he was strong at and focused on being the best version of that. It is why he was able o step into the NHL early and why he quickly became one of the best players in the league below the dots. Boucher needs to play to his strengths. He needs clear direction of how he can excel. He needs to build on that foundation.
Tkachuk started to expand his game after being a dominant below the dots player. Boucher probably needs to do the same. He needs a clearly defined role so he knows what to focus on.
