Boqvist is the type of player that Shero went draft heavy on. He isn't elite at anything but it a well rounded somewhat light player. It seemed he was going to not be a future piece to this team earlier this year and last season. We really messed with this kids development the last few seasons. He has had to play under 3 different head coaches , has had to play as a center and a wing , was yoyo-ed between the AHL and NHL for 3 straight seasons and to top it off has had to play with some bad players in a bottom 6 role. He is making the most of the opportunity this year and I'm glad to see it. Hopefully he sticks it out and keeps improving. If he gets sent down I wouldn't be suprised if he asks for a trade privately this summer because this kid needs a fair shake weather it's here or on another team.
I don’t know if the team is completely to blame here. He got screwed by the 2019-20 AHL team shutting down in early March. He was sent down only got settled and started producing in mid February. A run to the playoffs and doing so damage in them would have been nice (yes, I’m still bitter lol).
And the 2020-21 season was a shortened clusterf*** in the NHL and fake bullshit in the AHL. The bs aspect in the AHL was beneficial for a small number homeless signed juniors players and was detrimental to everyone else.
I think those seasons were detrimental to younger players in general and people shouldn’t be surprised when player development takes longer.
If you’re wondering during the 2021-22 season:
2010 draft eligible: age 29/1992 (U30) & age 30
2011 draft eligible: age 28/1993 (U29) & age 29
2012 draft eligible: age 27/1994 (U28) & age 28
2013 draft eligible: age 26/1995 (U27) & age 27
2014 draft eligible: age 25/1996 (U26) & age 26
2015 draft eligible: age 24/1997 (U25) & age 25
2016 draft eligible: age 23/1998 (U24) & age 24
2017 draft eligible: age 22/1999 (U23) & age 23 [Boqvist is 1998.]
2018 draft eligible: age 21/2000 (U22) & age 22
2019 draft eligible: age 20/2001 (U21) & age 21
2020 draft eligible: age 19/2002 (U20) & age 20
2021 draft eligible: age 18/2003 (U20) & age 19
And in Boqvist’s case, expecting a guy who turned 23 last October to be a solid 3C is a bit much even under normal circumstances. He’s going to be a work in progress at best, you just want improvement.
I doubt Boqvist is disappointed too much if he keeps playing and they re-sign him. If he keeps scoring he’s up for a small raise too.