LW Reid Boucher (2011, 99th overall, New Jersey)

[KanetoToews2883]

Reid Boucher was a name that went flying up the draft board with a strong close to his 2010-2011 season in the US-Developmental Camp and a strong World Junior competition. He was one of the (if not the youngest) players taken in the 2011 draft. He's one month younger than Neil Yakupov who is eligible in 2012.

My question is if you had to rank him today in the 2012 draft class, where would he fit?

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[Baemon Severson*]

Reid Boucher was a name that went flying up the draft board with a strong close to his 2010-2011 season in the US-Developmental Camp and a strong World Junior competition. He was one of the (if not the youngest) players taken in the 2011 draft. He's one month younger than Neil Yakupov who is eligible in 2012.

My question is if you had to rank him today in the 2012 draft class, where would he fit?

im not familiar with the 2012 draft, but I cant be happier with this pick. I think he can turn a good sniper at the nhl level

 

[R S]

Probably around the same area as he was picked.

 

[Saugus]

He's still a project pick, with a great shot but little else as of yet. He needs work on skating and defence, and getting bigger wouldn't hurt. Even if he puts up great numbers with Sarnia, I'm not sure how much his draft ranking would have changed.

 

[dream catcher]

3rd or 4th round. He has an incredible shot, but still needs to work on his skating and all-around game.

 

[Qubax]

Probably around the same area as he was picked.

I disagree.

Sometimes being young works in your favor because everyone looks at the potential and promise and looks glass half full at any of your accomplishments....(and maybe that is what the OP is driving at).

...but I think in Boucher's case this is overshadowed by the fact that now that Boucher is getting a LOT of exposure playing in the best developmental league in hockey(OHL-CHL), he'll be likely to go higher had he been 2012 eligible.

(The OHL especially has a great track record with top stars, and well, Fail for Nail).

Let's say Yakupov gets 115 points he's going to go first overall. If Boucher who is a teammate, at times linemate, is only 1 month older, if he were eligible for the same draft and put up 55 goals and say 40 assists for 95 points, you think he'd go 4th round?

Even if Boucher is the Zach Phillips bridesmade after Bealieau and after Huberdeau, you'd still expect him to go waaay higher then the 4th round.

just my 2 cents.

 

[BigBlue11]

Sounds a lot like Jeremy Morin to me

 

[dougiebrown]

Are we having this conversation if Boucher hadn't scored a hat trick on Saturday night?

 

[Qubax]

Are we having this conversation if Boucher hadn't scored a hat trick on Saturday night?

I didn't even know that. Good to hear he's doing well.

Okay, I looked up his stats just now:

6-5-0-5, -1

geez it looks like an Emerson Etem stat line.

So fair Bouch is a far cry below Nail 7-5-11-16

Whoa Sarnia also has Brett Richie and Rensfeldt,

When does Galchenyuk get healthy?

 

[Ringing Iron]

I didn't even know that. Good to hear he's doing well.

Okay, I looked up his stats just now:

6-5-0-5, -1

geez it looks like an Emerson Etem stat line.

So fair Bouch is a far cry below Nail 7-5-11-16

Whoa Sarnia also has Brett Richie and Rensfeldt,

When does Galchenyuk get healthy?

Galchenyuk is back late November or December. His return is still up in the air.

Living in Sarnia, I have watched Boucher play over the last month and he's got a tremendous shot - one of the best in the league. However, Boucher needs to develop the other areas of his game in order to justify a higher draft position. He was one of my favourite players entering the 2011 draft and was surprised to see a team not take him higher but I can certainly see why people dubbed him as a "project pick".

His shot is his greatest skill but he's not very good at handling the puck or beating defenders with either speed or strength. To date, I have seen several instances where he's caused turnovers because of his average puck skills. Hopefully Boucher will improve in that area because if he does NJ grabbed a hell of a prospect.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

3 goals and 2 assists tonight to give him 8 goals and 2 assists in 7 games. How bad is his skating at this point. I have heard he has also missed quite a few tap in scoring chances so his ability to get open seems to be a strength of his. Would his skill set be comparable to a very very poor man Brett Hull? By no means do I think he will reach a lick of Hull's potential or even make the NHL but does he play from the high slot?

 

[The Great Dame]

I can't believe how well we drafted in 2011. Larsson, Boucher, Coleman, and Scarlett all seem pretty legit to me.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

I can't believe how well we drafted in 2011. Larsson, Boucher, Coleman, and Scarlett all seem pretty legit to me.

Why stop there Patrick Daly was on the second pair as a true freshmen first weekend for Wisconsin and Blake Pietila is putting up points as a freshmen. Couldn't have asked for a better start but that's all it is at this point...a start.

 

[The Great Dame]

Why stop there Patrick Daly was on the second pair as a true freshmen first weekend for Wisconsin and Blake Pietila is putting up points as a freshmen. Couldn't have asked for a better start but that's all it is at this point...a start.

Also very true, Daly had those insane stats out of high school.

 

[Saugus]

Boucher's numbers have been very good so far. Clearly he can produce when used with talented players.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

3 goals and 2 assists tonight to give him 8 goals and 2 assists in 7 games. How bad is his skating at this point. I have heard he has also missed quite a few tap in scoring chances so his ability to get open seems to be a strength of his. Would his skill set be comparable to a very very poor man Brett Hull? By no means do I think he will reach a lick of Hull's potential or even make the NHL but does he play from the high slot?

seems like he could have a legit shot at 50+ goals this year. Not bad in what really could be considered his draft year (he's like 1 month older than yakupov).

 

[JEI]

I really liked Boucher at the draft. He has that natural ability to just score goals. Finds those open areas of the ice and just gets there. There's just an X factor about him that I really like, even if other areas of his game are weak, they area areas he can work on.

 

[DeViLzzz*]

He has some nice numbers so far but ...

He has some nice numbers so far but you would not believe how many chances he has blown. I saw a preseason game and a regular season game where I just wanted to pull my hair out watching him play. His numbers I think will be inflated by playing with some players that are actually better than him (Yakupov, Rensfeldt and so on) so don't get too excited about what he does with the Sting unless he gets more consistent out there.

 

[dream catcher]

He has some nice numbers so far but you would not believe how many chances he has blown. I saw a preseason game and a regular season game where I just wanted to pull my hair out watching him play. His numbers I think will be inflated by playing with some players that are actually better than him (Yakupov, Rensfeldt and so on) so don't get too excited about what he does with the Sting unless he gets more consistent out there.

the fact that he is in position for so many scoring chances is a positive IMO.

 

[Jared Ramsden]

I really liked Boucher at the draft. He has that natural ability to just score goals. Finds those open areas of the ice and just gets there. There's just an X factor about him that I really like, even if other areas of his game are weak, they area areas he can work on.

That's a perfect sum of his skills. Though he may be lacking in other areas, you can't teach the insticts and natural goal scoring ability that Boucher appears to have in spades. From the highlights I've seen, he just seems to gravitate to the open areas in the attack end. He's got a nose for the net and an A+ shot. If he's paired with and elite playmaker that can pass him the puck, he's going to have no problem scoring.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

If Boucher were to put up 50 + goals this year, where would he go in the draft had he been born a few days later. Would it still be a case similar to Nigel Dawes? In this strong draft could he go early 2nd?

 

[Ringing Iron]

Reid scored a couple more goals tonight including one BEA-UT-I-FAL snipe in the dying minutes of the game to tie it up for Sarnia. I will post the highlight when I come across it.

 

[BluechipBulletin]

I disagree.

Sometimes being young works in your favor because everyone looks at the potential and promise and looks glass half full at any of your accomplishments....(and maybe that is what the OP is driving at).

...but I think in Boucher's case this is overshadowed by the fact that now that Boucher is getting a LOT of exposure playing in the best developmental league in hockey(OHL-CHL), he'll be likely to go higher had he been 2012 eligible.

(The OHL especially has a great track record with top stars, and well, Fail for Nail).

Let's say Yakupov gets 115 points he's going to go first overall. If Boucher who is a teammate, at times linemate, is only 1 month older, if he were eligible for the same draft and put up 55 goals and say 40 assists for 95 points, you think he'd go 4th round?

Even if Boucher is the Zach Phillips bridesmade after Bealieau and after Huberdeau, you'd still expect him to go waaay higher then the 4th round.

just my 2 cents.

It's hard to get more exposure than the NTDP. There isn't a CHL team more heavily scouted than the NTDP.

 

[BluechipBulletin]

Sounds a lot like Jeremy Morin to me

Boucher doesn't have Morin's wheels. Morin doesn't have Boucher's shot.

 

[JackHughes86]

hes really beast this year