Welcome Matt: Boeser's not part of the Canucks core anymore but he could be soon

Patrik Allvin is right.

At the moment, Brock Boeser is not part of the Canucks’ core. He was at one point. He could still be.

But coming off a 46-point season (23 goals) on a career-high 71 games, Boeser falls outside of the group that includes the three centres (Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Bo Horvat), defenceman Quinn Hughes, and goaltender Thatcher Demko. The Canucks general manager’s list, which he spoke about Tuesday, is accurate.

Boeser had excellent seasons as a rookie, and against the Canadian division two years ago. He was pretty good as a second-year player, too.

But two of the last three years have not been worthy of a core player, nor the freight the Canucks have been paying him.

Now, last year, Boeser was playing with a heavy heart as his father Duke was having health challenges and ultimately passed away in May. Everyone can understand that affecting performance.

And Boeser may soon return to the core, because as we have discussed, he remains their best winger and most natural goal-scorer. Someone would have to unseat him from that spot, and whomever centres his line will likely get a boost to their points total.

But for Boeser to return to the core — and make sure he’s not the salary that shakes out due to cap problems — he’s first got to stay healthy. That’s been a challenge for the 25-year-old.

From there, his pace needs improvement or he has to use his hockey I.Q. (which is quite good) to be in the right places at the right times, take advantage of that terrific shot, and get back to the place where we consider him a long-term piece.