Boeser opens up on pressure he's facing after nearly being traded by Vancouver Canucks
It hasn’t been a fairytale season for Vancouver Canucks sniper Brock Boeser.
The Canucks traded his regular linemate J.T. Miller midseason, and despite Boeser being eligible for a contract since July 1 of last year, no extension has been completed. Boeser was nearly traded at the deadline, but general manager Patrik Allvin spoke honestly, maybe too honestly, about how teams didn’t value the goal-scorer enough for a deal to materialize.
All of those factors have played into Boeser’s current goal-scoring drought. After scoring a career-high 40 goals last season, the Minnesota native has just 18 in 60 games this year. That includes just two goals in his last 20 games.
It all seems to be clearly weighing on Boeser as evidenced both by his on-ice struggles and off-ice comments.
“It was obviously tough times [at the deadline], and I didn’t know what was going to happen, and the unknown was kind of scary,” Boeser said today.
“I think just on the ice, I’ve been really hard on myself to step up and be better for our team. I think I’ve just got to have a positive attitude and a better mindset [and I can get] back to my game.”
Contract talks between the Canucks and Boeser have reportedly sputtered over the issue of term. The Canucks can offer a maximum of eight years but seemingly don’t want to go above five. This means Boeser is playing without a contract for next season, a difficult situation for any player.
“I think it affects certain guys,” said coach Rick Tocchet. “But I think you’ve just got to think short term, you’ve got to think game-to-game…you can’t think of stuff you can’t control at this point. We don’t know what’s going to happen three months from now so why worry about it now? And if it affects your play you’ve got to be mentally strong to figure things out.”
Tocchet has promoted Boeser back to the first line alongside Elias Pettersson and Nils Höglander in search of some goals. The Canucks are tied for last in goals per game since Jan. 1 and need their sniper to contribute more in that area.
“I take that hard on myself too,” continued Boeser. “When we’re not scoring goals I’ve got to be one of the guys that can contribute and put the puck in the net. I haven’t recently. I’ve been hard on myself, it’s a pressure.”
With the uncertainty of his contract looming, a rough Canucks season going on, and the team’s need for him to score goals, Boeser has a lot on his mind.
“At the end of the day, I’ve got to be grateful for the position we’re in and grateful to play in this league. I think just having a positive mindset and a better attitude coming to the rink everyday, I can work my way out of it.”
While the combination of Boeser and Pettersson makes a lot of sense on paper, the results haven’t been there this season. They’ve played 232 five-on-five minutes together and the Canucks have been outscored 15-8 and outshot 103-97 during that time.
“[Boeser] and Petey have got to figure something out here and get some offence for us together. I think by them driving play, it’ll really help our team,” said Tocchet.
“The last time we played together I thought we had a pretty good game,” said Boeser. “I thought that was one of my better games. Obviously I haven’t been playing great as of late so I’ve been hard on myself and I expect myself to be better for our team.”
The Canucks have just 15 games left until the playoffs and not much margin for error. They need Boeser to start contributing as soon as possible and Boeser needs to start scoring for his prospects into free agency and beyond.