Boeser is out to prove he belongs PENTICTON
TRAINING CAMP: Canucks prospect has been working on his skating and strength in bid to make NHL team
Blame modern media.
Brock Boeser’s pro debut was wrenched from a fable. He was home in the Twin Cities playing in the National Hockey League hours after signing his first contract.
He was on an impossible schedule. His college team had been eliminated the day before in double overtime. Still, he played unreasonably wonderful, scoring a goal in a win for the Canucks among his four shots on net.
But all anyone seems to remember is, well, you know.
If you don’t, you missed the viral video that counted Boeser saying “you know” 45 times in three minutes. Picked up by Vice Sports, it was quickly viewed more than 100,000 times.
“It was my first game and I was super nervous,” Boeser said. “Oh yeah, I hear about it a lot. Some of my friends just randomly chirp me about it.
“They say ‘Just so you know, you know?’ And I don’t even catch on until they continue to do it for several minutes.”
Just so you know, they say it a lot in Minnesota. It’s in his DNA.
“It’s always in my head now when I do interviews,” Boeser said. “I’m trying to cut back on it as much as I can.”
If his post-practice media tour Thursday before the Young Stars tournament is any indication, he’s doing a dazzling job.
But no one really cares if his interviews have improved. That will come. And so will his scoring.
What matters here, and in main training camp next week and beyond, is his skating and strength. It’s improvement in these two areas that will determine whether Boeser starts the season in Vancouver, or not.
He seems to be in the right place, at least. In the past two tournaments, Ben Hutton in one and Troy Stecher in the other, there were Canucks who used Penticton as a springboard to unpredictably eye-opening NHL seasons.
Boeser was all set to be the next one. That was until the Canucks signed Thomas Vanek last week, the latest veteran to be added to a “rebuilding” team seemingly making a stealth run at being decent this season.
In a funny twist, Vanek and Boeser spent much of the summer skating together.
“Some of the things he does are just shocking,” Boeser said. “He amazed me and he really taught me a lot this summer.
“(Playing) with him would be a tremendous opportunity but right now my goal is just to make the team.”
Many believe Vanek’s arrival could impact Boeser. He’s a right shot right-winger expected to help score goals on the power play. It sure sounds like Boeser’s role.
It’s entirely logical to argue Vanek’s presence diminishes Boeser’s chances. But it can’t. If he’s ready, and many believe he is, Boeser plays. He has to play. And no amount of vets on one- or two-year deals should change that.
Now, have the Canucks tipped their hand here on where they think Boeser will begin his season? Are they hinting he needs to be faster before he’s a regular? It’s possible.
But it’s been a long time since this organization had a legitimate Calder Trophy candidate, and right now it’s difficult finding a list of rookie-of-the-year picks without Boeser’s name included. If he really is that good, he’s got to play games in Vancouver and a lot of them.
Boeser said he dedicated much of his summer to improving the explosiveness in his first few steps. Was it enough?
“He has a real good self-assessment,” said Ryan Johnson, the Utica Comets’ GM and director of player development. “He’s an opportunistic skater. He may go at an even pace but when there’s a loose puck he can get to it.
“We just want him to add another full step to his stride to allow him to be able to have that in the northsouth part of the game, in the neutral zone. Separation speed. As we know in today’s game, back pressure takes time and space away fast, the more you can separate.
“We’ve addressed those things. We’ve worked with our skating coach in the summer. And he’s focused on the right things to improve to give him a step up this weekend and heading into main camp.”
The skating may be a question, but there aren’t many. Boeser’s aura oozes prime time. It’s the same here among a group of kids, most of whom will never make it, as it was with the Canucks in March.
“I love guys who have some swagger,” said Trent Cull, the Utica Comets head coach running Vancouver’s Young Stars team this weekend.
“I think that stuff is contagious. I want guys I coach to have that swagger because it puts a good vibe out because we want to be a confident team.”
Part of it is confidence, but a big part of it is what Boeser has overcome to get here, including last year’s humbling season in which he played most of it with a wrist problem.
“Brock’s maturity and how he’s taken what he’s learned in the past year, you can tell he’s focused and dialed in,” Johnson said.
“He has one of those special gifts in a player, he handles high pressure situations very well and you can’t teach that.”
Sure he will handle the pressure just fine on the ice this month, but do you know if he can deal with it off it? Time will tell, you know!