CANUCKS’ BOESER IS THE REAL DEAL
GAME DAY: L.A. KINGS AT VANCOUVER, 7 P.M.
In hockey, there are no state secrets. Play well enough from an early age in Minnesota and everybody knows your name and your game.
Thomas Vanek played two seasons at the University of Minnesota and two more with the Wild. He heard about Brock Boeser from nearby Burnsville, who already owned an NHL-calibre shot.
“I heard of him when he was in high school,” Vanek recalled Friday, ahead of tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. “Just like Casey Mittelstadt, these are generational players and you hear about guys like Brock. Last summer was the first chance I had to skate with him and see what he’s all about.”
While Mittelstadt, from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has untapped potential as the eighth overall 2017 draft pick by the Buffalo Sabres, Boeser made a quick impression on Vanek last summer.
“His shot was something that stood out to me and how he can get it off from different angles,” said the Vancouver Canucks’ veteran winger. “It’s like Patrik Laine and how he gets it off and it’s not something you can teach — you either have it or you don’t.”
What Boeser has is the attention of the entire NHL. It’s why Vanek is eager to play mentor to a humble and hardworking 20-year-old rookie who’s a Calder Memorial Trophy contender.
Boeser not only leads all rookies and the Canucks in goals (21) and points (38), only two players under the age of 21 in the last 30 seasons have scored more goals through their first 44 career games.
“A guy like Brock, you don’t have to teach him much,” Vanek said. “He’s a sponge and a quick learner. I remember when I first started. I had great leaders in Chris Drury and Mike Grier [Buffalo]. Playing in the NHL was a dream and once I got there, I wanted to improve. I wanted to see what other guys did — like Chris becoming a Stanley Cup champion [Colorado] — and what it takes and that helped me a lot.”
What’s helping Boeser is adding another dimension to his well-rounded game. In the opening minutes of Thursday’s 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, Boeser drove hard down the right wall, then stopped quickly, spun and fed a back pass to Ben Hutton in the high slot. The defenceman then spotted an open Vanek and it took an acrobatic Anton Forsberg paddle save to stop the sequence. Boeser then showed positional smarts by getting to the far post in the second period and put a Sam Gagner feed off the post. And he was almost too pass-happy before starting the sequence on the club’s second goal before initiating the third.
Boeser would add a goal and finish with the second four-point night of his young career.
“It’s only going to get harder for him,” said Vanek, 33. “People are going to slowly figure out that he’s a good player and shade him a little bit more.”