Canucks can bank on Boeser getting better
ANAHEIM, California — Bo knows. On an off-day Tuesday and with roster uncertainty looming in the off-season, Bo Horvat knows there’ll be a constant when Brock Boeser returns to the Vancouver Canucks next fall. The winger’s feet will be on the ground and his head won’t be in the clouds. He will continue to improve. And he’ll continue to score.
“I think it will carry itself over big-time,” predicted Horvat. “He’s not the type of kid who will just go out and think it’s going to happen easy for him every year. I know he’s going to work hard and be even better next year and get to 30, 35 or 40 goals. That’s just the type of kid he is.
“He doesn’t get too high or too low. He obviously has confidence in himself and his game, but nothing seems to faze him.”
Whether the Canucks choose to extend his contract in July or wait with a year left on his deal, there’s an argument to be made for both approaches. General manager Jim Benning could lock up Boeser with a long-term extension in the belief that a guy who contended for the Calder Trophy this season is only going to get better. And that’s going to cost more.
Or, the Canucks could choose to do what they did with Horvat. The restricted free agent didn’t sign his six-year, $33-million US extension until Sept. 8.
The Canucks could do the same and see if Boeser’s amazing 29-goal, 55-point team-leading season in 62 games — it included an eyepopping 16.2 shooting percentage — was an anomaly, because he’s only going to draw more attention. Then again, Boeser isn’t a onedimensional dynamo and his agent could bet on his client pushing the complete-player envelope. And that will cost even more.
“Travis [Green] wanted him to be a goal-scorer, but a goal-scorer who knows how to win,” Horvat said of his linemate. “The biggest thing over the course of the year is he improved immensely in being hard on the back check and hard to play against, and not just completely thinking offence.” What’s all that worth? It’s a short study, but the 21-year-old Boeser is already the club’s best offensive threat. Does that mean Johnny Gaudreau money? The Calgary Flames’ flash signed a six-year, $40.5-million US extension on Oct. 10, 2016, after a 78-point (30-48) season.
David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins inked a six-year, $40-million US extension six days after Horvat’s deal. The winger was coming off a 70-point season (34-36), so there’s something to be said for a standard set for young, premier players hitting that point plateau.
The Canucks could rightfully say Boeser isn’t there yet or bank on the fact that he will be a 70-point producer next season.
“To be perfectly honest, we haven’t gotten to that yet — we wanted to see where he finished up,” said Benning. “We’ve talked about it [extension], but we haven’t honed in on it yet. We wanted him to finish the year and then strategize on how to handle it.”
Boeser’s agent, Ben Hankinson, said Tuesday that his client is “fine either way” whether an extension gets done this summer or during next season, which is what you expect from the mature winger.
And if Boeser is going to get lumped into comparables, consider this: Could he have surpassed Pavel Bure’s rookie franchise record of 34 goals had he played the final 20 games? Probably. He maxed out all his bonuses for $850,000 US and if he went at a point-per-game clip, he would have finished with 75 points.
The Canucks have also lost four straight since Boeser was injured March 5. Their power play has gone from productive to popgun, and slipped from sixth to 10th and hasn’t clicked on seven chances in Boeser’s absence.
“Brock is a shooting threat that guys have to respect,” Horvat said of the winger’s 10 power-play goals that still lead all rookies. “Missing him on that half [wall], we don’t have that element to our power play.”