Boeser on mend, focused on improving his shot
Canucks winger relieved after recovery from lower back fracture in March
Talking to Brock Boeser, three words matter.
“Dude, Clutterbuck, really?” Boeser can’t help but laugh. Thank Christmas he can. He’s fine, and already talking about plans to improve his shot (!) this summer.
But that doesn’t mean there weren’t harrowing moments after he, out of nowhere, chose to line up Cal Clutterbuck of the New York Islanders for an awkward hit that left him with a fracture in his lower back.
Vancouver has spent years pining for an elite goal scorer, yearning for a winger whose shot would threaten from anywhere. Hockey fans had the dream realized when Boeser arrived in Vancouver like the Kool-Aid Man.
Instead of waving a pitcher with a belly full of sugar water, Boeser brought the goals. Those goals brought the house down in a twomonth stretch of the season when no one in the NHL scored more.
Vancouver finally had someone in the Calder Trophy race for rookie of the year, someone special. Taking nothing away from his effort, few wanted to see this special player go low on Clutterbuck in a mean-very-little regular-season game on March 5.
What exactly was he thinking ? Clutterbuck has averaged about 250 hits a season in his career. He is built like a stack of skids and when you hit him, he hits back like a 215-pound boulder rolling downhill.
“I realized who it was probably a second before the hit,” said Boeser, who deflected off of Clutterbuck and into the opened players’ bench door. “People do ask me that. ‘ Why are you trying to hit one of the best hitters in the league?’”
He laughs again.
“I knew those questions were coming when I started looking back at it,” said Boeser, who also questioned his technique on the play.
“I don’t think I timed it the greatest. I wasn’t going into that hit expecting to kill him,” he said. “I don’t think I saw him see me, and he did. I don’t think I was ready for the reverse hit.”
Believe me, no one in Vancouver was ready for it.
The hit ended Boeser’s season and any chance of winning the Calder, though he was still among my top three finalists when I voted. He had that kind of impact. Boeser has watched the replay, a lot. By now, you’ve heard just how frightening it was. With pain shooting up and down his left leg, Boeser was taken to hospital where he spent many “nerve-racking” hours fearing the possibility of lingering impact on his hockey career.
Boosting his spirits that night were teammates Chris Tanev, Michael Del Zotto and Troy Stecher who stayed by his bedside.
“It was so cool to see them,” Boeser said. “It shows what kind of guys they are. Me being the younger guy in the hospital and those guys spending hours with me. It really helped me a lot.”
But if you think Boeser was worried, try being his mom.
“My mom was freaking out,” Boeser said. “She was watching the game and had no idea what was going on. Once I got my phone, I had 10 messages from her. You have to expect them from your mom.”
By then, the good news was known. Boeser had a transverse process fracture in his lower back and a full recovery was expected in four-to-six weeks. Hallelujah, indeed.
The back was Boeser’s second significant injury of the season. In early February, he damaged the same wrist he had surgery on a year ago in a collision with Tampa’s Dan Girardi.
He had the wrist examined by his surgeon this week and a platelet rich plasma injection Thursday that will be followed by four weeks’ worth of rest and healing.
Including that game and the 11 he played after, Boeser’s shooting percentage dipped from 18 per cent to 11 per cent.
There were games it felt better than others, notably a six-shot, two-goal performance on Feb. 28 against the New York Rangers.
But make no mistake, that injury was impacting his shot and his goal scoring.
“There were times when I’d shoot it, or even just catch a pass, and I’d feel it,” Boeser said. “And there were times when I’d shoot it and I don’t think I was getting all my velocity on it. It made me more hesitant to take a one-timer.
“There were times even in practice when it felt better and other times it felt worse. We were just trying to calm it down. Right around the time of the back injury is when it started feeling better.”
The good news, and there is good news about him today.
“For sure it was going to be back to 100 per cent and I think it will be the best it’s been in a couple of years,” said Boeser, a nod to lingering effects from last year’s surgery.
When it is better, Boeser is already planning to make improvements this summer to a shot that is among the best we’ve seen in Vancouver in recent memory. Of course he is.
“My shot is pretty good but there are little things I’m going to work on, like shooting when I’m moving my feet as a way to catch goalies off guard,” he said.
“My one-timer, too. I really want to bear down on that and improve it.”
So, in summary, it’s possible Boeser’s wrist feels better this fall than it has in two years and with it improvements to his one-timer and scoring goals at speed.
Where can I sign up to see this happen?
There were times when I’d shoot it and I don’t think I was getting all my velocity on it. It made me more hesitant to take a one-timer.