WAIT & SEE
Brock Boeser is in no hurry to sign a new deal with the Canucks — but when he does, expect big bucks
To hear Brock Boeser tell it, the contract can wait.
Maybe it should read “The Contract” — it will be that big and that important.
Life moves fast in the NHL. Nine months ago there was speculation Boeser would spend a significant portion of this past season in the minor leagues.
Now, he’s the Canucks’ biggest difference-maker and after next year is going to be paid like it.
How much is yet to be determined, but in October the Winnipeg Jets extended Nikolaj Ehlers with a seven-year, $42-million deal following a 64-point season in which he had 25 goals.
If you’re thinking money like that has Boeser anxious to secure his slice this summer, you’d be wrong.
“I’m not in any rush,” Boeser said. “There are both pros and cons to signing before next season. I’m not in a hurry. I’ll wait and see what they want to do.”
Boeser has a year remaining on his entry-level contract but after July 1 is in position to sign an extension. But, as he said, there are ups and downs for both sides.
When the Canucks suggested they were angling toward securing a new deal with Boeser this off-season, there was some criticism. Why not wait to see if the rookie can do it again?
And what he just did was put together a breakout season the likes of which we haven’t seen from a Canucks’ rookie since Pavel Bure. Boeser scored 29 goals, and had 26 assists for 55 points which led the team even though he missed 20 games.
Many players would want to cash in after a season like that. He doesn’t — and the Canucks seem to already know it.
“We might take a look at it this summer,” Vancouver GM Jim Benning said. “He came in and had a real good first year.
“I’ll give his agent a call but they probably want to wait and see what happens with the contracts that are signed and what he does next year and what it looks like for him then.”
Players like Boeser don’t usually get bridge deals. His next contract is setting up to be massive in both total dollars and term.
There are lots of reasons why waiting makes sense from his perspective before negotiating this extension.
Start with the fact he missed 20 games. His point pace for 82 games in his rookie season was 73.
Points are a significant part of negotiations and establish which contracts are comparable.
In September, Boston winger David Pastrnak signed a six-year, $40 million contract with a $6.67 million a year average after a 70-point season.
Also consider Boeser’s goal scoring rocketed to another level after Bo Horvat broke a bone in his foot on Dec. 5. In the 10 games that followed, Boeser scored eight goals. When asked what changed, the first thing he said was ice time.
That run of goals was the central part of a two-month stretch in which Boeser led the entire NHL in scoring.
In October, he averaged 15:21 minutes a game. In November, that went to 16:43. In December he was at 17:28. And then he really started being deployed like a first-line winger. In his final 16 games, leading up to the broken bone in his back that ended his season, Boeser averaged 18:46 a game.
That’s roughly the type of playing time he’s going to start with this fall when his sophomore season begins.
There’s also his wrist injury in Tampa in early February.
In the 13 games that followed, he lost some velocity and confidence in his shot, which remains his greatest attribute. His shooting percentage, which was at 17 per cent before the injury, dipped to 12.5 per cent.
He’s on a rehab plan this summer that will get his wrist feeling better than it has in two years, he said.
There is also his role on the power play. In the Canucks’ first 14 games, he was on the second unit and playing the bumper spot in the high slot. The deployment failed to take advantage of his dangerous shot.
The Canucks moved Boeser to the first power-play unit in mid-November as the left-side, right-shot triggerman in what became known as “The Spot.”
In his next 36 games, he scored nine power-play goals that led the NHL. What can he do if he plays an entire season in that spot?
Ask that question in the Canucks’ boardroom and you can begin to understand why they may want to get him signed before next season starts.
“If they do come to us this summer, I’m open to looking at it to see where they’re at,” Boeser said.
The reason many think the Canucks should wait is because there is a possibility Boeser regresses.
He ended the season with a 16.2-per-cent shooting percentage that is historically a difficult number to sustain over the course of several seasons.
Last year, it ranked him 24th in the NHL, tied with Michael Grabner. There’s also the fact the Canucks aren’t a great offensive team and he won’t have the Sedins to play with on the power play.
But even if his shooting percentage dips a bit, he can more than make up for it with the increased ice time both at even strength and on the power play.
Will it be enough for him to get to 70 points? Don’t bet against it.