Vancouver Canucks Should Re-Sign F Reid Boucher for 2016-17

The Vancouver Canucks plucked Reid Boucher off waivers, and he could prove to be a great bargain if they re-sign him for next season.

This is the beginning of the end for the 2016-17 Vancouver Canucks season. With 13 games to go, the team is 12 points out of a playoff spot.

Injuries to key players are starting to pile up as well. Chris Tanev recovered from the mumps only to go down with food poisoning. Loui Eriksson is out with a leg injury, and Brandon Sutter is playing through a wrist injury and may soon be shut down. If so, he’ll join Derek Dorsett and Erik Gudbranson, who have both gone through surgery and will not likely return this year.

Jack Skille and Jacob Markstrom are also out. That leaves a Canucks forward lineup that is a patchwork of their oldest players (Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin), a few of their emerging young stars (Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund) and lots of borderline players behind them.

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One of those borderline players is Reid Boucher, whom they acquired off waivers back on Jan. 4. The 23-year-old Boucher had already been waived twice this season, as both the New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators tried to send him to the AHL. Instead, he became a Vancouver Canuck, and they paid nothing to get him.

With the playoffs out of reach, Vancouver will soon starting auditioning players for next season. This could very well mean a boost in ice time for Boucher, who is a restricted free agent after this season.

But regardless of how much he plays down the stretch, it should be an easy decision for the Canucks. They should re-sign him without a second thought.

There are two reasons why this is a no-brainer.

What Makes Boucher an Easy Decision

First, it will cost next to nothing. Boucher is earning $715,000 this season, on a one-year deal he signed coming out of his entry-level deal. Based on that salary, the Canucks only need to extend him a qualifying offer of $750,750.

Given that he has only played 26 NHL games this season — for three different teams — there’s no room for him to negotiate the price any higher. While Boucher does have arbitration rights, it’s unlikely he or his agent will see any point in going down that road.

So, not only did Jim Benning acquire Boucher for free, but he’ll be able to sign him to a one-year deal for well under a million dollars.

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Second, Boucher looks like he has plenty of offensive upside. He scored 50 points in 67 games as a 17-year-old with the Sarnia Sting. Last season, he scored 32 points in 34 games with the AHL’s Albany Devils. He has a track record of scoring points at previous levels.

And while he has yet to establish that he can score regularly at the NHL level, he has shown some tantalizing flashes. He has scored two goals since joining the Canucks. On the first, he steals the puck, takes it to the net himself and roofs a slick backhander:

For his second goal, he parked himself in front of the net with his stick on the ice. All Bo Horvat had to do was find him with a pass, and Boucher did the rest:

Boucher has only been given limited minutes by all three of his NHL teams. If he gets a real shot in a scoring role, there’s a good chance he becomes a good depth player for Vancouver.

Yesterday, the general manager suggested that Boucher would get that better opportunity in these final few games:

I thought [Monday] night, Reid Boucher, you could see the powerful shot he’s got and the quick release. With more ice time, I think he’ll get more confidence and will show us the things he’s capable of doing.

At a $750,000 salary, Boucher wouldn’t have to be capable of much to become a steal for the Canucks’ general manager.

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Re-signing Boucher carries very little risk, given how inexpensive he will be. And there’s a chance the Vancouver Canucks could make the Predators and Devils look pretty foolish for giving up on Boucher too soon.

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