Canucks: 3 takeaways from Brock Boeser’s 2019-20 season
Brock Boeser had an off-year scoring goals, but the Vancouver Canucks know he’s still an NHL sniper. Here are three takeaways from his 2019-20 year.
As the wait for playoff hockey continues, The Canuck Way has been reviewing the Vancouver Canucks‘ 2019-20 regular season in its entirety and revealing three of the biggest takeaways for each and every main roster player.
To this point, I’ve had the opportunity to review the season had by Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat, and Jacob Markstrom. Today, the microscope lands on Vancouver’s top sniper, the pure goal-scorer Brock Boeser.
It was another very promising campaign that was halted by injuries yet again. But still, with the time he had, his grip at the top only seemed to tighten. The chemistry of the “Lotto Line” gained momentum faster than a wildfire in August, and he was good enough to be a part of one of the best lines in hockey today.
His wrist shot may have taken a bit of a back seat this year behind Pettersson and J.T. Miller, but now with help finishing the play, Boeser got a fair shake at rounding out his two-way game. Here are my three biggest takeaways from Boeser’s season.
He was better than most people think
In his first year of a three-year pact that carries a total of $17.625 million dollars, Boeser played 57 games and scored 45 points (16 goals and 29 assists). Sadly, injuries and a shortened season resulted in Boeser’s failure to reach the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career, but actually this happened to be his best season when you look at it from a Points Per Game perspective.
Canucks fans expect more than just 16 goals a season from a nearly $6 million dollar player don’t get me wrong, but when Boeser wasn’t scoring goals he was making up for it in other areas of his game. When his shot wasn’t quite right, he knew it. But still, he always found a way to contribute and make his teammates better.
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The goals from his stick will return in time, but what Boeser was able to do creatively with the puck stays now. He saw a rise in his assists per game, total assists, and primary assists. He had 1.36 assists/60 minutes at five-on-five action which skyrocketed from his previous best of 0.96. His goals maybe weren’t there on full display, but his production never waivered.
Travis Green needed Boeser to be a different kind of player this year and he succeeded. He shifted his focus away from the shot and became more about team play and possession. Sure, a few more goals would have been the icing on top, but the improvement in his two-way game and playmaking ability will go a much longer way for him as an NHL player overall.
He’ll look like a much more rounded and complete player because of what he was able to accomplish away from shooting the puck this year. It may not have seemed like it, but Boeser took big strides forward this year. All he needs now is a fully healthy season to put it all together. And that leads me into my next big takeaway.