Feeding My Delusions: Talking Brock Boeser
Written By: By SensBuzz
With trade talks surrounding the Vancouver Canucks, Brock Boeser naturally becomes the player best fitting the Senators’ prototypical desirable Forward.
After 40 Goals on 200 Shots in the 2023-24 season, his numbers seem to be coming back down to earth this year. With it being a contract year, and no extension in place, and the trade deadline looming, Boeser has once again found his name in the rumour mill.
While the soon-to-be 28-year-old forward's seeming “regression” is something to be wary of, I have examined his time on ice and advanced stats on the power play for both this year and last year. It is clear to me that Boeser has seen a role and time reduction, which has parlayed into the subsequent production reduction. Let me break it down.
In the previous campaign, Boeser played 300 minutes on the power play in 80 Games for the Canucks, while registering 78 Shots on Goal, and generating 17.16 individual Expected Goals, seventh in the entire NHL last year, right behind Ottawa Senators Captain Brady Tkachuk who had a 17.19! Fast forward to this year, Boeser has played 40 Games for the Canucks, has played 130 minutes, and has only 18 Shots which has resulted in an individual Expected Goals tally of 4.15, though he’s scored five powerplay goals on the season. Therefore, the math suggests giving him the time and role to see how far he goes.
In terms of fit with the Ottawa Senators, let me get the obvious joke out of the way; Brock Boeser is indeed a University of North Dakota LEGEND, just like many current Ottawa Senators, a group highlighted by Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson. However, there was no crossover between him and any of our no Dakota Sens legends he’s currently playing with the most remote connection in Vancouver as he and former Ottawa Senators defenceman Christian Wolanin crossed paths in 2016-17. But, the fit with the Sens is clear, he’s an offensive right Shot winger with a knack for scoring goals. However, I question our ability to sign him long-term, and the ramifications for the right-wing pay structure. Now that I’m thinking about it, what do you do with Batherson and Giroux? Do you need a Boeser just for the power play this season, or do you exercise patience and wait for Carter Yakemchuk to take the reigns next year and grow into that role?
What do the Senators give up? I don’t get paid to make that decision, I’m not going to advocate for anyone to get traded, and frankly, I’m just a kid with a dream. Realistically, to make the money work, you’re looking at a Josh Norris, one of Zub or Jensen, or one of Pinto or Greig plus some minor assets. Just for it to make sense for Vancouver, and money-wise. This is a worst-case scenario, he’s out of contract with everything all quiet on the extension front but the money has got to work. I’d rather over-value than under-value so I could make myself in retrospect when we didn’t give up much at all for Boeser.
My final thoughts on this matter: is Brock Boeser sufficient to take you from pretender to contender? Is the move worthwhile if you catch the sense early on that he’s leaning toward testing the free-agent waters? In my opinion, any of the Forwards rumoured to be on the out of Vancouver is that they’re highly paid, highly regarded, and highly coveted, and it is super rare for firesales of players of this calibre to become available. If you can make the Ottawa Senators better without sacrificing your firstborn child, you say gosh darn it, deal me in at the big boy table. Take a page out of Colorado’s book and make some sacrifices (easier said than done when you’ve won a cup this century).
