Winger Reid Boucher, a restricted free-agent, signed a one-year contract with Vancouver tonight, avoiding the arbitration process. Boucher was scheduled to have his hearing on August 1st, but instead was able to hammer out a deal with Canucks management. The contract is worth a reported $687,5000, as Stephen Whyno of AP broke the news. This is definitely a “prove-it” sort of deal, and Boucher will need to carve out his own playing time through consistent effort.
Boucher swapped teams twice in 2016-17, moving from New Jersey to Nashville before settling in British Columbia. Boucher had his possession numbers improve under his tenure with Vancouver, playing 27 games for a relative Corsi For % of -0.6. Contrasted with his performance in New Jersey up to that point, he had seemingly started to find a groove. Boucher did find a bit of offensive production as well, scoring 6 goals and 4 points on the year in only 39 total games. At 23 years old, Boucher still has the potential to progress as a player. He is a bit undersized at a mere 5’10, but has shown flashes of being a cheap goal-scoring contributor. He’ll need to continue to clean up his two-way game in order to truly cement himself on an NHL roster.
With this contract signed, GM Jim Benning will now turn his attention to fellow RFA Bo Horvat and Brendan Gaunce. Gaunce is also a marginal piece, but Horvat will be a core player for many years. Locking him up on a longer deal at a reasonable hit now becomes Benning’s clear number one priority.