Player Spotlight - Joey Boucher [1/2]

[Erik Summers 451]

Player Spotlight - Joey Boucher

 

The Season 67 playoffs left many of us wondering, what happened to Toronto? The Legion dominated the regular season with 53 wins, 113 points, and a ridiculous goal differential of 84 (59 goals higher than the next closest team), only to be knocked out of the post-season in only 5 games and outscored by three goals by the Wolves. So what happened to Toronto? Joey Boucher happened.

 

 

If you asked me to name one played that I wanted on my team in the regular season, I would say Joey Boucher. This undersized Right Winger is exactly what you want to see in a hockey player. A gritty, hard hitting, forward with production at both ends of the ice. His 14.08% shooting percentage on 30 goals sets him in a league of his own when it comes to forwards in the VHL with a sniper shot. For the first time in his career, Joey has hit the 1 Point Per Game mark. Granted, it was hard to have a bad goal differential on Toronto this year, but a +22 also makes an impressive performance from the 4th year skater. It is also notable that Boucher doubled his career hits total this season with a walloping 192 hits. In Season 66, Joey put up very impressive stats for a player that didn't even make the playoffs. For 72 games a year, Boucher looks like a God-Tier winger in the best years of his career. But this begs the question, why, in the prime of his career, does none of this translate to the post season?

 

In their series against the Wolves, Boucher scored just once on 13 shots, cutting his shooting percentage in half from what it had been in the regular season. With Toronto's inability to but together much of an offense in this series, Bouchers career +/- in the playoff is an uninspiring -4. He also played a much less physical game than he is used to, averaging just 4.2 hits per game. Perhaps there was an undisclosed injury that was plaguing our hero? The team certainly didn't hint at the possibility, but it is hard to look at that stat line and assume that Joey was feeling 100%.

 

This is the same story we saw in Season 65. Joey Boucher Had an impressive 63 points in his first season with the Legion, but as soon as the playoffs rolled around, he came up short of leading his team to victory.

 

So what's the problem? Is it all in his head? The post-seasons jitters messing with his nerves? Is he paying for some dark contract with the demonic entity that granted him his other-worldly regular season performance? We may never know, Joey Boucher isn't getting any younger, and Toronto is going to have a hard time maintaining the regular season success they saw in Season 67. Hopefully, Joey will be able to transition into his veteran role with ease as Toronto tries to bring together a younger core of players around him in the coming years. It is hard to tell the future, especially in a league as highly competitive as ours, but perhaps Season 68 will answer the question once an for all. "Is there a Joey Boucher Curse?"

 

 

 

@joeyboucher1 (I love you, don't kill me)

Edited September 4, 2019 by Erik Summers

[Cxsquared 455]

Review: Amazing work. It's clear you put in a lot of effort looking into stats. Your analysis is great and it's really interesting to see how a player can go from having a great season to choking in the playoffs. I don't really think there's anything here that can be improved. Keep up the good work.