Boeser at peace, enjoying hockey again with Canucks

VANCOUVER -- Brock Boeser has made his peace with hockey, and as a result he is back to excelling for the Vancouver Canucks.

But that admittedly wasn't an easy process for the 26-year-old forward, who had to spend a lot of time away from his family as his father, Duke, battled numerous health problems before dying on May 27, 2022.

“It was just really tough the last few years. I wasn't home much other than in the summer, so I think I resented the game for a bit,” Boeser told NHL.com. “Hockey wasn't fun, and I think I just had to really realize what our dream was when I was a kid, and that was to play in the NHL. It's not hockey's fault that it got in the way.”

That realization has brought with it a return to form for Boeser.

He is currently tied for third in the NHL with 13 goals in 20 games, putting him on pace for 53, which would easily surpass his NHL career high of 29 that he set as a rookie in 2017-18. It would also be roughly triple the amount he scored in 74 games last season (18).

Boeser is also tied for 15th in the NHL in points (22) and has a plus-8 rating (he was minus-20 last season), and perhaps most impressively, he is doing it while playing on a line with J.T. Miller and Phillip Di Giuseppe that has been frequently matched up against the opposition’s top line this season.

It's not a role Boeser could have envisioned earlier in his career.

“I don't know if I would have believed you, but I take a lot of pride in that,” Boeser said. “I'm really motivated when our line is playing against top lines to try to shut them down and be better than them.”

Boeser credits Rick Tocchet, who was hired as Canucks coach on Jan. 22, for adding those defensive responsibilities, a role that began shortly after the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, prior to which Boeser had been the subject of constant rumors.

“Playing under [Tocchet] and being in that role at the end of the year, I started to find that drive and felt really good as a hockey player again,” Boeser said. “In that time, I started feeling more like myself again, and that's when it switched.”

What “switched” included wanting to stay in Vancouver, something Boeser stressed in his meetings to coaches, management and the media after last season, when his agent was reportedly given permission to help facilitate a trade.

“He's at peace with his mind and even with the way he plays the game, the way he practices,” Tocchet said. “His hockey IQ, for me, is really something I didn't know he had at that level. He's a really smart guy, but the personal stuff from the last eight months, to me he's such an outgoing guy now and he's having fun.”

That wasn't an simple adjustment, though.

Boeser talked about seeking help to learn how to manage his grief after losing his dad, who battled Parkinson’s disease, cancer, and dementia. But it was a process that was delayed -- as it is for so many who go through it -- by Boeser trying to keep himself busy, “distracted,” he said, for six months until, “all of a sudden, boom, it hits.”

“For him to prevail through some really hard times in his life, I'm just really proud of him,” Miller said. “He's worked hard at it, worked hard at it mentally, trying to get through the hard times, and then it's just nice to see him playing at a high level again and working hard and really trying to elevate his game. To be honest, I think this is by far the best he's played as a Canuck.”

And he's doing it by evolving his game.

Aside from his defensive responsibilities, Boeser has been spending more time down low on the power play, either in the bumper spot or in front of the net, where he's become adept at forcing goalies to move just as a shot is being taken. It's a noticeable shift from his early seasons in the NHL, when he was known primarily as a shooting threat from the left side.

“Couldn't get him to screen a goalie for his life four years ago, and now he loves playing down there in the middle because he knows that's a big part of the power play,” Miller said. “He's very invested.”

Six of Boeser's 13 goals this season have come on the power play, but only two from that shot he was so known for coming into the League six years ago. One went in off his skate from the bumper position, one came off a rebound in front, and two were backdoor tap ins after he slid to the open post.

“If you watch him play now, he's everywhere,” Tocchet said.

That includes defending late leads, which has led to two empty-net goals.

“I want to be one of those guys that they can trust at the end of games,” Boeser said. “Hockey is more enjoyable now that we're understanding the way we need to play to win games in this League and playing the right way each night.”

For close to a year, Boeser struggled to feel that way about hockey.

It’s no coincidence that success has returned now that he does.