When Ottawa Senators prospect Tyler Boucher arrived at rookie camp in September, he felt great, brimming with optimism about the 2024-25 hockey season. He’d just had a big summer in the gym, introducing Pilates to his fitness regimen, and felt like his long list of injuries was finally behind him.
Unfortunately, as Belleville Senators head coach David Bell reported on Tuesday, Boucher suffered a leg injury last Friday night in a game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
“You know what? It’s so, so disappointing because Tyler’s injuries in the past were freaky ones where you don’t even really know where it happened,” Bell told TSN 1200 radio. “Or the tight muscle that was pulled, and you’re like, ‘Geez, I wonder what’s going on with this guy?’ This one would have happened to anybody. (Boucher) got tangled up with two guys, and one guy fell over top of his leg as he was falling down.”
Boucher was Ottawa’s 10th overall selection at the 2021 NHL Draft. While most analysts thought that was too early, everyone felt he was a good prospect, often described that year as maybe the most physical forward in the draft. Unfortunately, as most fans are painfully aware, his development as an NHL prospect has been stunted by repeated injuries.
So all anyone wanted for Boucher this season was to steer clear of injuries and get his young hockey career back on track. With four points in his previous six games, there was reason to think things were starting to come around.
“He was starting to come on,” Bell said. “The slow start (one point in the first 21 games) wasn’t bothering us as an organization because we were trying to accomplish other things with Tyler, not just his points. But then he started to get some points. He was playing with confidence, and then a little step back here.”
“So he’s going to be out for a while. Another injury, but it was super unfortunate. There was nothing he could do about it. It was literally an accident. So, I’m super disappointed for him, but Tyler knows how to persevere, and he knows how to rehab better than anybody. So he’s going to get on that table and work his way back into the games.”
That’s all he can do at this stage. The good news is that Boucher seems to have a coach who’s in his corner, sounding confident that his work ethic will see him bounce back yet again.
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