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The New Jersey Devils tested their luck prior to the season by sending Scott Wedgewood down and hoping the talented, young netminder would clear waivers.
The Devils got lucky in that instance as, despite his numbers trending upwards in a big way, nobody was willing to take a shot on him.
Fast forward a couple months and the Devils waived another talented, young player in Reid Boucher hoping that he'd clear and be assigned to Albany.
They weren't so lucky this time around, though, as Boucher was scooped up by the Nashville Predators.
While the Devils don't necessarily need Boucher -- they finally have some scoring depth and youth in their lineup -- it is tough to see him go because I don't feel he was ever really given a fair chance.
For years Boucher was absolutely dominant playing in a scoring role for Albany. Obviously scoring in the NHL is a lot tougher, but I don't feel he was put in a position to succeed with any sort of regularity.
Take earlier this season, for example. Blake Speers made the team out of camp and was given a few looks in the top-6. He struggled, was scratched and yet when he returned to the lineup he was still given another chance in the top-6 (before eventually being demoted to 4th line duties).
When Boucher got into the lineup he was put in bottom-6 roles. When he didn't succeed he'd be scratched, and when inserted into the lineup he'd be right back on the 4th line. He didn't get full games alongside Travis Zajac and Taylor Hall. He didn't get full games alongside P.A. Parenteau, Mike Cammalleri, Adam Henrique, and Kyle Palmieri. He didn't get consistent power play time. He didn't get a real chance to succeed, in my opinion.
In the latter half of last season, the only time Boucher was given middle-6 minutes on a nightly basis, he showed he was capable of bringing some offense to the table by putting up a respectable 19 points and 74 shots in 39 games. That averages out to be 40 points and 155 shots over 82 games.
Those are solid numbers for a 22-year-old player and are totals that show he is an NHL player.
His skating isn't great and he's not a possession driver so he'll probably never be anything special. If given consistent minutes, though, he can score goals and put up some points to help take some of the load off the big guns. There is value in that.
I don't think this is going to be a devastating loss to the Devils by any means. In saying that, I think he had more to give and the Devils never really gave him the chance to show it.
I hope he gets that chance in Nashville.
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