Why is Brock Boeser Not a Superstar?

Brock Boeser is a superstar!

Boeser’s shot is as lethal and powerful as Alex Ovechkin’s; his pinpoint accuracy mimics that of  Steven Stamkos, and when he has the puck, the entire province of British Columbia holds its breath in anticipation of fireworks in much the same way they did for the Russian Rocket all those years ago. Boeser’s fifth in the NHL with 20 goals and if he’s not the current favourite to win the Calder this season, then give it a game or two.

So, why has the NHL buried his relevancy behind around the clock Auston Matthews’ coverage, the World Junior preliminaries, and the greatest jerseys in NHL history? It’s not even an Eastern bias this time. Boeser is just another “good story” in the NHL, it seems.

From the moment it was a foregone conclusion that the Edmonton Oilers were going to draft Connor McDavid, the league revolved around their meeting. No one could be blamed; he’s a “generational talent.” Same could be said for Matthews and his coronation into Toronto Maple Leafs royalty. The Taylor versus Tyler debate, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Stamkos, the list goes on and on and on.

Sure, Boeser wasn’t drafted first overall, and even though he plays for a major Canadian market, the team he represents has been buried at the bottom of the standings, and it’s been a few years since anything newsworthy came out of Vancouver. Sportsbook don’t list the Canucks as a contender. If you are planning to place a bet, make sure to review bodog and shop for valuable odds. 

Boeser has changed that, but only in the local media, it seems. The Flow, as he’s been coined, has already matched fellow young star Bo Horvat’s team-leading 20 goals from a season ago and is 18 points away from Bo’s 52.

It’s December 24th.

How has Brock not received more attention outside of the Vancouver market? He’s as dangerous as any of the league’s top stars though he’s played three fewer games because Canucks head coach Travis Green didn’t feel he was ready to crack the lineup in the first two games of the season. And he wasn’t even put on the top power play unit until Nov 4 against the Penguins and everyone saw what played out there!

Brock not only has transformed the Canucks power play to one of the league’s elite but he’s transformed the entire Canucks franchise to funnel its offence through him. Everyone wondered where all the goals would come from this season and the likely answers would have been Bo Horvat, hopefully, Loui Eriksson, Thomas Vanek, and most likely the Sedins.

There has not been a player this polarizing on the Canucks since maybe Roberto Luongo, but he was a goaltender. The West Coast Express received a bunch of attention but never to the point where they had the puck, and everyone gasped in anticipation. People live and breathe with his every move.

No one outside B.C., though. When will he get his due? Would it take a season-threatening injury?

Remember this?

The season seemed to be over at that point; all was lost. The crown prince going down was the death blow to Canucks nation after a slew of injuries ran roughshod through the team’s lineup. This should have been national sports news. When Connor McDavid went into the boards in his rookie season, you would have thought the NHL would have shut down the league until his eventual return.

There wasn’t a bigger story. This was the NHL and their brightest star at the time was eliminated from every highlight reel, every story, everything. Period.

Oh, almost forgot about this guy going down:

The NHL treats injuries like this on the same level as a lockout. It’s big news.

Boeser’s injury, however, barely registered on the radar. His unbelievable return was a sidenote in gameday stories not based in Vancouver and out of the ashes, Brock rose up and did this:

Would the Canadiens have given Crosby or McDavid that kind of time? I doubt it. No one in their right mind would let Ovechkin set up from there; local talk radio would crucify the coach if they did that. “How could you let (insert NHL superstar here) get so open and alone to take that shot?” and so on.

Exactly.

How does Boeser get that kind of time and space? He’s not even close to being talked about as a superstar, and by season’s end, he could challenge for the Rocket Richard trophy, the Calder and honestly, who knows what else? Look at how he has scored his goals so far; these are goal-scorers goals.

Look through the league, and it’s all about Nikita Kucherov or John Tavares and his impressive start to the year. Brock gets nothing. He has embarrassed numerous goalies this season; he “lucked out” with a hat-trick on Matt Murray of the Pittsburgh Penguins, shot sticks out of player’s hands and felled opponents with his wrist shot.

His name falls on deaf ears, and it needs to stop. The NHL needs to wake up and anoint a new star to its collective. The stats speak for themselves and if you happen to watch the Canucks highlights, and those in itself usually aren’t that long, they involve Boeser and the next amazing thing he has done. He is doing elite, ridiculous, superstar things and the only thing that translates afterward is his stats have increased on his player page.

Honestly, this is the biggest story not being told. Remove the logo from the front of his jersey and look at the immensely talented player that he already is. When Pavel Bure came to the NHL, it took one day. The rest was history.

Heaven forbid Boeser made his way to the Leafs or the Bruins, we’d never hear the end of it. As a Canuck, we haven’t even heard the start of it. When does that begin?

Apparently, this trend will continue.