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‘My confidence has been pretty low’: Canucks’ Boeser discusses scoring struggles
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Jeff Paterson
Jan 2, 2026, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 2, 2026, 02:31 EST
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These are not the best of times for Brock Boeser. That pretty much goes without saying. His Vancouver Canucks are wallowing near the bottom of the National Hockey League standings. His good friend and long-time teammate Quinn Hughes was recently dealt away. And, on top of that, Boeser is mired in one of the worst scoring slumps of his career.
Other than that, though, everything is great.
A 40-goal scorer just two seasons ago, Boeser has now gone 14 games without a goal. But the struggles go much deeper than that. The veteran winger has just one assist in that time and has gone nine games now without a point. He hasn’t picked up a power play point since a 6-2 win in Tampa Bay on November 16th.
“It’s been tough – my confidence has been pretty low,” Boeser admitted after a New Year’s Day practice at Rogers Arena. “We talk about these slumps and the only way out of it is hard work and trusting the process.”
To that end, Boeser was one of the first skaters on the ice on Thursday morning, putting in 20 minutes of skills work prior to practice with Jake DeBrusk, Aatu Räty and P-O Joseph. It’s not rare to see players on the ice ahead of practice, but it’s usually young guys who see limited ice time and are seeking more puck touches.
In this case, though, Boeser knows he needs to do whatever is necessary to regain his scoring touch. 
“I feel like I’ve still had a lot of chances, I just haven’t put the puck in the net,” he says of a drought that stretches back to November 28th in San Jose – his lone goal in the past 21 games. “That’s on me. I have to find ways to bear down and find a way to put the puck in the net. It’s definitely been hard to stay positive, but it comes down to the work. And I think when you put the work in, you’ll get bounces.”
At practice on Thursday, Boeser skated on a line with Evander Kane and Max Sasson. His most frequent centres this season at 5-on-5 have been David Kämpf (114:31), followed by Elias Pettersson (98:10) and Lukas Reichel (94:48). 
Boeser admitted that a lingering midsection issue before Christmas had hampered his play and forced him to miss a couple of practices to conserve his energy for games. But the 28-year-old says that with the brief holiday break to rest, he’s feeling better and says that is no longer a problem.
What is a problem is Boeser’s shot volume. A goal-scorer throughout his career, the Burnsville, MN, native has always been a high-volume shooter. But he failed to register a single shot on goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in his last outing on Tuesday night. He has just five shots over his last five games. And over his 14-game drought, he’s managed just 23 pucks on net.
He knows that’s not enough.
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “When I score goals, I have a high volume of shots. I know I did look at that. Not enough shots lately and there have been times where in the past few games I could have put the puck at the net and I passed instead. I think I have to have a more shooting mentality and it definitely starts with the volume of shots.”
As recently as November 3rd against the Nashville Predators, Boeser scored twice, including the overtime winner and had six shots on net. That capped a six-goal in 12 games start to the season. Boeser added two more goals in the four games that followed, and with eight goals through 16 games, was on a 40-goal pace. And since then, his offence has essentially fallen off a cliff.
Boeser watched as another veteran winger, Jake DeBrusk, sat out earlier this week as a healthy scratch in Seattle. It was clearly a message from the coaching staff to DeBrusk individually, but Boeser knows there was greater meaning in the message, too.
“It’s a message that you can’t be complacent, it doesn’t matter who you are, you have to bring it every night,” he said. “We have a lot of young guys and we’re trying to build something here. You have to show up each and every night, ready to work and ready to commit to the style of play that we want to play.”
Whether Boeser is in line for the healthy scratch treatment remains to be seen, although injuries to top six forwards Conor Garland and Marco Rossi likely spare him the indignity of a night in the press box for now. But head coach Adam Foote was pleased to see Boeser putting in work before practice, trying to fight his way out of the funk he’s in.
“He wants to score goals,” Foote said. “Shooters go shoot and they do the work and he wants to get more reps. It’s a discussion we’ve had a group and he’s on board. He missed some practices with the injury and it’s just reps, reps, reps.”
Boeser’s next chance to bump his slump comes Friday at home against the Seattle Kraken. He’s hoping he’s left his scoring struggles behind and that flipping the calendar to a new year will get his season going in a new direction.
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