Since the Vancouver Canucks began training camp, it’s seemed like Brock Boeser has been rounding out his game in real time. In Wednesday’s 8-1 drubbing of the Calgary Flames, he showed the kind of 200-foot player he can be.

Boeser notched a goal and an assist in the Canucks’ preseason win, but his play without the puck shone just as brightly. He was quick on the puck, made strong plays along the boards, and found ways to contribute beyond just his scoring prowess in his nearly 20 minutes of ice time.

“I thought we worked really hard tonight,” Boeser said to reporters after the game. “We had a good game plan going into it, and we talked about our effort level and reloading hard and being aggressive, and I thought we did that well tonight.”

Boeser factored in all over the scoresheet on Wednesday. He opened the scoring, taking a long pass from Quinn Hughes for a breakaway, with newfound speed and a wrist shot over Ivan Prosvetov’s glove that made it look effortless.

And in the third period, he led the rush and set up Hughes himself for the kind of high-octane goal the Canucks struggled to score last season. It was exactly the kind of play his new head coach wants to be a staple of the team’s offence this year.

Winning 8-1 in a preseason game doesn’t mean a whole lot in regards to the season ahead, and Boeser’s aware of that. But that doesn’t mean there was nothing he and his teammates could take away from the win.

“It should give us a lot of confidence,” Boeser said “I think it shows that when we put [in] the effort and determination, I think it really shows what we can do and the chances we can create out there. So I think it was a step in the right direction and we’ve got to build off it now.”

The Canucks’ special teams especially soared against the Flames, and Boeser had a hand in the success of both units. On their first power play, he was parked one of the decoys parked in the middle of the ice when Elias Pettersson wired the puck past Prosvetov.

Boeser received a lot of praise for his IQ from the coaching staff during training camp, with Foote even mentioning that he could make a good penalty killer. That comment stuck out for a player who’s rarely been given major defensive responsibilities in years past. And yet on Wednesday, there Boeser was, logging over three minutes of ice time on a PK unit that stymied the Flames completely in six attempts.

“On the power play, I think we were getting in [the offensive zone] pretty good and we were snapping it around and moving the puck quick,” Boeser said. “I think that’s key and then getting pucks to the net. So I think that’s a positive and something to build on.”

“Then the PK, I think we’re staying aggressive. We’re staying in our structuring systems and working together and communicating. So it worked well tonight, but we’ve got to keep it going.”

If Boeser can keep his own strong play going into the regular season, he could be on the verge of a breakout year no one expected.