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Two Canucks Prospects Get AHL All-Star Recognition: Reid Boucher & Brogan Rafferty

Reid Boucher and Brogan Rafferty names AHL All-Stars

Yesterday, on May 20, the American Hockey League (AHL) announced its first and second all-star units. Two Vancouver Canucks prospects made those All-Star teams. One was the prolific Utica Comets left-winger Reid Boucher, who was selected to the AHL First All-Star Team. As well, Comets defenseman Brogan Rafferty was selected to the AHL Second All-Star Team.

The teams were selected by the triad of AHL coaches, players, and media in each of the AHL’s 31 member cities.

Related: Tyson Barrie Comments on His Plans After This Season

Reid Boucher, Left-Winger

In 53 games this season, Boucher scored at more than a point-a-game pace with 34 goals and 33 assists for 67 points. He also had seven game-winning goals as part of that scoring. The 26-year-old winger has been one of the AHL’s most prolific scorers over the past several seasons, which makes it interesting why the Vancouver Canucks don’t call him up to play on the big team’s roster. He didn’t see the Vancouver ice this season at all. Interesting.

However, his game is strong at the AHL level. He finished second in AHL scoring and had the highest scoring average in the league at 1.26 points per game. He’s almost always on the score sheet – putting together the best consecutive games scoring at 16 and only going two games in a row without a point only twice during the entire season. The 67 points, 34 goals, and 33 assists are all his career highs.

Boucher was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the 4th round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and had a decent 2015-16 season with the Devils (he scored eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points in 39 games). He came to the Canucks when they claimed him off waivers in January 2017.

Brogan Rafferty, Defenseman

Second team All-Star Brogan Rafferty had a great 2019-20 season with the Comets. He was third among all AHL defensemen with 45 points in 57 games. Of those 45 points, he counted 38 assists, which placed him first among all league rookies.

The 24-year-old was also a positive on-ice factor and registered a plus-17 rating. He was strong on the power play, as well. Of his 45 points, 20 came with the man advantage.

Interestingly, Rafferty was also voted onto the 2019-20 AHL All-Rookie Team. However, even more interesting to me is that he (like Boucher) was signed as a free agent on April 1, 2019. That’s like a gift.

Call me biased, but I like that Rafferty played three seasons of NCAA hockey with Quinnipiac University and scored 65 points in 116 games during his time there. I like smart players. His offense is improving as he ages. That’s a good sign for the Canucks.

Related: Remembering Ryan Miller’s Career with the Vancouver Canucks

The Physical Award Itself

All members of the AHL’s All-Star Teams will receive a custom-designed crystal award in recognition of their selections to the 2019-20 AHL First and Second All-Star Teams.

They will also join a powerful group of great players such as Cory Schneider (named an All-Star in 2009), P.K. Subban (2010), Jonathan Bernier (2010), Kyle Palmieri (2012), Ben Bishop (2012), Tyler Johnson (2013), Jonathan Marchessault (2013), Justin Schultz (2013), Sami Vatanen (2013), Gustav Nyquist (2013), Brett Connolly (2013), Jake Allen (2014), Mike Hoffman (2014), Petr Mrazek (2014), Matt Murray (2015, 2016), Jacob Markstrom (2015), Mikko Rantanen (2016), Andreas Johnsson (2018), and Carter Verhaeghe (2019). And that isn’t all of the All-Star players.

Congratulations to both Boucher and Rafferty. And good luck to the Canucks. I would love to see both in a Canucks’ uniform – it would be interesting to see how Boucher fares within the organization.

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