It’s that time of the year for The Win Column’s NHL Draft Rankings and Draft Profiles! The 2024 NHL Draft will be held on June 28 and 29 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
Up next is Sacha Boisvert. Born in Quebec, the centreman took the unconventional path of going to the USHL for his development and is now committed to the NCAA’s University of North Dakota for next season. He had an outstanding draft season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks and is likely to be a first-round pick. Here’s what makes him so interesting.
Who is Sacha Boisvert?
| PLAYER | POSITION | HANDEDNESS | HEIGHT | WEIGHT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sacha Boisvert | C | L | 6’2″ | 179 lbs |
A strong two-way centreman is something teams always need. Boisvert has the size to be an NHLer but will need to fill in his frame still before he’s ready to make the jump.
Boisvert’s on-ice production
| YEAR | DRAFT RELATIVE | LEAGUE | TEAM | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | D-2 | U15 AAA | Mount St. Charles Academy 15U AAA | 56 | 51 | 43 | 94 |
| NEPACK15U | Mount St. Charles Academy 15U AAA | 10 | 6 | 11 | 17 | ||
| 2022–23 | D-1 | USHL | Muskegon Lumberjacks | 57 | 17 | 28 | 45 |
| 2023–24 | D+0 | USHL | Muskegon Lumberjacks | 61 | 36 | 32 | 68 |
Boisvert made the jump over to the US during the 2020–21 season, joining Mout St. Charles Academy for two seasons. In his final season, he finished ninth in the league in scoring and ninth in points per game with 94 in 56 games. Clearly, he was too good for that league.
He was then signed to a tender agreement with Muskegon, where he put up 45 points in 57 games, good for 45th in the league in scoring. He also finished fourth in scoring among U17 skaters, with just Macklin Celebrini, Mac Swanson, and Trevor Connelly finishing ahead of him.
The following season was even better for Boisvert, and he finished with 68 points in 61 games, good for 11th in the league in scoring. His two-way game and penalty killing took a step forward as well, as his team relied on him more heavily to play tougher minutes.
What was particularly impressive with Boisvert was the number of highlight-reel goals he scored this season. He’s a very fun player to watch on the ice, and he’s tough to defend against. There is a ton to like in his game.
Boisvert’s strengths
Elite skill level
Boisvert is an incredibly skilled player who loves to dazzle on the ice. He has so many phenomenal moments of skill with the puck that turn defenders around and allow him to get great looks on net. He’s strong on his feet and uses his impressive reach to get the puck where he wants it to go.
The Canadian forward is one of the top prospects coming out of the USHL this season, and it is his offensive ability that sets him apart. He’s really strong on the wall and is able to utilize his skill to keep the puck in tight areas.
High hockey IQ
He’s also an incredibly bright player, someone who can think one step ahead of the play. Whether that is on the rush or inside the offensive zone, Boisvert is able to read the play at a very high level. He’s definitely more of a goalscorer than a playmaker, but he is able to make very good passes and to set his teammates up to score as well.
Good at both ends of the ice
Young offensive players rarely thrive at both ends of the ice, but Boisvert has taken major strides in his defensive game. Boisvert has really developed a good understanding of where he needs to be in his own zone and how best to utilize his teammates effectively on the breakout.
He’s also not afraid to get into the corners in his own end, able to body other players off the puck and then begin the breakout from there. He does need to work on this as he develops his game, but he has shown major strides in this area and should be able to continue to develop as he ages.
Boisvert’s areas of improvement
Skating
The biggest knock on Boisvert is his skating. He is too straight in his leg when he accelerates, which limits the true explosivity that he could have. This also impacts his ability to move in transition well, not allowing him to lead breakouts as easily as other players, as well as on defence, not allowing him to always be in the right place when an opponent attacks.
His straight-line skating is better once he gets going, but it’s that initial stride that holds him back for now. If he is drafted to a team that has worked with players who have struggled with their skating and he is willing to take the strides (no pun intended) to improve in this area, it should be fixable. He’s probably not going to be the most explosive skater on the ice, but some work would make a major difference.
Faceoffs
For an elite centreman, Boisvert really isn’t great at taking faceoffs. This is an area that he and his coaches have identified that needs work and is something that will likely improve as he continues to age.
There is a very real chance that he moves to being a two-way reliable winger as opposed to a centreman as he develops to the next level, but if he can continue to work on his faceoff-taking, it would put him in a much better position.
Boisvert’s comparables
Boisvert is a big, strong centreman who has a lot of skill with his stick. He’s clearly a leader on the ice and someone that his coaches rely on to elevate in big moments. He and his coaches think he has a lot of similarities to some of the elite centres in the NHL including Anze Kopitar and Evgeni Malkin, but I have some doubts about whether he will reach that height.
He likely translates to being a very good middle-six centreman or winger, who has a lot of skill and can play up and down the lineup as needed. He’s probably better than someone like Shane Pinto but with a similar toolkit.
Fit with the Flames
The Flames are desperately short on centre depth, so adding a larger skilled centreman in Boisvert would make a lot of sense for them. They have been good at working with less-good skaters to make them better in the past, including Matthew Tkachuk, and Boisvert could be a player they target.
Obviously, he is not as good as others in this draft, and would not be a player to target with their first pick, however, if he is still available with their second first-round pick, he may be someone to look at. That being said, there are better players in my eyes that I would target before him,
Risk: 4/5
Reward: 3/5
Projection: Middle-six two-way centre
Check out all of The Win Column’s individual player profiles of selected 2024 NHL Draft prospects:
Macklin Celebrini | Ivan Demidov | Artyom Levshunov | Sam Dickinson | Cayden Lindstrom | Berkly Catton | Cole Eiserman | Zeev Buium | Konsta Helenius | Zayne Parekh | Carter Yakemchuk | Anton Silayev | Tij Iginla | Adam Jiricek | Michael Brandsegg-Nygard | Liam Greentree | Igor Chernyshov | Trevor Connelly | Aron Kiviharju | Michael Hage | Ryder Ritchie | Sacha Boisvert | Nikita Artamonov | Maxim Masse | Cole Hutson | Beckett Sennecke
