Brad Boyes: 2010-2011 Report Card

He was alright in the regur season, started to fade down the stretch and then was a disappearing act in the playoffs. I was pretty disappointed with his playoff games. The dude cant hit the net…

Jesus, if anything at least he signaled a change in the inner workings of the front office with the team acquiring someone early in deadline day(s) who wasn’t a rental only and was actually one of the better pickups of the day.

It’s tough to judge his late-season and post-season performance because he was playing out of position due to injury for much of the time. I wish he was better at center, I wish he was better defensively, and I wish we could use him on the PK, but he is what he is. If he’d been a little better at those things I’d give him an 8, easy. He’s shown signs that he’s a good fit for this team’s style of play and I think we can expect that to translate to greater consistency than he’s shown with his past teams.

Bottom line, though – does this team make the post-season without Brad Boyes? There’s a good chance they don’t. And just for that, he’s a solid seven.

Bottom line, though – does this team make the post-season without Brad Boyes? There’s a good chance they don’t.

- from Katemc, and I agree with it.

Boyes is a nice player. You have to give him some credit for playing as ‘well’ as he did while playing out of position. He certainly gave the team a boost immediately after the deadline, and that can’t be taken away from him.

I actually thought he was decent defensively too. He bought into the team concept of back-checking when the D rushes into the zone (something Torres couldn’t grasp).

I remember hearing an interview with him talking about how different the systems were between Buffalo and St. Louis, and how he preferred this one. So, with a whole off season to get acclimated to Buffalo and the team, I’d expect him to be a significant player next season (assuming of course, he’s not stuck at center again). He might be a little a little overpaid at 4M a year, but at least he’s not on this list.

For reasons kry and Kate mentioned above. I said at the time of the deadline deal that this was more of a trade for next season then this season. Whatever we got out of Brad Boyes this year was gravy to me. Scoring in his first 2 games as a Sabre was massive at the time. He showed an ability to bury lay-in chances (you may be saying to yourself, he better be able to finish those kinds of chances, but if a couple others had during the playoffs, we would still be in them), but also showed the propensity (as we were warned at the deadline by St Louis followers) to miss the net high and wide from prime scoring position in the high slot. Let’s hope Brad spends the summer working on his shooting. This has a lot to do with what Rafa mentioned in the article about getting his shots up. I bet he attempted well over 200 shots this year, but missed the net many many times. The fact that he is missing the net is almost a good thing, at least he’s shooting for corner. But he needs to reel it in a little and make sure he at least makes the goalie attempt a save. I have high hopes (maybe I’m a sucker) that with the right Center, he can become a 25+ goal scoring winger for us next season.

But in hindsight, it should be a six. He was a solid player, and would have succeeded a lot more if he was placed at the wing instead of at center in the playoffs. He was a good 2-way player in the regular season, and put up solid stats in the stretch run. I think my grade waited his playoff under performance too heavily.

Because I thought he would end up another Moore/Torres… He WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY surpassed my expectations

Boyes joined a team that is notoriously difficult to generate chemistry with mid-season (see: Zubrus, Moore, Torres, etc) and actually found some chemistry. He was definitely a factor in the playoff push, and definitely a concrete commitment from the new management. It is unfortunate that he was ineffective in the playoffs, but it did not appear to be from lack of trying.

I think Boyes was rushed into action without being able to mold with his team mates, he never got to mold with one line and being shifted hurt his production. If we can find him a role as a wing I can see him scoring 30+ goals, 25+ assists, or he could be a bum. Quite the enigma, mr boyes

I almost want to give him an 8. The problem as I see it is that as centers were dropping off the roster like flies, wingers (i.e. Mancari) were being brought up and Boyes was shifted out of position to center. In retrospect, I would have preferred to see Adam called up more late in the season and Boyes kept on the wing. I don’t know what offseason tinkering Darcy may have in the plans, but hopefully it will leave room on the wing so Boyes doesn’t have to center the fourth line all year.

I gave him a 6, I thought he was pretty good and he has to get some credit for the second half surge that coincided with his arrival, and probably some blame for not doing much in the playoffs. I think we pretty much know what he is at this point – a reliable, versatile winger with pretty good playmaking abilities who can score on rebounds and stuff but is not a pure sniper or scorer. Those who expect him to be a major offensive force will probably be disappointed, but I think he could be quite productive with the right linemates.