The Tampa Bay Lightning’s hidden gem: Alex Barré-Boulet
TAMPA, Fla. (BVM) — As the final round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft concluded, an 18-year-old Alex Barré-Boulet was still without an NHL team. Barré Boulet had a middling season in the QMJHL, a league with a reputation of being high scoring, so his not being drafted was not particularly surprising.
Nicolas Roy, a fourth round pick in that draft and now NHL regular with Vegas, had a similar scoring season, however, Roy is an imposing figure at a towering 6-foot-4. Barré-Boulet stands at 5-foot-10. Like it or not, size is a major factor in being drafted, just ask other Quebecois scorers in Martin St. Louis and Jonathan Marchessault, both of whom went undrafted due to their lack of size despite their immense skill.
Barré-Boulet found more success in his second season in the QMJHL, but mostly treaded water until he was traded to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in 2017. It was there where Barré-Boulet clicked. In the QMJHL playoffs, Barré-Boulet was particularly electric, leading his team to the President’s Cup Finals alongside future third overall pick Pierre-Luc Dubois. Barré-Boulet finished the QMJHL postseason leading in goals with 14 and second in points (to future teammate Mathieu Joseph) with 31 in 20 games.
Small sample size in the playoffs not good enough? Barré-Boulet led the QMJHL in goals (53) and points (116) the next season, both by wide margins. His coaches also noted his strong defensive play which had developed since joining the Armada. Barré-Boulet’s junior career would come to a close with another crushing finals defeat, though he did finish third in goals and points.
The next chapter saw Barré-Boulet sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning and join their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. It isn’t reasonable to expect a kid coming from juniors to click immediately when they start playing against men, but Barré-Boulet did. His 34 goals and 68 points were tied for the league lead in 2019, which is not what is expected from an undrafted 21-year-old in his first professional season. Then, as he has proven he can, Barré-Boulet did it again in 2020, finishing fifth in both goals and points.
He looked dominant. He was omnipresent with the Crush, a tremendous puck carrier and owns the perimeter in the offensive zone. Watch the highlights for any Crunch game and he is in nearly every one. He plays powerplay, he plays penalty-kill, he’s out for the first shift and he’s out for the last shift. In this past season, Barré-Boulet had eight goals in 10 AHL games which was enough to earn a call-up to the Lightning. While success wasn’t as seamless at the NHL level, Barré-Boulet was a solid bottom-six forward bringing his strong defensive acumen even if the scoring didn’t come immediately.
Now, heading into the 2021-2022 season, Tampa has lost a huge portion of their forward corps. Goodrow, Gourde, Coleman and Johnson are all spread across the league. Tampa’s salary cap situation makes it a necessity to find in–house solutions to fill out their lineup. Barré-Boulet is an obvious solution. He has an ability to play higher up in the Tampa lineup. Putting him alongside Steven Stamkos as either a wing or as the center would likely bring the best results.
Barré-Boulet’s puck moving, strong possession skills and perimeter playstyle would fit perfectly with a sharpshooter like Stamkos. Stamkos is a marvelous player on the puck but is even better off the puck. When Stamkos doesn’t need to be the driver and can instead produce by finding soft areas in the offensive zone then shooting or using his underrated passing ability, he is at his best. With Stamkos, Barré-Boulet would play like a secondary Kucherov, playing that same possession–heavy style augmented by a deadly wrist shot.
It isn’t insane to expect Barré-Boulet to fire home 20 goals and 60 points next season. He is that good. Also, he will be playing in the perfect situation, almost definitely getting time on the powerplay and being alongside the superstars already in Tampa. Barré-Boulet is the best player no one is talking about and will be yet another talent flourishing for one of the NHL’s best development systems.
