VANCOUVER – After coming right to the brink of free agency on Tuesday before making a surprising return to the Vancouver Canucks, Brock Boeser spent time with his family, attending his nephew`s baseball game. This is a typical activity for them in Minnesota.
A more significant celebration was planned for Wednesday evening. With his old friend and former teammate Troy Stecher visiting for the weekend, Boeser intended to take his girlfriend, Bella, his mother, Laurie, sister Jessica, brother Paul, and Paul`s family out for dinner, joined by Stecher, who is from Richmond, B.C.
“We’re going to take the boat to a lakeside restaurant for dinner,” Boeser shared by phone from his lake house near the Twin Cities. “That’s how we’re celebrating tonight.”
Boeser has always prioritized family, which offers a partial explanation for his remarkable change of course as National Hockey League free agency commenced on Tuesday.
Having spent his entire career with the Canucks, the 28-year-old winger had several months to come to terms with the possibility of leaving Vancouver, especially after repeated contract extension negotiations made little progress.
Boeser possesses sharp intellect complementing his generous nature. From a logical and practical standpoint, he recognized the situation was a business matter, and business dictated a potential relocation to a different city and team after his eight years in Vancouver.
However, his intuition or `gut feeling` never aligned with the prospect of entering free agency.