Tyler Boucher motivated to 'prove it' in supposed last chance with Senators

Tyler Boucher, seen in a September 2025 file photo, admits the rotten luck he's had has thoroughly tested his character. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /Postmedia

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How Tyler Boucher has kept his sanity through the years of unrelenting injuries and soul-crushing setbacks, only he knows.

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Between a torn labrum, a separate upper-body ailment, multiple knee injuries, a groin problem and a prolonged bout with COVID-19, the Ottawa Senators’ 10th overall selection in the 2021 NHL Draft hasn’t played a full season of hockey since he was in high school.

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The rotten luck, he admits, has thoroughly tested his character.

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“I’ve looked at it from every angle. I’ve thought about everything,” Boucher told the Ottawa Citizen in a phone interview Wednesday. “When it happens a bunch, it starts to weigh on you. And when I play, I think maybe there’s situations where I go in super hot and it’s a
high-risk scenario that happens in a game. But to be honest with you, like, a lot of them are just like freak, out-of-nowhere stuff.”

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Entering his fourth season of professional hockey after signing a one-year, $850,000 contract with the Senators back in July, the 23-year-old forward believes he’s on the other side of the “bad loop” that tormented him for over half a decade.

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“I think there’s a lot to learn from it,” Boucher said. “When you’re in those times, it feels like the world is ending. There’s been times where I’ve rehabbed for weeks and then come back and then something happens, and then it’s back (to rehab) for weeks and it’s tough to deal with.

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“We’ve definitely made some tweaks, the strength coaches and I, with routine, tailoring my workouts to specific stuff I need, being aware of how my body feels, not just maybe pushing through stuff just to get it done.”

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After rehabbing an upper-body injury for exactly two months midway through the 2025-26 season, Boucher played the final 35 games with Belleville of the American Hockey League issue-free, racking up 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists). It was the first faint sign of the power forward the Sens originally believed he could become.

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“Once I’m going, like, I’m good,” Boucher said. “It’s just, I needed to stop that pattern of getting hurt, coming in and out (of the lineup). Because it doesn’t matter who you are: If you’re in and out that much, it’s going to affect you, affect your play.”

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Boucher finished the season with offensive career highs, tallying 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 47 games. Still a far cry from where the organization expected him to be by now, but undeniable progress, 16 more points than 2024-25 in the same number of games.

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“I think I just was going into games before kind of, like, worried about staying healthy,” said Boucher, son of former NHL goaltender Brian Boucher, who spent 13 seasons in the league. “I kind of just said ‘screw it,’ like, let’s just go here, no matter what happens. I felt I found confidence game after game and I liked where my game was going last year.”