While he didn’t dominate the scoresheet, Boutet’s play at this event solidified him as one of the very best defensive prospects for the upcoming QMJHL prospect. He was incredibly effective as a transitional defender, either by surfing the neutral zone to close in puck-carriers or delivering timely step ups to punish opposing forwards physically and deny zone entries as a consequence. His in-zone defending was just as impressive, maintaining a tight gap long the perimeter to limit opponents time and space and guide them to congested areas which helped kill cycle plays. His decision-making with the puck looked improve from the beginning of the year, particular in his own end below the goal line where I noted a handful of impressive outlet plays while under pressure which lead to controlled breakouts.

Boutet’s combination of size, reach and physical tools allowed him to be one of the more impressive defenders from start to finish at this year’s Hockey Québec Summer camp. His most impressive moments came while defending off the rush, showcasing his strong gap control to limit puck-carriers time and space before delivering a swift poke check to dislodge them of the puck and initiate quick counterattack plays up ice. His in-zone defending was equally as impressive, using his footwork in conjunction with his reach to handle both speedy and larger opponents along the perimeter and taking good angles to cancel them out along the boards and killing cycle plays as a consequence. For the most part I liked Boutet’s work on DZ retrievals, once again using his size to his advantage by boxing out forecheckers to win pucks, demonstrating the ability to retrieve on either his forehand or backhand and get pucks out of danger using his feet or a heady outlet pass to his wingers. He wasn’t necessarily dynamic or creative in the offensive zone, but rather played a simple yet effective style by making shrewd activations down the wall to either keep pucks alive or initiating rotations with his wingers that helped him generate puck touches low in the zone.

It’s obviously still extremely early in the evaluation process, but at least at this developmental juncture you’d be hard pressed to find a more projectable defender than Boutet at the moment. He’s a tall and rangy defender who possesses impressive four-way mobility for a player his size, which allows him to smother puck-carriers and shut down rush plays at a high rate. He possesses a lot of zip on his outlet passes as well, often hitting teammates in stride up ice which allows hiss line to play with tempo and pace while attacking the offensive zone with speed and control in transition. While I thought there were times he struggled with pressure on DZ retrievals, he had some really nice sequences where he scanned prior to his touch and was able to shake the forechecker with a quick pivot before moving it quickly up ice for a controlled exit out of the zone; which helps me believe he’ll continue to improve in this aspect of his game over the course of his draft-eligible season. He’s not overly creative in the offensive zone, but he does possess a hard slap shot from the point that he uses to get pucks on net and create rebounds out in front.

The stout defending and puck moving ability of Vincent Boutet really stood out at this event as he used his smooth skating stride and size to be an impactful player on the Wolfpack blue line. His ability to shut down plays quickly especially on the rush where he was able to use his smooth crossovers to gather speed while back skating, track opposing forwards across the zone and guide them away from the middle of the ice before using his size and length to quickly vacuum up space from attackers and close them out with a solid body check. He was a rangy defender who covered a lot of ice in his own end and had very good timing on his stick checks especially when an opponent tried to stop up or spin off him his tight gap control allowed him to quickly react and make a play on the puck often killing plays early in the zone. He was very composed with the puck on his stick, not rushing plays up the ice but instead keeping his head up and constantly scanning for options where he showed his ability to launch a hard and accurate stretch pass to forwards cutting through the neutral zone on many occasions or even use his skating ability to carry the puck up himself. From the blue line, although power was not always consistent on his shots, he still managed to get pucks through traffic and onto the net more often than not and make smart simple plays to keep pucks in the zone.

It was another stellar performance from Boutet, using his frame to defend the front of the net and outmuscle opponents while showing some more confidence on the offensive side of things. He had a nice rush sequence later on in the game, building up speed through the neutral zone and attacking the middle of the ice to push back defenders before executing a drop pass up high in the zone. He was able to showcase his shot a bit more in this one, firing some heavy one timer slapshots from the point that found their way through traffic on net. He’ll need to continue to work on his decision-making with the puck below the goal line in his own end, as he tends to hold onto pucks longer than he should which lead to a couple of turnovers in this game.

It was tough to believe that this was Boutet’s M18 debut given how confident and poised he was from the backend for the Blizzard. He was looking to get himself involved in the offensive side of things early on, jumping down from the point to get himself into a seam and get a shot from the top of the circle quickly off a reception. His combination of reach, physical maturity and skating ability allowed him to shut down rush plays at a high rate, including a massive stop on a 3v1 in the first period where he got his stick on a shot to send it out of play. Even as one of the younger players in the entire game I thought he was able to utilize his mature frame to consistently win battles in his own end, whether it be leaning on puck-carriers to kill cycles or winning inside positioning in front of the net to clear pucks out of danger. He flashed some intriguing mobility in transition on a sequence in the third period, using crossovers to build speed behind his own net to skate the puck out of danger before connecting on an outlet pass in the neutral zone and joining the play as a trailer option.