Boucher talks shooters' advantage against goalies on NHL @TheRink podcast

Brian Boucher said he expects shooters will have an advantage on goalies if the NHL season is able to resume.

Boucher, a former NHL goalie and now an analyst for NBC Sports, was a guest with co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke on the NHL @TheRink podcast this week. In addition to discussing several season restart considerations, he gave his thoughts on how goalies will perform if given the opportunity to play again this season, which has been paused since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

"I think for the goaltenders it's awfully difficult," Boucher said. "First of all, when you get out of game situations and you just practice, that can be difficult for goaltenders to maintain their timing, maintain their sharpness. That's why you see a lot of guys that were once starters that now are backups really struggle in that role because it really is difficult to get that timing, to maintain that sharpness. Now on top of it, you're not even on the ice. I mean, most goaltenders from what I'm seeing [are] obviously not skating except for perhaps the ones in Sweden.

"It's going to take a while for these goaltenders. I would suspect that if the players can find their games quickly, you might see some high scoring games right off the hop."

Boucher also said he's a fan of the potential for a 24-team return-to-play format and that the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens could contend in such a scenario.

"Those are two teams that I think everybody wrote off," Boucher said. "I'm reading articles of players being concerned about Montreal, and they're concerned about one player: Carey Price."

Hockey Hall of Fame center Bryan Trottier, who was a big part of the New York Islanders winning the Stanley Cup four seasons in a row from 1980-83, also joined the podcast to talk about his memories about how their dynasty began.

Trottier told stories about several of his teammates, in particular Billy Smith, who he called a "money goalie."

The podcast is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.

Listen: New episode of NHL @The Rink