New Blackhawks enforcer Dillon Boucher followed improbable route to NHL: 'I thought about quitting'

RALEIGH, N.C. — Like most people in Rockford, hockey journeyman Dillon Boucher was fast asleep at 11:30 p.m. Monday night.

He was awakened by his IceHogs linemate and roommate, Connor Mylymok, pounding on his door.

"I had no idea what was going on," Boucher recalled Saturday. "I thought I was late for practice.

"But [then Rockford general manager Mark Bernard] called me and said, 'You can't have your phone on silent because I wouldn't be able to tell you you're getting called up.'"

The 29-year-old forward's Blackhawks debut Wednesday against the Panthers completed what has to be one of the most improbable paths to the NHL in recent history.

Since going undrafted in 2015 (theoretically his first year eligible), Boucher has played two seasons of Canadian major junior hockey, one season of Canadian junior A hockey (the tier below major junior), four seasons of Canadian college hockey, two seasons in the ECHL (the pro league below the AHL) and a little over one season in the AHL.

"If you had asked me three or four years ago if I was going to be here, I would probably say no," he said. "I'd probably laugh in your face."

Only three players had ever gone from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to the NHL, and none of those three played more than one season at Dalhousie before their ascensions began. So one can understand why Boucher didn't foresee this future.

"My third year in university, I was going to call it quits," he said. "I was playing in a league...[where] I kept getting suspended for hitting guys. I just wasn't really having fun, and I thought about quitting. I talked to some guys, and they were like, 'You're doing something you love to do. Just stick with it for a while.'

"When I finished university, my buddy called me and was like, 'Do you want to come try pro? Just play 10 games and see how you like it.' I agreed, and then I never looked back."

It turned out his unapologetically physical style and eagerness to drop gloves translated better to pro hockey.

Over the last three seasons combined — including two in Wichita, Kansas, and one in Rockford — he scored only 17 goals but racked up 338 penalty minutes.

"I haven't gotten suspended yet," he added. "It's a pretty tough league down in university, but they push for school first, so they don't want guys getting injured. [At] the pro level, the refs let stuff go a little more, so it works out in my favor."

His AHL contract was upgraded to a two-way NHL contract on July 1. And during three preseason appearances for the Hawks, he not only buried a rare goal but also caught coach Jeff Blashill's eye.

When the Hawks needed another forward for this road trip and Nick Lardis wasn't available — due to a lower-body injury is expected to sideline him for a couple weeks — Boucher got the call. With it, he got an all-time fun fact to tell his grandchildren: he technically replaced Patrick Kane.

"He knows how to manage a game," Blashill said. "He knows how to get pucks in [and] get pucks out. He’s accountable defensively. And then he brings that physicality and toughness that every team desires and we wanted."

While frequently reminding himself that he's just in a different league, not playing a different sport, Boucher has come in and done his thing.

He recorded nine hits against the Panthers and Lightning, and his duel Thursday against Lightning enforcer Jeff Viel was arguably the most spirited, intense and vicious Hawks fight in years.

By Saturday, he dismissed the many stitches and dark bruises surrounding his right eye as "nothing I haven't had before."

"Some guys like scoring their first goals," he said. "For me, it was the first fight that was special."

Physicality wanted

Three of the most common critiques of the Hawks by people around the hockey world this season is that they aren't tough enough, aren't physical enough and aren't difficult enough to play against.

Boucher adds some of those elements, but considering he only plays about eight minutes per game, it's even more important that other Hawks step up.

"I'm trying to be more physical right from the start of the puck drop," young center Ryan Greene said. "That translates over to every other aspect of the game, too, just [by] being harder. I'm trying to get my body involved as much as I can."

Connor Bedard, meanwhile, said the Hawks had a conversation following their loss in Detroit last week about "trying to win some more battles." That often requires being more physical, even if they're not precisely the same thing.

And Bedard, for one, seems to have taken that message to heart, even if not every Hawk has.

"It just brings us into the fight — all of us — when we're all playing physical and battling and whatnot," Bedard said.

The Hawks entered Saturday ranked 28th in the NHL in hits (287), despite the fact they don't possess the puck that much and therefore should have more opportunities to dish out hits than the average team.

"It's a lot more difficult to play against a team that has four lines that are hitting," Boucher said. "I'm going to bring it every night, so if one guy has a night off, I'll try to bring it even more. But when you have four lines that can rub [defensemen] out and make them look over their shoulder twice, you can be a lot more successful."