Boilard's move from skiing to hockey paying off ahead of 2024 NHL Draft

The 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 28-29 at Sphere in Las Vegas. The first round will be June 28 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and round 2-7 are on June 29 (11:30 ET; ESPN+, NHLN, SN, SN1). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features. Today, a profile on Baie-Comeau center Raoul Boilard. NHL.com's full draft coverage can be found here.

Raoul Boilard was destined to be some kind of winter sports athlete. When the time came, he opted for rushing up the ice rather than down a mountain.

When he turned 14, Boilard chose to play hockey full-time, leaving behind the potential for a promising career as an alpine skier.

"My dad was a skier growing up," Boilard said. "He won several titles at the Canada Games, and he was a pretty good skier. So that's why I started skiing when I was younger.

"I was competitive until I was like 14 years old. I stopped to play hockey, but I was pretty competitive."

Michel Boilard won the bronze medal in slalom at the 1979 Canada Winter Games, and Raoul certainly enjoyed following in his father's trail path. But picking hockey was a simple decision.

"I loved skiing, but I love hockey more," he said. "So that was an easy choice for me."

It's been the right choice so far. This season, the 18-year-old led Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League rookies with 62 points (22 goals, 40 assists) in 68 regular-season games with Baie-Comeau. 

Boilard also had eight points (four goals, four assists) in 17 playoff games to help Baie-Comeau reach the QMJHL Final, where it lost to Drummondville in four games. That includes an overtime goal in a 6-5 win against Acadie-Bathurst in Game 3 of the second round, a best-of-7 series Baie-Comeau swept in four games, and the first goal in a 4-0 win in Game 1 against Cape Breton in the league semifinal, which Baie-Comeau won in five games.

Boilard is No. 51 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters for the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft. 

"Really good production this year," Jean-Francois Damphousse of Central Scouting said. "What I like about him is the puck skill, the creativity, the way that he can create offense with little space. I think he showed it at the [NHL/CHL Top Prospects Game] that he can make those plays."

The Top Prospects Game, at Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick on Jan. 24, was a coming-out party for Boilard. He had two goals and an assist for Team Red in a 3-1 win against Team White and was named his team's player of the game.

He used his skill and creativity to set up Team Red's first goal, carrying the puck around the offensive zone and pulling a defender out of position to create a passing lane to teammate Colton Roberts, who set up Ben Danforth for the goal.

Boilard poked in a loose puck in the crease for a goal, and then closed the scoring with an empty-net goal.

The pressure of playing in the Top Prospects Game, which included scouts from all 32 NHL teams, including several general managers, didn't intimidate Boilard.

Making the most of big moments is something he got from his time on the slopes and his father.

"I think he helps me a lot," the younger Boilard said. "Just going through adversity and stuff like that, maybe sometimes skiing is tough, you miss a race and you're done. You never let down. When it doesn't go your way or sometimes it's rough in life, continue pushing and your passion will create opportunities for you."

Boilard also credits his athleticism on the ice to his time as a skier.

"I think skiing helped me with a lot of things, mobility and gliding and stuff," he said. "I think it's good to be an overall good athlete. I did a lot of other sports. I was a big multisport guy when I was young so I think it helps you be a more complete athlete."

Athletic genes run in Boilard's family. In addition to his father's success in skiing, his uncle, Daniel Trachy, helped Laval University win the Vanier Cup as Canadian college football champions in 1999, and his older brother, Jules, 19, is a teammate with Baie-Comeau.

"It's pretty fun," Raoul said. "We're playing on the same line so the chemistry is pretty good."

Boilard said Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews is the player he watches the most in the NHL, because of his obvious offensive abilities but also his defensive aptitude. In addition to leading the NHL with 69 goals this season, Matthews was a finalist for the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the League.

"Obviously his shot is pretty good," Boilard said. "He scores a lot of goals and his way to shoot the puck is really nice. But I like watching him playing on both sides of the puck. I think he's pretty underrated on defense as well."

Boilard said his goal moving into next season is to be more reliable defensively as he continues to produce offensively. The scouts who watch him closely believe that's an attainable goal.

"He's real good prospect, good IQ, good puck skill," Damphousse said. "Someone who's going to keep producing in the 'Q' for the next couple of years."