Devils prospect Boucher: 'I’m coming in here to try and force my way onto the team'

The New Jersey Devils enter the 2014-15 season with the NHL's oldest roster in terms of average age, but 21-year-old Reid Boucher is intent on bringing that number down.

Boucher, a fourth-round pick at the 2011 NHL Draft, told NJ.com he's going to do everything it takes to make the opening night roster out of training camp.

“I definitely don’t have a spot to lose. I have to gain a spot. I think that’s how everybody should approach it,” Boucher said Wednesday. "I’m coming in here to try and force my way onto the team.”

Boucher scored 25 goals in 67 AHL games since beginning his pro hockey career in 2013, after recording 62 goals as a member of the OHL's Sarnia Sting earlier that year. 

While he believes the jump to the NHL level won't necessarily be an easy one, he feels he possesses the ability to one day challenge the club record of 96 points set by Patrik Elias in 2000-01.

"It’s going to be difficult. It’s a step up from the American League," Boucher said. "It’s the best league in the world. But I feel that I can still put up numbers. Maybe not 95 points, but I can still put up some numbers ... I hope I develop into a guy that can put 95 points up. I wouldn't guarantee that, but I’d like to. I’m an offensive guy who needs to put up points. I have to take care of my own end and everything, but I have to be a guy that produces points."

Boucher appeared in 23 games for the Devils last season, scoring two goals and adding five assists.