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Eric Boulton

#36 · Left wing · New York Islanders

Born Aug 17, 1976 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, CAN · 6'0", 227 lb · Shoots left · Drafted 234th overall in 1994 by NYR (round 9)

Compare with a similar player

The forwards closest to him in points in 2015-16. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Alexandre Grenier VAN · 0 P in 6 GP Andrew Miller EDM · 0 P in 6 GP Bryan Lerg SJS · 0 P in 6 GP Taylor Leier PHI · 0 P in 6 GP Tomas Nosek DET · 0 P in 6 GP

Career

Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below. Cap hit is what he counted against the salary cap that season, where it is known.

05102000-01: 3 points300-012001-02: 5 points52002-03: 6 points602-032003-04: 3 points32005-06: 9 points905-062006-07: 7 points72007-08: 9 points907-082008-09: 13 points132009-10: 8 points809-102010-11: 10 points102011-12: 0 points011-122012-13: 0 points02013-14: 4 points413-142014-15: 2 points22015-16: 0 points015-16

Points by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Cap hit
2000-01 BUF 35 1 2 3 -1 94 20 44 0.09
2001-02 BUF 35 2 3 5 -1 129 21 48 0.14
2002-03 BUF 58 1 5 6 1 178 33 19 0.10
2003-04 BUF 44 1 2 3 -2 110 20 26 0.07
2005-06 ATL 51 4 5 9 -4 87 28 34 0.18 $500K
2006-07 ATL 45 3 4 7 2 49 42 30 0.16 $500K
2007-08 ATL 74 4 5 9 -10 127 64 56 0.12 $525K
2008-09 ATL 76 3 10 13 -3 176 71 77 0.17
2009-10 ATL 62 2 6 8 -1 113 39 96 0.13
2010-11 ATL 69 6 4 10 1 87 51 93 0.14 $650K
2011-12 NJD 51 0 0 0 -12 115 25 89 0.00 $558K
2012-13 NYI 15 0 0 0 -4 36 5 23 0.00 $540K
2013-14 NYI 23 2 2 4 0 88 21 32 0.17 $550K
2014-15 NYI 10 2 0 2 -1 30 9 10 0.20 $649K
2015-16 NYI 6 0 0 0 -3 2 3 15 0.00 $578K
15 seasons Career 654 31 48 79 -38 1421 452 692 0.12

Playoffs

Playoff games only. Pick a season to see that year's bracket.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP
2006-07 ATL 4 0 0 0 -1 24 1 2 0.00
1 season Playoffs 4 0 0 0 -1 24 1 2 0.00

2015-16 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
6 0 0 0 -3 2 3 15 0.00 0.0 9:29

Contract

$578KCap hitends in 2016, then UFA

His cap hit for the whole season, set against what he did in the regular season. Lower is better value. In a season still being played the cost per point starts high and falls as the games add up. He rated at or below a spare-part player, so there is no cost per goal to show.

The contract

Who signed him to it, and when, are not on record. It runs through 2015-16, so this is its last season, after which he is an unrestricted free agent.

Season Cap hit
2015-16 $578K

Each season left on the contract. Only its cap hit and its end are known: how the pay is split by season, and any signing bonus, are not.

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
2015-16 to 2015-16 $578K
2014-15 to 2014-15 $649K
2013-14 to 2013-14 $550K
2011-12 to 2012-13 $558K
2010-11 to 2010-11 $650K
2007-08 to 2007-08 $525K
2006-07 to 2006-07 $500K
2005-06 to 2005-06 $500K

Every contract on record for him, newest first, with the team that signed him to it and the day it was signed. The one covering 2015-16 is marked. An extension is signed while the contract before it is still running, often a year ahead. A row with no team or date is a contract known only by its cap hit, most often one signed since October 2024.

2015-16 analytics

Rating

-0.7Goals above replacementsix goals are worth about one win
-0.1Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-0.9Goals above averagethe five parts below added up
Even-strength offence-0.6Even-strength defence-0.3Power play-0.1Penalty kill+0.0Penalties+0.1

The goals he added to his team's goal difference, compared with a spare-part player given the same ice time. Each part is measured against the league, so zero is an average skater. A full season is about two-thirds the player and one-third chance. He has played fewer than 20 games, too few to be ranked. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

-6-4-202010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-16Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

On the ice

What happened at five-on-five while he was on the ice. What these numbers mean

34.8Corsi for %24 attempts for, 45 against
-9.7CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
30.4Expected goals for %1.0 expected for, 2.3 against
-20.5xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
29.4Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
20.0Goals for %1 for, 4 against
93.3PDO10.0% shooting + 83.3% saves
5Attempts takenhis own shot attempts

These are left plain: he has not been on the ice enough to be ranked. That takes at least 200 shot attempts with him out there, about six or seven games, and a quarter of what the busiest skater has. Over a game or two these numbers are mostly chance.

Who he played with

Forward lineGPTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Eric Boulton · Steve Bernier · Casey Cizikas319:0447.643.01-2
Eric Boulton · Matt Martin · Casey Cizikas211:5533.345.30-1
Eric Boulton · Cal Clutterbuck · Alan Quine18:1430.09.70-1
Eric Boulton · Josh Bailey · Casey Cizikas11:4040.018.00-0

The lines he spent the most time in at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out. The two shares are coloured as above, against the league's lines that played a fair amount together. Hover over one for its percentile.

Chances and finishing

Expected goals adds up how likely each of his shots was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. All situations, leaving out shots at an empty net. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

0Goalsnot counting empty-netters
0.3Expected goalsfrom 3 unblocked attempts
-0.3Goals above expectedgoals minus expected goals
Chances created 0.35 expected goals per 60 minutes3rd
Shot quality 11.2% chance per attempt99th
Finishing -0.3 goals above expected54thOne season of finishing is mostly luck.

Each bar shows the share of forwards he is ahead of, among the 412 who played 300 minutes or more this season.

00.20.40.60.81Expected 0.3Goals 0

His goals and his expected goals as the season went on. When the goals line pulls away above, he is scoring more than his chances were worth; below, less.

Where he shot from

Every attempt he took this season, in all situations, attacking the net on the right. There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from. Click a goal for its details.

Game log

Date Opponent Result G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits TOI
Apr 10, 2016 vs PHI L 2-5 0 0 0 -1 0 0 2 15:44
Apr 9, 2016 vs BUF L 3-4 (OT) 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 09:52
Apr 7, 2016 @ NYR W 4-1 0 0 0 -1 0 1 3 09:01
Apr 5, 2016 @ WSH W 4-3 (OT) 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 07:41
Feb 28, 2016 @ EDM L 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 06:09
Dec 12, 2015 @ CBJ W 3-2 (OT) 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 08:28