Boucher, known to fans as "Buck," was the son of a rugby star and played three seasons in the Canadian Football League before switching to hockey. He was one of four brothers to play professional hockey.

Though Boucher started out as a forward with the Ottawa Senators in 1915 when they were part of the National Hockey Association, the predecessor of the NHL, his stickhandling skills led him to make the switch to defenseman and he became a star. The Senators were among the four original NHL teams when the League was founded in 1917 and became the first dynasty of the new NHL, winning the Stanley Cup three times in four seasons from 1919-20 to 1922-23.

The Senators were loaded on defense. Boucher was teammates with Eddie Gerard, Sprague Cleghorn, Lionel Hitchman and his longtime partner, King Clancy, during his 12 NHL seasons with Ottawa. Offensively, Boucher wowed fans and confounded opponents with his puck-handling skills but he was no slouch defensively. He played with passion and was a physical presence on the ice. He finished his NHL career with 845 penalty minutes in 450 games.

Boucher became the first NHL defenseman to have a hat trick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when he scored three goals against the Toronto St. Patricks on March 10, 1921. He reached double figures in goals for five consecutive seasons during a time when an NHL season was no more than 28 games.

Ottawa won the Cup again in 1927, making Boucher a four-time champion. But the Senators traded him to the Montreal Maroons on Feb. 14, 1929. He played for the Maroons through 1930-31, then played one season with the Chicago Blackhawks before retiring in 1932 with 205 points (118 goals, 87 assists).

Boucher went on to coach the Maroons and the Senators/St. Louis Eagles (the Senators relocated in 1934). He guided Ottawa to the Allan Cup, Canada's senior amateur championship, in 1949 and was hired to coach the Boston Bruins for the 1949-50 season. But the Bruins missed the playoffs and he was fired.

Boucher was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame three weeks before dying of throat cancer on Oct. 17, 1960.