I haven't watched enough games to have a relevant opinion on how much is McDavid effect and how much is just Bouchard being great. What I can say is I've been very impressed with Bouchard these playoffs, at least on the offensive end of the rink, defense is harder to judge on a small sample and without specifically focusing on it during games. I think he's good, just how good I'm not sure yet.
McDavid is a great player. He is probably the most efficient player in the league at getting more out of his linemates. For that reason, I don't think of Bouchard as some generational defensmen, despite his records. They are a mirage imo, though that doesn't mean he isn't a good player.
That's interesting because honestly my opinion of McDavid HAS been the total opposite - that his biggest weakness is being a one man show and not being able to elevate those around him to the degree you would expect from the best. Though I don't really think that anymore, nothing to take away from Hyman who I think has done a stellar job and also helped McDavid being more efficient 5v5, but no way he's a 50+ goal scorer without McDavid... but if you would've asked me two or three years ago or something, I would've told you McDavid doesn't bring quite as much value to the Oilers as his insane production would suggest because he gives up too much defensively for that and doesn't make his linemates THAT much better.
I think my opinion was fair, it seemed a bit too difficult at some point to find linemates for him "who can keep up with him" and even when some of those linemates made McDavid more effective 5v5 they'd still get all the criticism and none of the praise. They finally found a great fit in Hyman and it looks to me like McDavid also recognized that and became a better player for it. He seems to take very genuine joy in "making" an offensive star out of Hyman, which is great to see.
