Guess what? Those "other defensemen in these league" who are just as efficient as Bouchard offensively and play good defense are guys like Cale Makar, Adam Fox, Miro Heiskanen, and Rasmus Dahlin and none of them will ever play for the Oilers.
You're the one that brought up +/- to slander Bouchard, not me. Also lmfao at suggesting that Duncan Keith of all players is responsible for Bouchard's +/-.
You're correct about Bouchard, somewhat. A good career comparable is Keith Yandle. That's essentially who Bouchard is and that is what should be expected from him.
In 1109 regular season games played Yandle has 619 points. In another 58 playoff games he has a very respectable 36 points.
And he never had Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl passing him the puck on a platter. If he did Yandle would have scored 65 points a season like clockwork. But he's not worth 7-8 million in today's assessment of the player considering the Cap implications in my mind.
I'm not a huge fan of the offensive dynamo defenceman in general. The strictly attacking defenceman is overrated and overpaid in my opinion. Nice if you have them but not much more critical to team success than that of a star attacking winger. Less impactful than a star center.
I like big defenseman who control the backend out, and move the play like Victor Hedman. Hedman as the ultimate physically dominating defensive and offensive prototype.
I'd still trade Bouchard for Ivan Provorov. And if Philadelphia was wise they'd strongly consider that trade.
I'd be interested to hear how more reasonable fans, of not only the Oilers but other clubs, rate Bouchard. Not as highly as you do I'm certain.
Actually this offseason is the perfect time to trade Bouchard. ELC contract finished with his new club free to negotiate the terms. More importantly, with his playoff statistics driven from the pp fresh in everyone's memory.
