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Player Discussion Evan Bouchard

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If Bouchard made a concerted effort to improve his footspeed, it would mitigate a lot of flaws in his game.

His penchant for harebrained decisions and lackadaisical awareness of what's transpiring around him are things that aren't ever going to be entirely eliminated from his game but he's way too easy of a player to play against as it currently stands.
 
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8 points through 7 games. 4th NHL season incoming. Has already got himself paid like a Top 4D that can’t defend, 2 more years of this we’ll have to pay him like a Top pair D that still CANT defend.

Foot speed and compete issues were known weaknesses in his game at the draft. The Oilers brought him up slowly with coverage in Barrie handling key offensive minutes, allowing Bouchard to focus primarily his defensive game and foot speed. But where is the progress? Did Bouch work on any of that? Or did he just pout around until Barrie was traded?
 
TheNumber4 said:
8 points through 7 games. 4th NHL season incoming. Has already got himself paid like a Top 4D that can’t defend, 2 more years of this we’ll have to pay him like a Top pair D that still CANT defend.

Foot speed and compete issues were known weaknesses in his game at the draft. The Oilers brought him up slowly with coverage in Barrie handling key offensive minutes, allowing Bouchard to focus primarily his defensive game and foot speed. But where is the progress? Did Bouch work on any of that? Or did he just pout around until Barrie was traded?
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Didn't look like he was pouting or hadn't worked on his game after Barrie left though last year, did he? The Oilers took off, and he was a key part of that, albeit with Ekholm as a steadying partner. And in the playoffs, he amped it up even more, which makes this years start all the more confounding. I just think there was a whole bunch of guys in there (including the coach and GM) who read the press clippings and predictions and didn't enough to get ready for the regular season to start. They say the leopard can't change it's spots, but Bouchard is at least going to have to connect some of those dots for this to work.
 
Ethan Bear had less defensive blunders than Bouchard. By a country mile too, it’s not even close.
 
Bryanbryoil said:
IMO he has been better lately. Early in the season he was pretty terrible defensively even though he wasn't the only one that was bad defensively.
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Granted, but someone saying Bouchard has been excellent this season compelled me to make somewhat of a counter argument. Better lately and excellent aren't exactly synonymous.
 
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Jimmi McJenkins said:
He doesn't need tons, he needs to clean things up a bit.

It's f***ing absurd how much you guys over look how great he's playing because not flaw in defense zone nonsense.
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Yup. Same mentality ran Eberle outta town cuz he wasn't physical enough, despite him being a major high chance contributor.

We spent the next 3 years looking for a winger and many ppl thought the addition by subtraction was the smart play
 
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Jimmi McJenkins said:
He doesn't need tons, he needs to clean things up a bit.

It's f***ing absurd how much you guys over look how great he's playing because not flawless in defense zone nonsense.
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Guys like Bouchard are always going to have issues. I mean f*** if he didn't then he's a Norris trophy d-man.

The one thing I will say is I'm glad Coffey is around. Everything that has been said is even when guys make a mistake he is very positive about it to the guys. So instead of making a mistake and then having his confidence shot the rest of the game, Coffey has these guys forgetting about it and sticking to their original game plan and strengths.

bobbythebrain said:
Yup. Same mentality ran Eberle outta town cuz he wasn't physical enough, despite him being a major high chance contributor.

We spent the next 3 years looking for a winger and many ppl thought the addition by subtraction was the smart play
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Eberle's biggest issue and it remained in Long Island as well is his personal life was really starting to hamper the guy.

His wife really went into detail about how all the miscarriages were taking a toll on both them as a couple and as individuals. Neither had an answer.
 
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Jimmi McJenkins said:
He doesn't need tons, he needs to clean things up a bit.

It's f***ing absurd how much you guys over look how great he's playing because not flawless in defense zone nonsense.
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There is a difference between flawless and a shitshow. The first 10 games of the season were such. I like Bouchard, just not blind to the blips in his game. Players get beat, we saw Slavin and Pesce get beat. I am generally not a fan of mistakes caused by effort and bad reads. Certainly he and the rest of the team are playing better now, but excellence as you said he was, requires him to be great on both sides of the puck and I hope the improvement continues.
 
TheNumber4 said:
Ethan Bear had less defensive blunders than Bouchard. By a country mile too, it’s not even close.
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Slats432 said:
There is a difference between flawless and a shitshow. The first 10 games of the season were such. I like Bouchard, just not blind to the blips in his game. Players get beat, we saw Slavin and Pesce get beat. I am generally not a fan of mistakes caused by effort and bad reads. Certainly he and the rest of the team are playing better now, but excellence as you said he was, requires him to be great on both sides of the puck and I hope the improvement continues.
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Ethan Bear is a strange comparison. Bear was amazing for most of a season and then... Just fell apart. The good bear was impressive and worth keeping around. The bad Bear was AHL fodder. I didnt like trading Bear away but by the same token he was trending towards complete bust and... is he still even playing in the NHL?

Terrible comparison.

Bouchard will always have defensive warts. That isnt an excuse for a brutal start to the season. I hope I never see that many bad plays from one player period ever again in my lifetime. Just bad. When that bad he does not offset his bad plays verse his good offense.

However, like most the Oilers he turned the corner, 24 points in 23 games as young as he is plus a return to "normal" defensively is incredible. The last 10+ games he has been awesome and easily out scoring his defensive lapses most games.

He is so far from his peak. If he improves defensively and offensively within reasonable expectation... That would be incredible.
 
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You can teach defense as we have seen last dozen games, but you cannot teach offense if the player lacks skill (Ceci) Bouchard is a gem
 
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Aerchon said:
Ethan Bear is a strange comparison. Bear was amazing for most of a season and then... Just fell apart. The good bear was impressive and worth keeping around. The bad Bear was AHL fodder. I didnt like trading Bear away but by the same token he was trending towards complete bust and... is he still even playing in the NHL?

Terrible comparison.

Bouchard will always have defensive warts. That isnt an excuse for a brutal start to the season. I hope I never see that many bad plays from one player period ever again in my lifetime. Just bad. When that bad he does not offset his bad plays verse his good offense.

However, like most the Oilers he turned the corner, 24 points in 23 games as young as he is plus a return to "normal" defensively is incredible. The last 10+ games he has been awesome and easily out scoring his defensive lapses most games.

He is so far from his peak. If he improves defensively and offensively within reasonable expectation... That would be incredible.
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It’s not a comparison of players my comment was a commentary on the fact that Bear was blamed for perceived mistakes that didn’t exist. But he was blamed for being mistake prone because of a one or two very prominent mistakes made in the playoffs. I’ve always said Bear wasn’t mistake prone and had a bad rep. So my comment was a bit of a jab towards anyone who thought Bear was mistake prone. And that Bouch at the start of the season was making mistakes way more than the perceived mistake prone Bear.
 
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LTIR said:
I am ready to eat a bit of crow. Bouchard has looked much better defensively during this win streak. Still a few mistakes but he isn't a train wreck anymore.
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Yup, it's still something he needs to work at to be more and more consistent, but neutral zone forward he's elite and making a major difference in games.
 
TheNumber4 said:
Ethan Bear had less defensive blunders than Bouchard. By a country mile too, it’s not even close.
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Bear was getting murdered in the end trying to defend in the corners.

Bouchard's mistakes get polarized cuz it seems as if he puts in little effort on a play.

There were several games this season he only made 1 or 2 mistakes, but the effort level wasn't there so ppl turned it into a case where he was garbage all game.

Bear was pretty brutal at the end for long stretches of game, not just a play here or there
 
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bobbythebrain said:
Bear was getting murdered in the end trying to defend in the corners.

Bouchard's mistakes get polarized cuz it seems as if he puts in little effort on a play.

There were several games this season he only made 1 or 2 mistakes, but the effort level wasn't there so ppl turned it into a case where he was garbage all game.

Bear was pretty brutal at the end for long stretches of game, not just a play here or there
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I disagree. Bear was good at escaping pressure, it was one of the things noted as a positive in his game. He made some huge blunders in huge games and the narrative got flipped to him being a defensive liability. I agree that he was to some extent, but Bouchard to start this season made way more own errors than Bear during his worst stretch.
 
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