Player Discussion Evan Bouchard

[foshizzle]

He does have a lot to learn from klingberg. What it’s like to play with pain. How to manage the puck better under pressure. Hopefully he’s not of the opinion he had nothing to learn.

Bouchard already does these things way better than Klingberg. Klingberg has never put up the metrics defensively or offensively Bouchard has. Seriously, if the Oilers had won the cup last year- he was in the conversation of Conn Smyth. He’s had some struggles this year- and he is still putting up metrics Klingberg can only dream about. Every single playoffs Bouchard has played in- we have seen him take his game to another level. Guy handles the puck more than any other Oiler. Makes more passes than any other Oiler- some won’t work.

 

[AM]

Bouchard already does these things way better than Klingberg. Klingberg has never put up the metrics defensively or offensively Bouchard has. Seriously, if the Oilers had won the cup last year- he was in the conversation of Conn Smyth. He’s had some struggles this year- and he is still putting up metrics Klingberg can only dream about. Every single playoffs Bouchard has played in- we have seen him take his game to another level. Guy handles the puck more than any other Oiler. Makes more passes than any other Oiler- some won’t work.

Why do some fans think he has warts?

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Why do some fans think he has warts?

He does have warts. He's not as good at clearing the crease as some other defensemen and sometimes gives up on plays defensively. But even Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar, and heck, Niklas Lidstrom had imperfections in their game. Bouchard getting beaten on the rush by MacKinnon or losing a battle in front of the net doesn't suddenly mean he's not one of the best defensemen in the world.

 

[guymez]

He does have warts. He's not as good at clearing the crease as some other defensemen and sometimes gives up on plays defensively. But even Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar, and heck, Niklas Lidstrom had imperfections in their game. Bouchard getting beaten on the rush by MacKinnon or losing a battle in front of the net doesn't suddenly mean he's not one of the best defensemen in the world.

Its not his warts that are the issue for me. As you mentioned no player is perfect.
Its the sheer magnitude of how badly his play drops off when he has an off night.
Its embarrassingly bad.

When Bouchard is on he is IMO one of the top 5 offensive dmen in the NHL and slightly above average defenisvely.
When he is having an off night then his game bottoms out completely to the point where he is a liability.
The team is better off not having him on the ice.

I have posted this before...a true elite player simply cant have such an uneven game.
He has played 320 games in the NHL to this point...he simply has to make his game a little more even.

When he has an off night it just cant be as bad as it is now. He has to figure out a way to elevate the bad Bouchard from being a brutal dman to at least an average or slightly below average NHL dman.

 

[foshizzle]

Why do some fans think he has warts?

because he does have some warts- every single player in the league does

He does have warts. He's not as good at clearing the crease as some other defensemen and sometimes gives up on plays defensively. But even Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar, and heck, Niklas Lidstrom had imperfections in their game. Bouchard getting beaten on the rush by MacKinnon or losing a battle in front of the net doesn't suddenly mean he's not one of the best defensemen in the world.

Exactly

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Its not his warts that are the issue for me. As you mentioned no player is perfect.
Its the sheer magnitude of how badly his play drops off when he has an off night.
Its embarrassingly bad.

When Bouchard is on he is IMO one of the top 5 offensive dmen in the NHL and slightly above average defenisvely.
When he is having an off night then he is a liability. The team is better off not having him on the ice.

I have posted this before...a true elite player simply cant have such an uneven game.
He has played 320 games in the NHL to this point...he simply has to make his game a little more even.

When he has an off night it just cant be as bad as it is now. He has to figure out a way to elevate the bad Bouchard from being a brutal dman to at least an average or slightly below average NHL dman.

What are your thoughts about Quinn Hughes and Miro Heiskanen, because there were games in the playoffs last year where they looked like Marc-Andre Bergeron and Adam Larsson against us and just embarrassed themselves shift after shift, often with Evan Bouchard doing the embarrassing. The reality is that no matter how good of a player you are, if you're playing against the best players in the game, you're gonna have games where you look like a pylon.

As for Bouchard "when he's on" you're completely wrong. He's one of the top 5 offensive dmen in the NHL and slightly above average defensively across the entire regular season INCLUDING the bad games. When Bouchard is on, he is literally the best offensive defenseman in the entire NHL and a force of nature defensively, shattering playoff records left and right and making opposing Norris trophy contenders look like Cody Ceci in comparison. Could he use some more consistency and play with a bit more urgency in the regular season? Sure. But even with those bad games, he's still one of the best 5v5 defensemen in the league across the season, and I'm willing to let some poor regular season efforts slide. Because when May comes around, the Midgard serpent comes out and coils around the entire ice surface, putting up the best 5v5 goal differentials in the entire league, including McDavid, and going toe to toe with literally Leon Draisaitl in points production.

 

[guymez]

What are your thoughts about Quinn Hughes and Miro Heiskanen, because there were games in the playoffs last year where they looked like Marc-Andre Bergeron and Adam Larsson against us and just embarrassed themselves shift after shift, often with Evan Bouchard doing the embarrassing. The reality is that no matter how good of a player you are, if you're playing against the best players in the game, you're gonna have games where you look like a pylon.

As for Bouchard "when he's on" you're completely wrong. He's one of the top 5 offensive dmen in the NHL and slightly above average defensively across the entire regular season INCLUDING the bad games. When Bouchard is on, he is literally the best offensive defenseman in the entire NHL and a force of nature defensively, shattering playoff records left and right and making opposing Norris trophy contenders look like Cody Ceci in comparison. Could he use some more consistency and play with a bit more urgency in the regular season? Sure. But even with those bad games, he's still one of the best 5v5 defensemen in the league across the season, and I'm willing to let some poor regular season efforts slide. Because when May comes around, the Midgard serpent comes out and coils around the entire ice surface, putting up the best 5v5 goal differentials in the entire league, including McDavid, and going toe to toe with literally Leon Draisaitl in points production.

I have been watching hockey a long time and watched a lot of dmen over that time.
I think that the bad version of Bouchard is just AHL level bad. Ekholm is a major part of the reason that doesnt show up more in the stats.
Bouchard simply has to imporve that.

His bad games are extremely embarrassing IMO. Poor puck decisions...very poor defensive reads and little to no drive to recover defensively...very soft in front of his own net and very poor decisions in the offensive zone as well. All of that happens in the same game for Bouchard time and time again when he is off his game.
Way too brutal in all aspects to just shrug off.
Its something he has to work on...not letting his intensity drop off so much.
That absolutely has to factor into his next contract.

It would never ever happen but I would trade Bouchard for Makar in a second.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

I have been watching hockey a long time and watched a lot of dmen over that time.
I think that the bad version of Bouchard is just AHL level bad. Ekholm is a major part of the reason that doesnt show up more in the stats.
Bouchard simply has to imporve that.

His bad games are extremely embarrassing IMO. Way too brutal to just shrug off.
That absolutely has to factor into his next contract.

It would never ever happen but I would trade Bouchard for Makar in a second.

Imagine that, you'd trade Bouchard for the best D man in the NHL.

What a thought.

 

[Fishy McScales]

I have been watching hockey a long time and watched a lot of dmen over that time.
I think that the bad version of Bouchard is just AHL level bad. Ekholm is a major part of the reason that doesnt show up more in the stats.
Bouchard simply has to imporve that.

His bad games are extremely embarrassing IMO. Poor puck decisions...very poor defensive reads and little to no drive to recover defensively...very soft in front of his own net and very poor decisions in the offensive zone as well. All of that happens in the same game for Bouchard time and time again when he is off his game.
Way too brutal in all aspects to just shrug off.
Its something he has to work on...not letting his intensity drop off so much.
That absolutely has to factor into his next contract.

It would never ever happen but I would trade Bouchard for Makar in a second.

So would everyone else. Doesn't mean we aren't blessed to have Bouchard.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

I have been watching hockey a long time and watched a lot of dmen over that time.
I think that the bad version of Bouchard is just AHL level bad. Ekholm is a major part of the reason that doesnt show up more in the stats.
Bouchard simply has to imporve that.

His bad games are extremely embarrassing IMO. Poor puck decisions...very poor defensive reads and little to no drive to recover defensively...very soft in front of his own net and very poor decisions in the offensive zone as well. All of that happens in the same game for Bouchard time and time again when he is off his game.
Way too brutal in all aspects to just shrug off.
Its something he has to work on...not letting his intensity drop off so much.
That absolutely has to factor into his next contract.

It would never ever happen but I would trade Bouchard for Makar in a second.

If bad Bouchard is AHL level bad then boy are there a lot of AHL caliber defensemen in the NHL. Bouchard was already playing excellent hockey pre-Ekholm during his ELC and frequently tilted the ice in our favour. The only times he did poorly during the 17 game loss streak or whatever under Tippett where literally every player on the team was bad and early 2022-23 when he was stuck with Kulak. Ekholm for sure covers a lot of Bouchard's weaknesses but people like to gloss over how Bouchard took Ekholm's game to a completely new level too, because he wasn't even close to this impactful for the Preds. As it turns out, having one of the best breakout pass and transition guys in the NHL makes everyone better!

You can absolutely factor in his lack of effort moments into his next contract. And most people would trade Bouchard for Makar/Hughes as well. But he's sure as f*** better than Colton Parayko lmfao (moreso aiming this at Shattenshoes, I know you didn't claim that Parayko is better). Doesn't mean he's not one of the best defensemen in the NHL.

 

[guymez]

If bad Bouchard is AHL level bad then boy are there a lot of AHL caliber defensemen in the NHL. Bouchard was already playing excellent hockey pre-Ekholm during his ELC and frequently tilted the ice in our favour. The only times he did poorly during the 17 game loss streak or whatever under Tippett where literally every player on the team was bad and early 2022-23 when he was stuck with Kulak. Ekholm for sure covers a lot of Bouchard's weaknesses but people like to gloss over how Bouchard took Ekholm's game to a completely new level too, because he wasn't even close to this impactful for the Preds. As it turns out, having one of the best breakout pass and transition guys in the NHL makes everyone better!

You can absolutely factor in his lack of effort moments into his next contract. And most people would trade Bouchard for Makar/Hughes as well. But he's sure as f*** better than Colton Parayko lmfao (moreso aiming this at Shattenshoes, I know you didn't claim that Parayko is better). Doesn't mean he's not one of the best defensemen in the NHL.

Well you (and every other poster) are entitled to your opinion on Bouchard for sure but we all dont have to see the player the same way.
The bad Bouchard is very poor quality IMO and appears too much for my liking. I am not suggesting that they trade him BUT if I am the GM it would most certainly be part of the contract negotiations and it most certainly would influence cap hit and term.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

It’s weird seeing a poster who defends skinner every chance he get, harping on an actual elite player about his “lows”

 

[Soundwave]

It’s weird seeing a poster who defends skinner every chance he get, harping on an actual elite player about his “lows”

B ... bu ... but Stoeeeeey is Edmonton born babeeeeee! That changes the whole convo!

The double standards between Bouchard (a way, way better player than Skinner) and Stuey himself is hilarious too.

 

[Mr Kot]

Why do some fans think he has warts?

Maybe he means literal warts

 

[AM]

Maybe he means literal warts

He’s the best young defender to play for the oilers in 30 years.

I was actually pretty surprised when he stepped up his defensive game.

It was miraculous to see.

Maybe he needs a little more consistency.

 

[Sethual]

How can Bouchard be a good defenseman when he "learns" from self-crease-crashing "Big Boy" Darnell Nurse? Dude played an old man to get his 12 million dollar contract and now Bouchard will want to be paid more than Draisaitl if his agent gets his way. Oilers have been ran incompetently for so long but hey thats the Bettman plan baby. Never let us have players in their prime lets get their washed out corpses and whos in net again... oh who cares! It's all about having "fun!". Fun = money. Team aint getting a dime out of me for wasting ten years of McDavid I just wish him the best on his new team.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

How can Bouchard be a good defenseman when he "learns" from self-crease-crashing "Big Boy" Darnell Nurse? Dude played an old man to get his 12 million dollar contract and now Bouchard will want to be paid more than Draisaitl if his agent gets his way. Oilers have been ran incompetently for so long but hey thats the Bettman plan baby. Never let us have players in their prime lets get their washed out corpses and whos in net again... oh who cares! It's all about having "fun!". Fun = money. Team aint getting a dime out of me for wasting ten years of McDavid I just wish him the best on his new team.

Cool story