Player Discussion Evan Bouchard

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Comparisons in the NHL don't work like that, Makar signed his deal years ago and is now underpaid.

He'll probably get 13 - 15 mill+ on his next contract in 2 years.
Makar will get 15 for 4+ years then get even more after that. If we an get Bouchard for less than Nurse money so when Nurse retires exactly when that contract is done (or waiver wire contract termination would be cool) then we can afford Makar and dump Bouchard lol.
 
He currently leads the Oilers D in mins/game, goals, assists, points and +/-.
He leads the team in TOI/G and ES-TOI/G.
He's second on the Oilers in +/-, this team also has McDavid and Draisaitl.
He is 6th in the league in +/- this year and he was 5th last year.
He led the league in playoff +/- last year.
He was second in the NHL in points last year in the playoffs, and not just among defencemen.
He set the record for points in one playoff season by a defenceman last year.

What really grinds my gears with Bouchard is the amount of giveaways. He is tied with Karlsson for 2nd most giveways by a defenseman and it seems like a lot of these giveways are massive ones leading to breakaways, 2 on 1s, and point blank chances in the slot. Sure, the points are nice but if you have an “elite” defenseman making these amount of mistakes on a regular basis then they really shouldn’t be relied on to be the guy. Evan Bouchard is what he is. An Elite shot, low IQ defenseman.
 
With all the regression this year, part of me wonders if Bouch is fighting an injury. How else do you go from the second coming of Coffey to the second coming of Marc-Andre Bergeron in one season?
 
With all the regression this year, part of me wonders if Bouch is fighting an injury. How else do you go from the second coming of Coffey to the second coming of Marc-Andre Bergeron in one season?
I don't think so. These signs were present last year, which is why I brought it up in the thread. His fundamentals aren't great and therefore teams have adapted.

It was just clicking for Bouchard last year like it did when Nuge put up 104. Most of Bouchard's issues this year are mental. That would have nothing to do with an injury.
 
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I don't think so. These signs were present last year, which is why I brought it up in the thread. His fundamentals aren't great and therefore teams have adapted.

It was just clicking for Bouchard last year like it did when Nuge put up 104. Most of Bouchard's issues this year are mental. That would have nothing to do with an injury.
Maybe he turned down some really freakin good deals from the club for long term money thinking "I will outplay these expectations easily and walk away with more" and therefore got it in his head to play like he's worth double what he was offered but he's not playing to be worth double of $3,900,000 for very long with the crap plays he makes. Let him rack up the points in the playoffs but choke when it matters and he is RFA bait for sure. If he plays amazing and we win it all then he's worth whatever as well!
 
I'm not worried at all. Draisaitl used to have a problem of mid season duldrums and imo that's all that's with Bouchard right now. He was our best Dman in the playoffs imo. It's very likely he will dig down and clean things up when it matters
 
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What really grinds my gears with Bouchard is the amount of giveaways. He is tied with Karlsson for 2nd most giveways by a defenseman and it seems like a lot of these giveways are massive ones leading to breakaways, 2 on 1s, and point blank chances in the slot. Sure, the points are nice but if you have an “elite” defenseman making these amount of mistakes on a regular basis then they really shouldn’t be relied on to be the guy. Evan Bouchard is what he is. An Elite shot, low IQ defenseman.
D-men who play a lot and have the puck on their stick a lot tend to get credited with a lot of giveaways.
Here’s the top d-men in the league for giveaways

Weegar
Karlsson
Bouchard
Theodore
Hamilton
Carlson
Sanheim
Sergachev
Pietrangelo
Hanafin
Werenski
Hedman
Etc

Makar, who I think most consider the best dman in the league, is down at 23rd. He has 16 fewer giveaways than Bouchard. So basically Bouchard gives away the puck one extra time every 3-4 games.

Elite shot low IQ d-men don’t consistently have the elite results that Bouchard has had the last 2 seasons.
 
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Hopefully Bouch gets offer sheeted in the off-season. This franchise doesn't deserve good things after hiring Bowman.
The risk of them losing him to an offer sheet is minimal. It would take 4 firsts for them to even consider not matching. That is going to be around $12.5M. What team would possibly do that?
 
D-men who play a lot and have the puck on their stick a lot tend to get credited with a lot of giveaways.
Here’s the top d-men in the league for giveaways

Weegar
Karlsson
Bouchard
Theodore
Hamilton
Carlson
Sanheim
Sergachev
Pietrangelo
Hanafin
Werenski
Hedman
Etc

Makar, who I think most consider the best dman in the league, is down at 23rd. He has 16 fewer giveaways than Bouchard. So basically Bouchard gives away the puck one extra time every 3-4 games.

Elite shot low IQ d-men don’t consistently have the elite results that Bouchard has had the last 2 seasons.
Stats simply don't say the whole story. You have to watch the games. Bouchard's turnovers are bad ones. They are brain dead ones that come at inopportune times that usually end up with a very high danger chance against. I really don't get the need to keep defending the guy and don't understand why we can't just call it like it is.

Did anyone else hear Brian Burke and his quote's about Bouchard the other day?
"He keeps both teams in the game"
"He has a lot, a lot to learn if he wants to be a top player in this league"
 
What really grinds my gears with Bouchard is the amount of giveaways. He is tied with Karlsson for 2nd most giveways by a defenseman and it seems like a lot of these giveways are massive ones leading to breakaways, 2 on 1s, and point blank chances in the slot. Sure, the points are nice but if you have an “elite” defenseman making these amount of mistakes on a regular basis then they really shouldn’t be relied on to be the guy. Evan Bouchard is what he is. An Elite shot, low IQ defenseman.
Lmfao. McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov, MacKinnon, and Pastrnak are all frequently top 10 in the NHL for giveaways and they're arguably the 5 best forwards in the game today. The Hughes brothers, Hedman, Doughty, Karlsson, Carlson, Burns, Keith, Subban, Letang, Rielly, Theodore, Chabot, Weegar, Crosby, Malkin, Thornton, Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Barzal were also often high on the giveaways list during their best years and many still are.

Giveaways are not only not a sign of low IQ, it's actually a sign that a player dominates possession and drives offensive play because the puck is always on their stick. They are some of the best playmakers in the game. The only time it's a problem is if you're like Karl Alzner, Adam Larsson, Esa Lindell, Joel Edmundson etc and among league leaders in giveaways without generating any offense to compensate.

Stats simply don't say the whole story. You have to watch the games. Bouchard's turnovers are bad ones. They are brain dead ones that come at inopportune times that usually end up with a very high danger chance against. I really don't get the need to keep defending the guy and don't understand why we can't just call it like it is.

Did anyone else hear Brian Burke and his quote's about Bouchard the other day?
"He keeps both teams in the game"
"He has a lot, a lot to learn if he wants to be a top player in this league"
Bouchard's turnovers are so bad that he's 2nd in the entire NHL for 5v5 xGF% among defensemen with over 500 minutes and he causes so many high danger chances against that he's 4th in the entire league for 5v5 HDCF%. Yeah he's caused some goals against but so has every single top tier playdriving defenseman in the game and most of them can't generate the offense Bouchard does to make up for it. Your eye test is useless and the fact that you think Parayko is better than Bouchard is proof of that.

Also hilarious that you bring up Brian Burke as an appeal to authority when he frequently acquired pylon defensemen during his stint on the Leafs and the Flames. Heck the only time he saw success was when he was gifted giveaway leader mainstays Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer.
 
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Lmfao. McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov, MacKinnon, and Pastrnak are all frequently top 10 in the NHL for giveaways and they're arguably the 5 best forwards in the game today. The Hughes brothers, Hedman, Doughty, Karlsson, Carlson, Burns, Keith, Subban, Letang, Rielly, Theodore, Chabot, Weegar, Crosby, Malkin, Thornton, Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Barzal were also often high on the giveaways list during their best years and many still are.

Giveaways are not only not a sign of low IQ, it's actually a sign that a player dominates possession and drives offensive play because the puck is always on their stick. They are some of the best playmakers in the game. The only time it's a problem is if you're like Karl Alzner, Adam Larsson, Esa Lindell, Joel Edmundson etc and among league leaders in giveaways without generating any offense to compensate.


Bouchard's turnovers are so bad that he's 2nd in the entire NHL for 5v5 xGF% among defensemen with over 500 minutes and he causes so many high danger chances against that he's 4th in the entire league for 5v5 HDCF%. Yeah he's caused some goals against but so has every single top tier playdriving defenseman in the game and most of them can't generate the offense Bouchard does to make up for it. Your eye test is useless and the fact that you think Parayko is better than Bouchard is proof of that.

Also hilarious that you bring up Brian Burke as an appeal to authority when he frequently acquired pylon defensemen during his stint on the Leafs and the Flames. Heck the only time he saw success was when he was gifted giveaway leader mainstays Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer.
Hockey Canada must also be blind picking Parayko over Bouchard.

These corsi stats mean jack all when you can't be trusted to make simply plays out or make make costly giveaways.

Bouchard needs a baby sitter and the team will have to work around his dumb as doorknob mistakes. He is a valuable player for sure for his strengths but isn't close to a Makar or Hughes like some here try to equate him to.
 
Hockey Canada must also be blind picking Parayko over Bouchard.

These corsi stats mean jack all when you can't be trusted to make simply plays out or make make costly giveaways.

Bouchard needs a baby sitter and the team will have to work around his dumb as doorknob mistakes. He is a valuable player for sure for his strengths but isn't close to a Makar or Hughes like some here try to equate him to.
Regukar season...no
Playoffs....he's better
 
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Stats simply don't say the whole story. You have to watch the games. Bouchard's turnovers are bad ones. They are brain dead ones that come at inopportune times that usually end up with a very high danger chance against. I really don't get the need to keep defending the guy and don't understand why we can't just call it like it is.

Did anyone else hear Brian Burke and his quote's about Bouchard the other day?
"He keeps both teams in the game"
"He has a lot, a lot to learn if he wants to be a top player in this league"
I do watch the games. I just don’t let one or two bad turnovers colour my entire perception of the player.

And you’re right that stats don’t tell the whole story. But at the end of the day results are what matters. Bouchards results are among the very best in the league. When he’s on the ice the Oilers dominate.
 
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