Bouchard is a perfect example of stats telling a very different story from what the player has truly been because the mistakes he does make are ill timed horrendous mistakes that you rarely see from true top pairing Dmen.
You see the numbers - 14 goals, 67 points in 81 games and a +14 and 3 assists and +1 in the playoff game and think he's having a great year just by the numbers but anybody who has watched him play can see how brutal defensively he's been this season and terrible with puck management. I'd love to do a deep dive into the numbers but there has to be a reason why the numbers and eye test paint a completely different story. McDrai inflation is the best answer I can come up with.
Conversely, you see Nurse's and metrics which are weaker in comparison to Bouchard and I think he's had a far better year than Bouchard. He's the anti-McDrai inflation guy.
Long story short, I don't think they can afford to give Bouchard the franchise contract he's seeking and expect to be Cup competitive for long. I have no idea what to do with him. I think trading him would be a mistake but also think signing him long term would be a mistake. Even a bridge deal will be pricey for what he is. This guy was a borderline top 10 Dman last year and now I'm not sure what he is, product of Ekholm perhaps?
To me it's a classic...
He's a possession guy until he's F'n oh-my-gawd-why-did-you-do-that NOT. He makes pro-offense plays with the puck on the first 4 touches every shift, high risk plays often, that nobody else can make (or would try) and then he coughs up a pizza or an braindead pinch and it's a breakaway against.
I've been saying this all year... this is
part of the reason our goalies' stats are putrid. You don't bank a good SPCT when your team has the puck 80% of the night except when they give up a breakaway. The other reason of course, is that our goalies are not good... but I'm telling you that's only half of the problem.
Sadly I don't know where I can find stats to back up my claim... HDSC doesn't really do it, we all know that we are reasonably good at boxing out once in our zone (which is where such numbers accumulate)... but it's the much rarer, but far more lethal, odd man, river hockey, rushes against that kill us.
Also of interest: according to Moneypuck we are 5th worst in rebound goals against, 6th worst in own-zone giveaways and 2nd worst in blocked shots. Which begs the question... are we truly good defensively, or we just have the puck a lot more than the other team?
To me, those stats above are symptoms of Bouchard's double edged sword type of play. He's butter soft defensively, but he usually has the puck moving productively in the right direction because he sees the ice really well... what he doesn't do is have any sense of moderation or self-control in threading a Hail Mary stretch pass.
