The trouble with that comparison is Bouchard was *excellent* from the moment he stepped into the league. He had a defined role, and a defined skillset, and did those things exceptionally well from the word go. Broberg has been all over the place. He's looked great in spots, he's looked terrible in spots, he gets healthy for a few weeks, then he gets dinged up, and has to start back at square one and now his choices are to play the off side and hope to be one of a small handful of defencemen that are actually good on their off side, or play 8 minutes a night in an 11-7 system.
The chances of a Broberg trade biting the Oilers in the ass are decent, but it almost doesn't matter. If there's a trade out there that can help the Oilers cup chances around Broberg, I think they should take it. Hard no to dealing him for something stupid like a 2nd and a prospect though, that's silly.
Bouchard’s retrieval skills were pretty bad going into last year. His first decision in retrieval was even worse, and he was a second behind making decisions…. So he took a major step, showing he’s probably going to run a pair pretty effectively at this level. He still has those brain farts but they’re more because he’s trying to do too much at times. That will get better as he further matures.
You’re right about Broberg being more “all over the place” with his mistakes, injuries, etc. If it’s not one thing, it’s the other. If it’s two steps forward, it’s a step back in another area. The flashes are there though. Some of it could be maturity, being afraid to make mistakes, etc, but the overall game is there to be a very solid player.
That doesn’t mean he ever puts it together but you have to give him that opportunity this season, before thinking of moving him. At least I think so.
Obviously if there’s a deal out there tonight that gives them a piece for the next couple of years, who’s going to help them much more, they have to really think about doing it.
My problem is when Kenny gets in those moods to make a change like this, they’ll end up giving Broberg up for Ben Chiarot. A player prone to make huge mistakes… He will sell a player like Chiarot as if he’s Ekholm 2.0 too. Making sure we all understand Detroit retained for the next couple of years and how he’s going to be a big contributor, etc, etc. That they just made the decision Broberg wasn’t quite ready yet, “but got a great player in return.” Meanwhile Broberg goes to Detroit and puts it together rather quickly and next summer people wish for that trade back.
I’ve seen Holland do it more than not. For every Schneider, Chelios and Brad Stuart he went and got, there was a Mironov (or two), Kyle Quincey and several others who really didn’t make an impact, but he sold them to the fan base as impact players.
I guess it’s the chance you take with Kenny and he’s not getting any younger. I just think they need to be careful on this one. Broberg has the tools to bite you pretty badly. To be fair to Kenny, he did trade Anders Erikkson in that Chelios deal and he was supposed to be a really good dman. So it does work sometimes, but I’d say with Kenny, flip a coin.
