Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | The Oilers Biggest Roster Need Is?

[SupremeTeam16]

There is a pretty clear correlation between goalie performance and the longer they work with Schwartz full time. Get rid of the guy already and see if a new voice can improve some of Skinners issues and get more consistent results out of him. It should have happened before Florida stole Sylvain Rodrigue away from us but that ship is sailed.

Get the check book out and try to swipe Ian Clark from Vancouver or another prominent goalie coach around the league by offering a fat contract and a title upgrade from what they’re currently doing.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Oh ok.

So how come the effect is even more pronounced at 5v5?

View attachment 936064

It's also not statistically that small a sample - it's like 45 minutes apart vs 368 minutes together. Around 12.5%.

yes it is....they've taken 1 offensive zone faceoff apart in 22 games ...and 2 minutes per game apart is tiny

also, this doesn't take into account the forwards Ekholm and Bouchard are playing with

 

[TheNumber4]

We must be getting Jiricek. Seeing as how we’re running Bouchard out of town.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

How do you actually know this though? Are you watching every game of every team every night?

You think Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar aren’t also making mistakes out there?

It’s what tends to happen when offensive dmen have the puck on their stick a lot.

of course not but the people voting for Norris trophy winners have never voted for Bouchard for a reason

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

No actually he's in the A right now. Can't even make CBJ bottom pair.

The thing about CBJ though is they already have 3 D-men in Werenski, Provorov, and Severson who bring an element of offensive risk at the expense of defense, so it is a quality already well duplicated in their line-up. Plus their forwards skew one-dimensional and have poor to non-existent fill-in coverage when d-men activate into the attack and when you combine that with being a weaker skater who can't get back into the play so the mistakes are more likely to be punished with a goal against.

The end result is the coaches have tried pushing his game to fit a different role then comes naturally to him with his skill set, with us though Coffey would have him playing his style with light tweaks and we have a much greater commitment to forwards covering for D when they activate.

 

[iCanada]

yes it is....they've taken 1 offensive zone faceoff apart in 22 games ...and 2 minutes per game apart is tiny

also, this doesn't take into account the forwards Ekholm and Bouchard are playing with

They've also taken 7 neutral zone faceoffs and 9 defensive zone faceoffs. These numbers are in line with the percentage of TOI vs total number of neutral and defensive zone faceoffs they've taken. They're also evenly split between Bouch and Ekholm.

Also worth noting - the Oilers have taken 109 shots, scored 8 goals, had 81 shots taken on them, and been scored on 6 times in that time frame, too.

Certainly though, they are put together when there is an offensive zone push.

It's also more like 4 minutes a game 5v5, because it's 45 minutes Bouchard without Ekholm and 42 minutes Ekholm without Bouchard.

It's basically a 3 game sample size of 5v5 play, given that the Ek/Bouch pairing typically plays 16:45 5v5. It's small, but it's not so absurdly small that it's likely absurdly skewed. It's statistically relevant I think.

 

[Spawn]

of course not but the people voting for Norris trophy winners have never voted for Bouchard for a reason

He finished 5th in voting last year…

Although bringing up the people voting is an interesting thought. You think they’re watching every game of every team every night? You think guys like Marc Spector and Jason Gregor are watching every game out there? Not a chance.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

of course not but the people voting for Norris trophy winners have never voted for Bouchard for a reason

Yeah, they only vote for noted defensive studs like karlsson

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

He finished 5th in voting last year…

Although bringing up the people voting is an interesting thought. You think they’re watching every game of every team every night? You think guys like Marc Spector and Jason Gregor are watching every game out there? Not a chance.

no but that's why you have a bunch of voters
do you think Bouchard is an elite defenseman?

Yeah, they only vote for noted defensive studs like karlsson

Haha fair enough but if Bouchard hit 100 points, he'd definitely win

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Top 5 in Norris voting last season, pretty much a lock for Team Canada. Some people must think he’s elite.

 

[Soundwave]

Bouchard is an elite talent who clearly helps the Oilers.

Now having said that, I think it's also fair to say he needs to cut the shit we saw in that Vegas game and especially the Toronto game out. That's horse shit play and it's correctable, so correct it. I don't want to see that kind of shit again and he should be bag skated if he does it.

 

[TheNumber4]

Bouch is gonna gain a reputation of a slow starter soon. Maybe another year of starting bad and then becoming one of, if not the best defenceman in the playoffs will get some guys off his back.

 

[Spawn]

no but that's why you have a bunch of voters
do you think Bouchard is an elite defenseman?

He very obviously is. The voters you seem to think are important agree, hence him finishing 5th in voting last season.

That doesn’t mean he’s a perfect player or can’t make the occasional horrible play.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

There is a pretty clear correlation between goalie performance and the longer they work with Schwartz full time. Get rid of the guy already and see if a new voice can improve some of Skinners issues and get more consistent results out of him. It should have happened before Florida stole Sylvain Rodrigue away from us but that ship is sailed.

Get the check book out and try to swipe Ian Clark from Vancouver or another prominent goalie coach around the league by offering a fat contract and a title upgrade from what they’re currently doing.

Yeah, unless there's some outside reason that Schwartz is remaining employed there's no reason to keep him around.

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

Man a few days without hockey gets some of you queens hissing and showing your claws to each other.

 

[Oilhawks]

100% Bouchard is elite, even if minus in the defensive side. When he’s in the zone his defensive game is solid too. Easily one of the best players in the playoffs last year, I mean, didn’t he match or break a Coffey record??

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

He very obviously is. The voters you seem to think are important agree, hence him finishing 5th in voting last season.

That doesn’t mean he’s a perfect player or can’t make the occasional horrible play.

placing 5th isn't that as high as you think, considering Hampus Lindholm finished 4th in voting in 2022-23 and no one would consider him "elite"

 

[iCanada]

Man a few days without hockey gets some of you queens hissing and showing your claws to each other.

 

[TheNumber4]

View attachment 936080

BW reference on HF. Bout time!

100% Bouchard is elite, even if minus in the defensive side. When he’s in the zone his defensive game is solid too. Easily one of the best players in the playoffs last year, I mean, didn’t he match or break a Coffey record??

The most points since Leetch and Coffey in a single playoffs run.

Some might call that generational production. I would.

This is a player the fanbase should be ecstatic of having. He’s superstar level like Drai and McD. We don’t get close to game 7 of cup finals without an elite number 1 like him.

 

[FlameChampion]

100% Bouchard is elite, even if minus in the defensive side. When he’s in the zone his defensive game is solid too. Easily one of the best players in the playoffs last year, I mean, didn’t he match or break a Coffey record??

One thing that gives me confidence with Bouchard is that hes at least been lights out in the playoffs over multiple seasons. I mean he made QHughes the “best dman in the league” look like a chump.

Cleaning up some his wtf brain lapses would be nice though lol

 

[Tobias Kahun]

no but that's why you have a bunch of voters
do you think Bouchard is an elite defenseman?


Haha fair enough but if Bouchard hit 100 points, he'd definitely win

Elite defenseman.

Absolutely, did you sleep through the playoffs where he was our second best player?

placing 5th isn't that as high as you think, considering Hampus Lindholm finished 4th in voting in 2022-23 and no one would consider him "elite"

Insert movinggoalposts.gif

 

[iCanada]

BW reference on HF. Bout time!

Glad I'm not the only nerd on here, lol.

Probably spent far too much of my life playing that game, and only managed to get B- on iCCup. And I guess token GM on SC2.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Elite defenseman.

Absolutely, did you sleep through the playoffs where he was our second best player?

cool, but that was last year
where is that this year? on pace for 56 points...

Insert movinggoalposts.gif

not moving goal posts...most people (including Norris voters) wouldn't consider him elite

 

[TheNumber4]

Glad I'm not the only nerd on here, lol.

Probably spent far too much of my life playing that game, and only managed to get B- on iCCup. And I guess token GM on SC2.

One of my all time games. Can always go back to it and have some games.

 

[Davo Ikinzom]

not moving goal posts...most people (including Norris voters) wouldn't consider him elite

I guess Hedman isn't elite either.