Quinnn Hughes vs Evan Bouchard

[Iggys Dome]

Not taking contracts into account, who would you rather have on your team?

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[La Bamba]

Hughes is better right now but I think Bouchard has a higher ceiling offensively

 

[ORRFForever]

D-Men tend to be late bloomers. Previous to this series, Hughes 100%. And, perhaps I will feel the same way going forward, but Bouchard has made some huge steps. He's also bigger and more physical.

We'll know more by the 2026 Olympics.

 

[Three On Zero]

Hughes can do more with less. He doesn’t have a McDavid in front of him and a Ekholm beside him, more dynamic with the puck.

Bouchard does have a good shot though

 

[ORRFForever]

Hughes is better right now but I think Bouchard has a higher ceiling offensively

Their stats this year were remarkable similar.

 

[Akrapovince]

Hughes can do more with less. He doesn’t have a McDavid in front of him and a Ekholm beside him, maore dynamic with the puck.

Bouchard does have a good shot though

Hughes is also more responsible and can make up for any mistakes with his skating.

Just ask yourself, who do you trust more as the last defensemen back? Who do you trust more making a move at the blue line? Who do you trust more when deciding when to pinch or not?

One of the all time great performance from Bouchard this series, but I need a little more to put him in front of Hughes.

 

[rea]

I know why this thread was created, but its a ridiculous one and no legitimate person would vote for anyone besides hughes.

You guys won the series and he contributed, but as I've pointed out in another thread, with Hughes, no fan ever says oh f*** we got this version of Hughes this game, something I saw frequently from the Oilers fan base.

Bouchard, I can give him respect for putting up points these playoffs and year for that matter, he's doing it with 2 of the top 5 best players in the league, and he can still be a tire fire on defense.

There's a reason why the Oilers were consistently purposeful trying to body Hughes and push him, it's cuz of his importance. I can't say Bouchard was anything more than an afterthought for the canucks.

Just my opinion, as you were

 

[Macheteops]

Hughes for sure. Bouchard was much better in that series though. Hughes likely not playing anywhere close to 100%

 

[ORRFForever]

Hughes is also more responsible and can make up for any mistakes with his skating.

Just ask yourself, who do you trust more as the last defensemen back? Who do you trust more making a move at the blue line? Who do you trust more when deciding when to pinch or not?

One of the all time great performance from Bouchard this series, but I need a little more to put him in front of Hughes.

Hughes has been blessed with better goaltending. If we've learned nothing from watching Oiler games in recent years, their goalies are not going to bail their D-Men out.

If you screw up in the Oiler zone, it's going to cost you a goal.
If you screw up in the Vancouver zone, it is far less likely to end up in your net.

 

[Zanon]

I know why this thread was created, but its a ridiculous one and no legitimate person would vote for anyone besides hughes.

You guys won the series and he contributed, but as I've pointed out in another thread, with Hughes, no fan ever says oh f*** we got this version of Hughes this game, something I saw frequently from the Oilers fan base.

Bouchard, I can give him respect for putting up points these playoffs and year for that matter, he's doing it with 2 of the top 5 best players in the league, and he can still be a tire fire on defense.

There's a reason why the Oilers were consistently purposeful trying to body Hughes and push him, it's cuz of his importance. I can't say Bouchard was anything more than an afterthought for the canucks.

Just my opinion, as you were

Exactly. You really think the Canucks were honing in on Evan Bouchard this series? No. That energy was spent trying to shutdown McDavid and Draisaitl. Canucks’ offense this season ran through Hughes. That’s who you go after. That’s who you punish every chance you get. It’s what the Predators did and it definitely took a toll on him by Game 3 in Nashville.

 

[Breakers]

Their stats this year were remarkable similar.

10 point difference is remarkably similar?

 

[ORRFForever]

Exactly. You really think the Canucks were honing in on Evan Bouchard this series? No. That energy was spent trying to shutdown McDavid and Draisaitl. Canucks’ offense this season ran through Hughes and then Miller.

Vancouver isn't exactly lacking offensively. The Oilers, other than hitting Hughes every time they could, weren't concentrating on Hughes.

 

[Akrapovince]

Hughes has been blessed with better goaltending. If we've learned nothing from watching Oiler games in recent years, their goalies are not going to bail their D-Men out.

If you screw up in the Oiler zone, it's going to cost you a goal.
If you screw up in the Vancouver zone, it is far less likely to end up in your net.

Let’s not even talk about the end result that equates to either a goal or save.

The fact is, if Hughes gives the puck up at the blue line, he has the ability to come back and recover or has the hockey iq to know that his partner can cut off, or understand that he should pick up the trailer.

I don’t have that trust in Bouchard yet, regardless of who is in net for either team.

Giving up the puck at the blue line, turning the puck over in front of the net, blowing assignments are all bad, whether the puck ends up in your net or not. These things happen, I just think the thing that separates Hughes from Bouchard right now is minimizing them and recovering when it happens.

 

[ORRFForever]

10 point difference is remarkably similar?

It's not a huge difference. All the other numbers were very similar.

 

[ijuka]

I know why this thread was created, but its a ridiculous one and no legitimate person would vote for anyone besides hughes.

You guys won the series and he contributed, but as I've pointed out in another thread, with Hughes, no fan ever says oh f*** we got this version of Hughes this game, something I saw frequently from the Oilers fan base.

Bouchard, I can give him respect for putting up points these playoffs and year for that matter, he's doing it with 2 of the top 5 best players in the league, and he can still be a tire fire on defense.

There's a reason why the Oilers were consistently purposeful trying to body Hughes and push him, it's cuz of his importance. I can't say Bouchard was anything more than an afterthought for the canucks.

Just my opinion, as you were

An afterthought that has 20 points as a defenseman and leads the playoffs in ES scoring, right?

 

[ORRFForever]

Let’s not even talk about the end result that equates to either a goal or save.

The fact is, if Hughes gives the puck up at the blue line, he has the ability to come back and recover or has the hockey iq to know that his partner can cut off, or understand that he should pick up the trailer.

I don’t have that trust in Bouchard yet, regardless of who is in net for either team.

If posters are going to bring McDavid and Drai into the equation, the goaltending is open for discussion as well.

 

[Breakers]

It's not a huge difference. All the other numbers were very similar.

Still a 10 point difference
hence the reason one is favored to win the norris and the other isnt a finalist

so i wouldnt call that remarkably similar

 

[ORRFForever]

Still a 10 point difference
hence the reason one is favored to win the norris and the other isnt a finalist

so i wouldnt call that remarkably similar

There's 10 point difference in the playoffs - but going the other way. And, over far less games.

 

[GreeningOil]

Exactly. You really think the Canucks were honing in on Evan Bouchard this series? No. That energy was spent trying to shutdown McDavid and Draisaitl. Canucks’ offense this season ran through Hughes. That’s who you go after. That’s who you punish every chance you get. It’s what the Predators did and it definitely took a toll on him by Game 3 in Nashville.

You don’t think the coach was trying to hone in on a guy who scored 4 goals in the series already?

If so, that is some horrible coaching

 

[ORRFForever]

My point is : Bouchard has made HUGE strides in the last 2 years. Let's see where this goes.

 

[Zanon]

Their stats this year were remarkable similar.

One of the big reasons why Hughes will win the Norris this season. The dude just always had the puck on his stick. Like I said, the offense ran through him. He was like a quarterback on D.

 

[Akrapovince]

If people are going to bring McDavid and Drai into the equation, the goaltending is open for discussion as well.

I’ll start off by saying Vancouver has a lot of offensive weapons as well, but equating goaltending to my original post and offensive production isn’t the same at all.

Your quality of team mates have a definite effect on your offensive output. A goalie really doesn’t have any effect on how you view a defender if you are knowledgeable enough about hockey.

If defender 1 is playing a two on one and defends neither the shot or pass and then ends up challenging the puck carrier who passes it over, but the goalie makes an incredible save- I’m going to view it as a terrible defensive play despite it not going in.

If defender 2 covers for his pinching defender, then is placed in a two on one and plays the pass while still challenging the puck carrier and bats down a saucer pass cross seam but it takes a bad bounce and into the net for a goal- I’m going to view it as a good defensive play.

Having a good goalie only covers defensive deficiencies of a player if you aren’t watching the game. I’m not saying this is true about Bouchard or not, because he’s been good this post season but I just don’t see goaltenders really disprove my point.

 

[ORRFForever]

View attachment 873827
One of the big reasons why Hughes will win the Norris this season. The dude just always had the puck on his stick. Like I said, the offense ran through him. He was like a quarterback on D.

Fair enough and, like I said, in the past Hughes has been the better D-Man. He may be the better D-Man going forward. But Bouchard has made huge strides in the last 2 years so let's see where this goes.

Anyway, I am going to bed - I can see this getting ugly and I don't want to be up all night replying to posts.

I’ll start off by saying Vancouver has a lot of offensive weapons as well, but equating goaltending to my original post and offensive production isn’t the same at all.

Your quality of team mates have a definite effect on your offensive output. A goalie really doesn’t have any effect on how you view a defender if you are knowledgeable enough about hockey.

If defender 1 is playing a two on one and defends neither the shot or pass and then ends up challenging the puck carrier who passes it over, but the goalie makes an incredible save- I’m going to view it as a terrible defensive play despite it not going in.

If defender 2 covers for his pinching defender, then is placed in a two on one and plays the pass while still challenging the puck carrier and bats down a saucer pass cross seam but it takes a bad bounce and into the net for a goal- I’m going to view it as a good defensive play.

Having a good goalie only covers defensive deficiencies of a player if you aren’t watching the game. I’m not saying this is true about Bouchard or not, because he’s been good this post season but I just don’t see goaltenders really disprove my point.

Of course a goaltender makes a huge difference. To deny that is silly.

 

[Breakers]

There's 10 point difference in the playoffs - but going the other way. And, over far less games.

What does that have to do with your original remark of them being remarkably similar in the regular season?

 

[Akrapovince]

Fair enough and, like I said, in the past Hughes has been the better D-Man. He may be the better D-Man going forward. But Bouchard has made huge strides in the last 2 years so let's see where this goes.

Anyway, I am going to bed - I can see this getting ugly and I don't want to be up all night replying to posts.


Of course a goaltender makes a huge difference. To deny that is silly.

I just proved to you that it doesn’t in evaluating how good a defender is though? Lol

How does a goalie making a save excuse a dog shit defensive play?

A bad play is bad regardless of whether the goalie makes a save or not. Simple as that. So bringing in goalies really doesn’t show anything.

If Hughes OR Bouchard turns over the puck at the blue line it’s a bad play regardless if the goalie makes a save or not, so how can a goaltender cover up for a defensemen if you watch the games?