2018 Draft: 1st pick: Evan Bouchard (D) - Signs ELC

[Mcnotloilersfan]

All these guys went back to Junior/college

Bouchard has had the same amount of developmental years as these players

 

[CornKicker]

Don’t change your diet, etc. based on the nonsense posted here.

he means don't change your diet based on the information here unless you are trying to get faster

 

[bucks_oil]

IIRC only Ekblad and Doughty stepped in right after being drafted though. Ghost and Werenski came in the year afterwards (D+2)

Ugh.... my Safari just crashed, like literally, as I was typing the last words of a post that went through every draft in the last 10 years. In 7 of those drafts at least one, and a couple times 2 or 3 guys stuck around in the NHL. No time to go through year by year again, but...

Notables not mentioned: Cam Fowler, Noah Hanifin, Adam Larsson, Victor Hedman, Seth Jones, Risto, Kulikov

It didn't seem to hurt any of them.... perhaps Larsson and Kulikov may have benefited from more time to explore their offensive potential, but it's arguable.

 

[Bank Shot]

Ugh.... my Safari just crashed, like literally, as I was typing the last words of a post that went through every draft in the last 10 years. In 7 of those drafts at least one, and a couple times 2 or 3 guys stuck around in the NHL. No time to go through year by year again, but...

Notables not mentioned: Cam Fowler, Noah Hanifin, Adam Larsson, Victor Hedman, Seth Jones, Risto, Kulikov

It didn't seem to hurt any of them.... perhaps Larsson and Kulikov may have benefited from more time to explore their offensive potential, but it's arguable.

Most of them weren't very good in their first season though.

Fowler put up points but was -25. Larsson got sent back to the minors. Risto actually played AHL his first year.

Hedman and Doughty and Jones were the only D-men that stepped in and were actually good their first season and Bouchard isn't the same class of prospect as those players.

 

[McFlyingV]

Drai had a noticeable difference in skating after his rookie year. Spent most of the summer putting power into his legs with off ice workouts. He didn't even bother with skating drills until late in the summer as well.

Draisaitl’s work in summer pays off in November and December

That's generally how you do it with most sports. Improvements in strength and power in the gym first, and then try to transfer those improvements into the sport movements.

 

[Hockey Nightmare]

I'm not bothering with skating drills till August either. See you guys at tryouts.

 

[joestevens29]

The problem for any prospect that has never made it to even a training camp is they don’t realize just how good or bad they really are yet.

We’ve had three high profile picks that had skating issues. Schremp, Draisaitl and eberle.

It took eberle two years to get going. It was tough on fans as in his limited AHL games he dominated, but the team didn’t like his speed

Draisaitl got his pot of coffee and realized fairly quickly he needed to get faster

Schremp, well he pretended to work on his skating, but made it very clear his last year here that is skating wasn’t an issue

Hopefully Bouchard figures it out quickly, but don’t be shocked if we don’t see the improvement until next year

 

[Aerrol]

Ugh.... my Safari just crashed, like literally, as I was typing the last words of a post that went through every draft in the last 10 years. In 7 of those drafts at least one, and a couple times 2 or 3 guys stuck around in the NHL. No time to go through year by year again, but...

Notables not mentioned: Cam Fowler, Noah Hanifin, Adam Larsson, Victor Hedman, Seth Jones, Risto, Kulikov

It didn't seem to hurt any of them.... perhaps Larsson and Kulikov may have benefited from more time to explore their offensive potential, but it's arguable.

Hm, fair enough. I guess a lot of them slip in my mind because they had pretty forgettable rookie seasons. But yeah, didn't seem to hurt Jones, Hedman, Fowler much. Arguable about Hanifin, Risto, Larsson and Kulikov IMO.

But your main point that it's not as rare as it seems is well taken.

 

[bucks_oil]

Most of them weren't very good in their first season though.

Fowler put up points but was -25. Larsson got sent back to the minors. Risto actually played AHL his first year.

Hedman and Doughty and Jones were the only D-men that stepped in and were actually good their first season and Bouchard isn't the same class of prospect as those players.

Agree with the latter... but I think we'd be pretty pleased with a Fowler-like season out of Bouchard, so that's why I commented on him as a comparable. The limit of my hopes for Bouchard if he plays this season are:

• 10-12 ES minutes of highly sheltered bottom pairing ice
• 3-5 mins of 1st pairing PP time
• 25 points, 80% of which are PP
• Let him start as a specialist and he can grow into a more well-rounded player with time

That means essentially that we need to get 23 mins out of our top pairing and 21-22 minutes out of our 2nd pairing. Russel (I'm assuming Bouchard's partner on the bottom pairing) can absorb a few extra minutes of PK.

 

[PaPaDee]

I'm hesitant having Bouchard play with the big club next season. Having said that, I want to see him in some game action first.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Most of them weren't very good in their first season though.

Fowler put up points but was -25. Larsson got sent back to the minors. Risto actually played AHL his first year.

Hedman and Doughty and Jones were the only D-men that stepped in and were actually good their first season and Bouchard isn't the same class of prospect as those players.

Bouchard is easily in the same prospect class as those dmen were. I would argue above in fact. Just remains to be seen if he hits his ultimate ceiling. Further development is of course needed but he definitely has the potential to be an elite #1 dman.

 

[Hockey Nightmare]

^There is no way he's in that class yet. Those guys were all taken in the top 4. It would've been top 2 if Jones hadn't inexplicably fallen.

 

[LaGu]

Most of them weren't very good in their first season though.

Fowler put up points but was -25. Larsson got sent back to the minors. Risto actually played AHL his first year.

Hedman and Doughty and Jones were the only D-men that stepped in and were actually good their first season and Bouchard isn't the same class of prospect as those players.

Larsson didn't get sent to the minors. He was actually pretty great (for a rookie D) until Subban laid him out. The next season he went to the minors. I watched many of his games as a rookie, great poise and confidence. All went away after that hit, he probably needed a shrink after that, not a demotion...


Anyway, that said, I agree with some of the rest

 

[nexttothemoon]

^There is no way he's in that class yet. Those guys were all taken in the top 4. It would've been top 2 if Jones hadn't inexplicably fallen.

His stats in Junior are easily as good as any of those players in their draft years. Remains to be seen obviously if he can continue to develop well and reach his ceiling at the NHL level but I'm going by how well they performed in their draft years before they were drafted... and Bouchard is easily in that same class and above imo.

Grass isn't always greener elsewhere. Bouchard was drafted 10th but that doesn't make him a worse player.

If pushed I'd probably rate them like this in their draft years:

Hedman
Bouchard
Doughty
S. Jones

... and the spread between Hedman and Bouchard isn't that big.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Rookie season point totals:

Doughty 27 pts -23
S. Jones 25 pts -17
Hedman 20 pts -3

Do I think Bouchard can put up similar/better point totals in his rookie season with the Oilers... absolutely.

Bouchard is actually very underrated by most/all. The fact he was taken at #10 will be long forgotten after he plays at the NHL level.

Well... not forgotten by the 9 teams that passed on him.

 

[Bank Shot]

His stats in Junior are easily as good as any of those players in their draft years. Remains to be seen obviously if he can continue to develop well and reach his ceiling at the NHL level but I'm going by how well they performed in their draft years before they were drafted... and Bouchard is easily in that same class and above imo.

There is more to hockey than point totals. Guys like Hedman, Doughty, and Jones had far superior skating to Bouchard among other things.

I think you have your head in the sand if you think Bouchard is a better prospect than any of those other players were.

 

[nexttothemoon]

There is more to hockey than point totals. Guys like Hedman, Doughty, and Jones had far superior skating to Bouchard among other things.

I think you have your head in the sand if you think Bouchard is a better prospect than any of those other players were.

I'm likely more optimistic than most and obviously he needs to work on his skating and defense. Those other dmen didn't instantly look great in the NHL either. It does take time to adapt and acclimatize to the NHL level and Bouchard will have to go through that as well.

Offensively he is as good as those other dmen in their draft years and I think his skating and defense is underrated if anything.

It's probably good that he doesn't have that added pressure of being a #1 pick or even a top 5 pick. He can go about his business of developing his weaknesses and becoming an all-around great dman without quite as much intense scrutiny that #1 picks Yak/Hall/RNH had every time they had a step back.

 

[Fourier]

Most of them weren't very good in their first season though.

Fowler put up points but was -25. Larsson got sent back to the minors. Risto actually played AHL his first year.

Hedman and Doughty and Jones were the only D-men that stepped in and were actually good their first season and Bouchard isn't the same class of prospect as those players.

This is pretty much par for the course with any rookie defenseman. It likely does not matter when his first year is there will be struggles. If he is ready to try then he should play. If there is a better option go with that.

 

[Bank Shot]

This is pretty much par for the course with any rookie defenseman. It likely does not matter when his first year is there will be struggles. If he is ready to try then he should play. If there is a better option go with that.

Yeah every rookie defenceman is going to have blips, but there are way more success stories when it comes to 20 year old seasons than 18 year old ones.

I'm of the mind that he shouldn't even get considered for 9 games unless he dramatically outplays everyone in camp.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Yeah every rookie defenceman is going to have blips, but there are way more success stories when it comes to 20 year old seasons than 18 year old ones.

I'm of the mind that he shouldn't even get considered for 9 games unless he dramatically outplays everyone in camp.

That's fair. Let his play dictate whether he remains on the team or not. I don't know if we can expect him to be leagues better than Nurse/Larsson but yes if he is better than even those two in camp... no reason not to give him a spot on the team to start the season.

 

[Fourier]

Yeah every rookie defenceman is going to have blips, but there are way more success stories when it comes to 20 year old seasons than 18 year old ones.

I'm of the mind that he shouldn't even get considered for 9 games unless he dramatically outplays everyone in camp.

The thing is that the role that Bouchard needs to be ready for is different than what one might expect out of most defensemen. The Oilers can shelter him defensively but let him learn how to be impactful on the pp. That is a role better suited to young defensemen than a more two way or defensive oriented role.

I am not advocating for Bouchard to play on the big club. But if he can contribute he should play. I have always been of the mind that for the very best learning with the best is the way to go.

 

[Soundwave]

His defensive game is not ready, it's probably below where Justin Schultz was coming into the Oilers at this point. It can improve yes, but rushing him into the NHL is not the way to do it. He's going to be like -30 if the Oilers bring him up for the year, it's a stupid idea.

Let him play in the World Juniors and go on a Memorial Cup run, get another year of strength training in the gym, a taste of NHL training camp, maybe a handful of NHL games .... he will be much more polished a year from now.

Offensively he has good instincts for sure, defensively his game needs work still, trying to develop that at an NHL level is a bad idea. Oilers need to err on the side of caution, extra time in junior is not going to hurt him even if he's better than other players, it did not hurt Leon to go back. Players can always use the time to get stronger/faster and focus on their weaknesses in a protected environment.

This year should be focused more on giving Ethan Bear more of a look and seeing what we have in that player. Let Bear start in the AHL and then ease him into more NHL games later on. Next year, Bouchard gets a good look.

 

[DaGap]

I send him to Europe to start playing against men. A 4th yr in jr wont help him, if anything it will allow him to cheat too much

 

[Bank Shot]

I send him to Europe to start playing against men. A 4th yr in jr wont help him, if anything it will allow him to cheat too much

Another year in junior will help him if he gives a damn about getting better.

If he doesn't care then nothing will help him.

He's not Bobby Orr at the junior level. There are challenges there for him. Also it's a great atmosphere to focus on pure hockey. The guys stay with a billet family that takes care of all their meals and such. Great atmosphere for hockey development.

 

[Soundwave]

Yeah another year of junior won't hurt him IMO. He can focus on his skating and defensive reads, getting in the gym and gaining more strength, playing at the World Juniors, the Memorial Cup ... and also will have the experience of NHL camp + preseason + maybe a few games.

If he's not committed to getting better, that's on him.