Bad look for Evan Bouchard...ducks a hit and controller disconnects

[Connor McConnor]

Please find me a player with Mcdavid stats or even less where another player plays with that said player, and is a minus. I'll be waiting....
Point is, I could lace up my skates, play along Mcdavid, and be a positive player.

People have posted several times already that Bouchard has positive numbers playing without McDavid but we still get people like you who can’t/wont read and just post their same nonsense repeatedly

The issue isn't the offence, the issue is that he flat out refuses to even try to play like an NHLer in his own zone. When you're that much of a defensive liability, you're hurting the team no matter how many points you put up.

 

[HTFN]

You really comparing Bouchard to Dumolin and Marino?

Is that the extent of your literacy?

As players? No. As players getting a hype job based on one season and good fancy stats while fans assure us that this is going to be the norm for years... yes, absolutely. We've done this so many times over the years and these players often don't, in fact, become multi-year Norris threats.

You're doing the same thing. It doesn't matter how much you like him or how confident you are, you aren't going to sway people until he's done it a few years. In the meantime don't drag out a lot of rope so as to hang yourself later if he's just another blip on the radar in the long term.

I'm not even saying anything about his quality, people just need to cool it on the "going to be a fixture for years" assertions. If it happened as often as it was assured we'd have 20+ top 5 Norris candidates.

 

[Fantomas]

Playoffs will answer some pressing questions about Bouchard. Last year he was good.

 

[Czechboy]

BUT he got burned for 2 bad goals against to AHL talents Austin Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon... What a loser!

 

[Ol' Jase]

Please find me a player with Mcdavid stats or even less where another player plays with that said player, and is a minus. I'll be waiting....
Point is, I could lace up my skates, play along Mcdavid, and be a positive player.

Of all the ridiculous assertions on this board, and there are so many, this is by far the dumbest.

 

[Czechboy]

'Soft deployment with McDavid.... '

 

[boredmale]

 

[GreeningOil]

The Ekholm & Bouchard Pairing has been one of the best in the NHL.

The pictures here back up the story:
1. the first screenshot shows expected goals for %. They’re 1st for pairings over 233 minutes together (arbitrary slider)

2. Actual goals for & against. They’re #2 in the NHL. Notably, this pairing has better numbers than all but 1 pairing.

Flame away, but Bouchard deserves credit for not only being a positive player, but being part of an elite pairing.