Player Discussion Evan Bouchard: One for the Money, Two for the Bouch

[oobga]

My bad.

I was thinking trade Barrie. I never considered Bear the Bouch block.



3 years of Barrie at 4.5 isn't ideal.

Wish we knew what we had in Bouch last summer. Appreciate Barrie signing what seemed like a discount at the time, but it's not really a discount anymore. Just waiting for his McDavid time to look decent, which he was given infinite amounts of last season.

Anywho, back to praising the Bouch! So happy with how he's turning out.

 

[Czechboy]

Larsson leaving threw things for a bit of a monkey wrench. I consider Bear and Barrie as 3RD's, Bear is probably better defensively while Barrie is better offensively. Both need a string and good skating LD to compensate for their weaknesses.

Definitely... I don't see Bear ever being the straw that stirs the drink. No question Barrie is better offensively - offensive wizard. He is fun to watch when we have the puck. Not so much when we don't.lol

All being equal.. I'd take Bear, Bouch and Ceci and the extra 2.5 mill in cap to address other needs. I think what we lose in Barrie points gets made up for with Bouch on 1PP and the extra points he picks up there. Bear improves our 5 on 5 and D coverage.

but my view isn't based on 'Bear is great'... it's more that I like Bouch a lot and am not a fan of the Barrie term and contract as I think he'll eventually lose the PP job and when the points dry up he'll just be a poor 3D gettting outscored and overpaid. Hope I'm wrong but I would put Bouch on PP1 tonight and not take him off.

 

[Czechboy]

So happy with how he's turning out.

My Fav D! If he got traded I'd probably follow that team on the side.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Wish we knew what we had in Bouch last summer. Appreciate Barrie signing what seemed like a discount at the time, but it's not really a discount anymore. Just waiting for his McDavid time to look decent, which he was given infinite amounts of last season.

Anywho, back to praising the Bouch! So happy with how he's turning out.

Honestly many of us already did know what we had. Maybe not the PK aspect of his game, but definitely the offensive and puck moving aspect of his game.

Definitely... I don't see Bear ever being the straw that stirs the drink. No question Barrie is better offensively - offensive wizard. He is fun to watch when we have the puck. Not so much when we don't.lol

All being equal.. I'd take Bear, Bouch and Ceci and the extra 2.5 mill in cap to address other needs. I think what we lose in Barrie points gets made up for with Bouch on 1PP and the extra points he picks up there. Bear improves our 5 on 5 and D coverage.

but my view isn't based on 'Bear is great'... it's more that I like Bouch a lot and am not a fan of the Barrie term and contract as I think he'll eventually lose the PP job and when the points dry up he'll just be a poor 3D gettting outscored and overpaid. Hope I'm wrong but I would put Bouch on PP1 tonight and not take him off.

I think that Holland realized that was the role that he could play soon which is why his cap hit and term are as low as they are. If we are able to get Barrie a better defensive LD on the 3rd pairing there could still be value in his game on the 3rd pairing with PP2 time.

 

[Da McBomb]

So Bouch is now in top 20 dmen scoring with very little to no Powerplay time. He seems to generate points at ease in every league he plays

 

[McTonyBrar]

So Bouch is now in top 20 dmen scoring with very little to no Powerplay time. He seems to generate points at ease in every league he plays

He's amazing. His play style is so good. He slows the game down kind of like Leon does

 

[Oilhawks]

Bouchard and Nurse will be flipping a coin for who is the best dman any given night by the end of the season.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

So Bouch is now in top 20 dmen scoring with very little to no Powerplay time. He seems to generate points at ease in every league he plays

Not too surprising. His passing, vision, shot selection and hockey IQ are all very high end.

 

[Senor Catface]

I knew when I saw this photo he would be a star.

 

[Oilhawks]

I knew when I saw this photo he would be a star.

View attachment 487592

 

[Czechboy]

Or maybe, just maybe, it spectacularly blows up in the teams face.

Spoken like someone who enjoyed the "decade of darkness".

So playing Bouch in May on our third pair would spectacularily blow up in our face? Do you mean we'd kept swept more?

He's probably been our best defender this season. Not sure why you feel he'd be that bad in May if he's this good now?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Currently Bouchard is top 30 in the NHL for defensemen in:

Goals (23rd)
Points (24th)
+/- (19th)
EV Goals (13th)
EV Points (16th)
Sog (26th)

All while being 92nd in the league in PP TOI for defensemen.

Barrie has 6PP points in 74:49 while Bouchard has 2 PP points in 12:58. If we start playing Bouchard on the top PP unit I could see our PP improving and Bouchard being top 10 in NHL scoring for defensemen. Bouchard to this point has clearly outplayed Barrie and IMO should get top unit PP honors.

 

[Aerchon]

Currently Bouchard is top 30 in the NHL for defensemen in:

Goals (23rd)
Points (24th)
+/- (19th)
EV Goals (13th)
EV Points (16th)
Sog (26th)

All while being 92nd in the league in PP TOI for defensemen.

Barrie has 6PP points in 74:49 while Bouchard has 2 PP points in 12:58. If we start playing Bouchard on the top PP unit I could see our PP improving and Bouchard being top 10 in NHL scoring for defensemen. Bouchard to this point has clearly outplayed Barrie and IMO should get top unit PP honors.

Bouchard absolutely is already vastly superior than Barrie in every way. I personally think his play in previous years heavily suggested this would happen sooner than later as well.

At this point it is only the cap hit that Bouchard will command moving forward that is keeping him from being on the first PP unit.

 

[Czechboy]

Currently Bouchard is top 30 in the NHL for defensemen in:

Goals (23rd)
Points (24th)
+/- (19th)
EV Goals (13th)
EV Points (16th)
Sog (26th)

All while being 92nd in the league in PP TOI for defensemen.

Barrie has 6PP points in 74:49 while Bouchard has 2 PP points in 12:58. If we start playing Bouchard on the top PP unit I could see our PP improving and Bouchard being top 10 in NHL scoring for defensemen. Bouchard to this point has clearly outplayed Barrie and IMO should get top unit PP honors.

THIS.. all of THIS!

PP is getting a bit stale... get a new look with Bouch.

He's probably capable of being a 50 point Dmen this season already with a little PP time. Closer to 75 next season if they give him PP time.

No idea what you do with Barrie though... playing 12 minutes a night on third pair will end poorly for everyone.

 

[McOilers97]

THIS.. all of THIS!

PP is getting a bit stale... get a new look with Bouch.

He's probably capable of being a 50 point Dmen this season already with a little PP time. Closer to 75 next season if they give him PP time.

No idea what you do with Barrie though... playing 12 minutes a night on third pair will end poorly for everyone.

I see a scenario where Barrie could be traded in the summer, especially with us needing some cap space to make room for JP extension. Barrie doesn't have a NMC, and certainly a decent number of teams would take a 30 year old D that produces points for $4.5m x 2. We'd just have to make sure that we can find somebody cheaper but solid to be 3RD. Until then, I think we just keep using him the same way, just maybe start slowly splitting the PP#1 time between him and Bouchard.

 

[McJadeddog]

My Fav D! If he got traded I'd probably follow that team on the side.

I think he has the best chance of being a "true #1" for us, in that he can play major minutes at all strengths. I don't think he'll ever be the minutes-munching-workhorse that Nurse is, as Bouchard doesn't have that skating ability to play though minutes. But Bouchard is already WAAY better on the PP than Nurse ever has been, and is comparable at ES and on the PK. He is likely a couple years away from being that player, but I think he could get there, especially if he can improve his skating somewhat.

 

[McJadeddog]

I see a scenario where Barrie could be traded in the summer, especially with us needing some cap space to make room for JP extension. Barrie doesn't have a NMC, and certainly a decent number of teams would take a 30 year old D that produces points for $4.5m x 2. We'd just have to make sure that we can find somebody cheaper but solid to be 3RD. Until then, I think we just keep using him the same way, just maybe start slowly splitting the PP#1 time between him and Bouchard.

This is a really good point. He is certainly tradeable at his price point/contract length, and is not a cap dump at all. I'm not sure we have somebody in the system ready to take those 3rd pairing RHS D minutes though. Maybe if Samorukov can improve (as he is apparently most comfortable on his off-side), but that is far from assured. If we think that Broberg is ready for next year as a lock on the 3rd pairing, maybe we can go cheap on the 3rd pairing right side as another option.

Nurse/Bouchard
Keith/Ceci
Broberg/Samorukov

I dunno, that bottom pairing is awfully green. Again, I suppose you could trade Barrie if you have to, but I'd rather sign Pulj to a bridge deal (which likely happens anyhow, given our cap circumstances) and keep Barrie for at least 1 more year. Keeping Bouchard away from the #1 PP unit until his ELC is over (22-23 summer) would also not be a terrible thing, as it will keep his next contract more reasonable. that would also give Broberg/Samorukov/Niemelainen another year to get pro experience and be ready to take over the 3rd pairing full-time in 23-24.

 

[Fourier]

I think he has the best chance of being a "true #1" for us, in that he can play major minutes at all strengths. I don't think he'll ever be the minutes-munching-workhorse that Nurse is, as Bouchard doesn't have that skating ability to play though minutes. But Bouchard is already WAAY better on the PP than Nurse ever has been, and is comparable at ES and on the PK. He is likely a couple years away from being that player, but I think he could get there, especially if he can improve his skating somewhat.

Interestingly enough he played insane minutes in London. He seems to have the ability to pace himself that may let him play more minutes even without the elite feet.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Imagine Bouchard doing well on the top PP unit, I mean if only some of us had the foresight for that and had been calling for it all season long. It would piss me off greatly seeing Barrie and Nurse trotted out time over time over Bouchard simply because they were vets and paid more. Bouchard moves the puck much, much better than those 2 and he has a better knack for getting shots on goal and scoring from the point with a variety of shots. The PK has to respect the point when he is out there. Bouch needs to stay on the top PP unit and we need to get a better defender than Barrie to round out our RD with Bouch and Ceci.

 

[McShogun99]

No one should be surprised by Bouchard's offensive production. He literally put up some of the best points totals by a Dman in the OHL in the past 20 years. I’m pretty sure the only reason he’s not getting consistent PP minutes is to keep his next contract size down.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Bouchard has 2-2-4 on the PP in 26:52
Barrie has 2-7-9 on the PP in 106:31
Nurse has 0-5-5 on the PP in 39:39

Bouchard has as many PP goals (2) and total goals (8) as the rest our our defensemen combined.

 

[McJadeddog]

Bouchard has 2-2-4 on the PP in 26:52
Barrie has 2-7-9 on the PP in 106:31
Nurse has 0-5-5 on the PP in 39:39

Bouchard has as many PP goals (2) and total goals (8) as the rest our our defensemen combined.

And yet our idiot coach will put Barrie back on the top PP unit when he is back from injury.

 

[Stoneman89]

If Bouch can continue to prove he is the point man for the PP, there is absolutely no reason for Barrie to be here, because that is the main reason they signed him. Holland has some work this off season to get rid of that contract. Yet another one to try to dump (sigh).

 

[McJadeddog]

If Bouch can continue to prove he is the point man for the PP, there is absolutely no reason for Barrie to be here, because that is the main reason they signed him. Holland has some work this off season to get rid of that contract. Yet another one to try to dump (sigh).

He won't have trouble getting rid of Barrie's contract. $4.5 for a #1 PP specialist who can play 2nd/3rd mins for 2 more years will actually have some value. It is far from a cap dump.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

He won't have trouble getting rid of Barrie's contract. $4.5 for a #1 PP specialist who can play 2nd/3rd mins for 2 more years will actually have some value. It is far from a cap dump.

That said it would be helpful if he started to put up some damn points to increase his trade value.