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

[AM]

Say what you want, but he is clutch, and having a great shot is a prt of it.
Oilers has so many Offensive D men, Nurse, Bouch, Barrie, Kieth, and soon to be Broberg.
Yes, it was a problem before, but now we need to balance it out (not to steer it to the other way - balance it with a D)
Nurse is expensive as hell, but is unmatched on the team for what he brings, he is the 1D, say what you want. 9 million is idiotic salary, but he is to important. Bouch is clutch, Kieth is a vet prescence that is probalby needed, brings 2 way hockey. Good numbers.
Broberg.. is to be.
Barrie... well, he was good. Still is OK. But everything he do, Bouch is just better and more clutch.
What really is the need of Barrie here? His defense is awful

I see no reason to keep Barrie at trading deadline, Bouch is younger, better, and has the future ahead of him.

Your shinny new toy is a little green on the backside.

 

[AM]

NHL rules don't make sense. How is Bouchard not considered a rookie for Calder voting yet a 24 year old Panarin with multiple KHL seasons under his belt was considered a rookie? Bouchard would have a serious case for the Calder trophy. I think it would still be won by either Seidler or Zegras but he'd finish top 5 in voting.

Why would the oilers want that? It’s specifically to avoid such trophies that you massage their games for a few years.

 

[Aceboogie]

9 goals, 24 points in 42 games and first full season in the NHL.

To me- Bouchard looks, really, really good. Not only from his current play, but his upside is tremendous. Hes the guy I would bank on being a #1 D, and a true workhorse on the backend

Defensively, hes still pretty suspect, but offensively and puck moving, hes already approaching upper echelon territory. Give this guy 60 more games to round out, and hes gunna be a gamer

 

[3IR]

9 goals, 24 points in 42 games and first full season in the NHL.

To me- Bouchard looks, really, really good. Not only from his current play, but his upside is tremendous. Hes the guy I would bank on being a #1 D, and a true workhorse on the backend

Defensively, hes still pretty suspect, but offensively and puck moving, hes already approaching upper echelon territory. Give this guy 60 more games to round out, and hes gunna be a gamer

Bouchard is offensively talented in a way I haven't seen from a Dman here in forever. The D side will get better with experience and as the goaltending and team get better as a group defensively. His ability to create offence by himself though is a game changer imo. Way more difficult to teach something like that than it is to make up for defensive deficiencies.

 

[fuswald]

Defensively Bouchard has some real brain farts and lack of effort plays.

He will learn I suppose and the rest of his game is very good.

 

[McDNicks17]

For all you Twitter card fans out there.

 

[Aceboogie]

Oilers best D and well on his way to being a pretty dominant force. I wouldnt be suprised for him to become a top 10 D in the league in a few years time

 

[Llamamoto]

Oilers best D and well on his way to being a pretty dominant force. I wouldnt be suprised for him to become a top 10 D in the league in a few years time

I love Bouchard and he can certainly become our #1D in a couple years, but right now Darnell Nurse is clearly our best defenseman.

 

[Aerchon]

Oilers best D and well on his way to being a pretty dominant force. I wouldnt be suprised for him to become a top 10 D in the league in a few years time

He is ahead of where I predicted he would be. Just needs to keep pushing, growing, and developing. I would say even marginal growth will put him as a true top pairing offensive defenseman sooner than later. His play in his own end has been on and off but if that and his skating improves significantly I see him being an elite top 5 #1 defender.

 

[Kaptah2]

Bouchard is a huge liability defensively, and his skills with the puck are not nearly enough to balance the trainwreck he is defensively. He should be traded this off-season while he still has value. I have zero confidence he's gonna develop the way we hoped.

 

[Whiston532]

Weren’t there issues around his “compete” back when he got drafted ? NGL it’s kind of concerning that that still seems to be an issue still.

 

[Soundwave]

He's not going to be traded, firstly the Oilers already got burned giving up on Petry and Schultz.

You want to be all about draft and develop, well this is the ugly side of it, it's like people who say they want to be parents but really don't want to deal with the crying, changing diapers, lack of sleep, etc. etc. ... well tough shit, that's part of it.

Barrie likely has to be moved out for cap reasons, so Bouchard can't move anyway, unless you want to go back to the 18-19 season days where the Oilers had 0 offence from the blue line and scoring 3 goals a night was often a monumental struggle.

He may just be a 2nd pairing player who is a PPQB ... a bigger Tyson Barrie perhaps. But that's still very valuable, to find a player like that on the UFA market would likely cost the Oilers a lot.

 

[Oilhawks]

Bouchard is awful defensively right now, but this shouldn't shock anyone. He's 22, he'll get better, but will probably end up like a John Carlson-lite (maybe not that peak offense, but defensive warts and all). Should have been played more last year, but it is what it is.

 

[Kaptah2]

He's not going to be traded, firstly the Oilers already got burned giving up on Petry and Schultz.

You want to be all about draft and develop, well this is the ugly side of it, it's like people who say they want to be parents but really don't want to deal with the crying, changing diapers, lack of sleep, etc. etc. ... well tough shit, that's part of it.

Barrie likely has to be moved out for cap reasons, so Bouchard can't move anyway, unless you want to go back to the 18-19 season days where the Oilers had 0 offence from the blue line and scoring 3 goals a night was often a monumental struggle.

He may just be a 2nd pairing player who is a PPQB ... a bigger Tyson Barrie perhaps. But that's still very valuable, to find a player like that on the UFA market would likely cost the Oilers a lot.

Bouchard is different from Broberg or Niemeläinen. He lacks "compete". That's not something you learn by time. Sell high.

 

[3IR]

Rookie Dman doesn’t turn into a first pairing dman after 1 NHL season playing with a dcore full of bottom pair Dmen and now we need to trade him before he loses all value.

Never change hfoil.

 

[Mr Positive]

It is expected that Bouchard would struggle. The right answer is to ride this out.

I'm reminded of when Anaheim got Fowler. They were in full win-now mode but still played Fowler, even though he was a big minus player and struggled a lot. If you ride it out, it pays off. It's very rare for a young Dman to figure it out in a couple months, and he will not become a great Dman developing in the AHL.

I know the mantra is that the NHL isn't a developmental league, but that's just not true. Also it's not like Bouchard is always bad. He's just inconsistent

 

[McDNicks17]

Let's be honest. Having a D core that forces him to play the most 5v5 minutes on the team like last night isn't helping him any.

 

[Oilslick941611]

It is expected that Bouchard would struggle. The right answer is to ride this out.

I'm reminded of when Anaheim got Fowler. They were in full win-now mode but still played Fowler, even though he was a big minus player and struggled a lot. If you ride it out, it pays off. It's very rare for a young Dman to figure it out in a couple months, and he will not become a great Dman developing in the AHL.

I know the mantra is that the NHL isn't a developmental league, but that's just not true. Also it's not like Bouchard is always bad. He's just inconsistent

You are right, but at the same time I think he would benefit from watching from the press box for a game or two and see the game from a different angle and hopefully a wake up call.

 

[Mr Positive]

You are right, but at the same time I think he would benefit from watching from the press box for a game or two and see the game from a different angle and hopefully a wake up call.

that's fair, and there's also stamina. The NHL is a lot more grueling than the AHL, and there are more games in less time. It's possible he is just worn down. That's a factor for all players, and probably rookies have it the worst.

 

[McDNicks17]

You are right, but at the same time I think he would benefit from watching from the press box for a game or two and see the game from a different angle and hopefully a wake up call.

I think he'd benefit more from just being played where he should. He isn't a guy who should be leading your team in 5v5 time in games or playing the third most minutes against elite competition over the season.

Unfortunately it isn't really possible though because the deadbeat GM hasn't given the coaches any other options.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Holland and his gut ruined the developmental track of this player by having him in a press box for most of last season rather than developing his game playing 20-25 minutes a night in a developmental league.

Now we are having to pay the price by seeing Bouchard with all his warts which have always been a complete lack of urgency and compete in the D zone and the failure to read danger and the corresponding slow reaction time to it when this should have been coached out of his game in the AHL.

Holland and Tippett turned this player into pre-Pittsburgh Justin Schultz. Playing him more than 10 minutes a night at 5v5 exacerbates the problem. And if you do that you are left with playing Tyson Barrie and Ceci 20+ 5v5 minutes a night and Ceci looks burnt out the past few games. Barrie is too inconsistent at the best of times. This also puts our shaky goaltending under strain.

Holland has regressed Bouchard by 2 years and the NHL is not an developmental league. Bouchard needs to be removed from active NHL play and coached up in the AHL the remainder of the season to better prepare him for next season where he will be relied upon to play a much improved defensive game.

 

[BudBundy]

Young D don’t develop in straight lines. This is true, same as it always was, and everyone knows it. Bouchard has great tools, good size, and undeniable offensive instincts. Folks forget it’s his first full-time NHL season because he’s been brought along slowly I.e. properly for a change. His play last night was the worst I’ve seen since the last few weeks of Justin Schultz but that’s precisely why you don’t sell him now. The trouble is we’ve got no cover for him. Barrie cant handle tough assignments, and Ceci (bless him, he’s played well) is really a 2nd pairing guy himself. With Larsson leaving, I can see why Holland was forced to bring back Barrie, but we all knew the mix of the D was all wrong before the season started. And here we are.

 

[Marty McSurly]

Young D don’t develop in straight lines. This is true, same as it always was, and everyone knows it. Bouchard has great tools, good size, and undeniable offensive instincts. Folks forget it’s his first full-time NHL season because he’s been brought along slowly I.e. properly for a change. His play last night was the worst I’ve seen since the last few weeks of Justin Schultz but that’s precisely why you don’t sell him now. The trouble is we’ve got no cover for him. Barrie cant handle tough assignments, and Ceci (bless him, he’s played well) is really a 2nd pairing guy himself. With Larsson leaving, I can see why Holland was forced to bring back Barrie, but we all knew the mix of the D was all wrong before the season started. And here we are.

Do you think healthy scratching him for most of last season was bringing him along properly? They either should have played him in the NHL or sent him to the AHL last year. They are paying the price for that poor decision imo.

 

[BudBundy]

Do you think healthy scratching him for most of last season was bringing him along properly? They either should have played him in the NHL or sent him to the AHL last year. They are paying the price for that poor decision imo.

Good point. I wanted him in the AHL last year and I’m on record as saying that. My point was that people forget he’s a rookie because he’s hung around so long.

 

[La Bamba]

he's been shitty lately but people are overreacting

this is his first full season so of course there will be growing pains

he's been well worth the 10th overall pick status