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

[snipes]

Oh 100%. My point is if you give a goalie that much time to see the puck, NHL quality goalies are going to save that the vast majority of the time or you will get a defender in to block it easily.

His shot is great he just needs to work on his shot selection speed. That's something he can easily improve. It wasn't a knock on him, just an observation of what he needs to continue to work on

I agree with the shot selection speed comment. I noticed it at the WJC. He has an odd almost golf like “tee it up and crack it” type of wind up. Not necessarily the shot itself but his time to tee it up before the shot needs to be quicker.

His skating is quite good jumping up in the play and when he has the puck on his stick. He has a powerful stride at top speed. His offensive instincts and hockey IQ in the offensive zone are obviously extremely impressive, but those are things we already know along with his beautiful stretch passes on the breakout. He really sees the offensive side of the game so well.

 

[snipes]

Does anyone else get giddy thinking about a PP with McDavid, Draisaitl, Nuge, Bouchard, and a net front presence type guy down the road? Then we can roll out Bear and Yamo on the second unit.

Our PP was already the best in the NHL in decades with Klefbom running the point and he’s so predictable.

 

[alphahelix]

Does anyone else get giddy thinking about a PP with McDavid, Draisaitl, Nuge, Bouchard, and a net front presence type guy down the road? Then we can roll out Bear and Yamo on the second unit.

Our PP was already the best in the NHL in decades with Klefbom running the point and he’s so predictable.

I don’t think the chemistry, experience, deference, and intelligence of Klefbom will be so easily replaced. Having said that, he’s clearly not a top tier PP guy —- but it will take one to improve on what he offers to our PP. (Yes, I think Bouch can be that guy, but I’m not sure if he will be immediately! Also, it was documented that Klefbom does not have 100% of his shoulder still, hopefully he can get there and his shot can return to previous levels)

 

[Samus44]

I don’t think the chemistry, experience, deference, and intelligence of Klefbom will be so easily replaced. Having said that, he’s clearly not a top tier PP guy —- but it will take one to improve on what he offers to our PP. (Yes, I think Bouch can be that guy, but I’m not sure if he will be immediately! Also, it was documented that Klefbom does not have 100% of his shoulder still, hopefully he can get there and his shot can return to previous levels)

I agree that the understated willingness to keep it simple and do only what's needed is an underrated feature of what Klefbom does. He can do about everything needed, even if it isn't at an elite level, and doesn't try to do to much. Letting the big 3 do the bulk of the work and supporting them is obviously working.

I also think it's obvious his shoulder isn't where it was. His accuracy is far worse and his shot doesn't seem as hard. Hopefully it recovers as his shot had been outstanding and on it's way to being elite before the shoulder issues.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I don’t think the chemistry, experience, deference, and intelligence of Klefbom will be so easily replaced. Having said that, he’s clearly not a top tier PP guy —- but it will take one to improve on what he offers to our PP. (Yes, I think Bouch can be that guy, but I’m not sure if he will be immediately! Also, it was documented that Klefbom does not have 100% of his shoulder still, hopefully he can get there and his shot can return to previous levels)

Imo the few chances Bear got he looked as good as Klefbom did. Klefbom works on the current PP cause all he has to do is keep the puck in and throw it on the net. The forwards do the majority of the work. If Bouchard works at the NHL level our pp will be even deadlier as the point will actually be a threat to score.

 

[snipes]

Imo the few chances Bear got he looked as good as Klefbom did. Klefbom works on the current PP cause all he has to do is keep the puck in and throw it on the net. The forwards do the majority of the work. If Bouchard works at the NHL level our pp will be even deadlier as the point will actually be a threat to score.

Even Nurse two years looked really good on the top PP unit when Klefbom went down. I actually was pleasantly surprised with Nurse’s PP time during the 2018-19 season.

Bouchard will clearly be the D man on the PP unit in the coming years.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Even Nurse two years looked really good on the top PP unit when Klefbom went down. I actually was pleasantly surprised with Nurse’s PP time during the 2018-19 season.

Bouchard will clearly be the D man on the PP unit in the coming years.

Nurse did well on the PP cause his shot is good when he uses it and he has the speed to keep up with the forwards. It'll be interesting to see it Bouchard can get his skating to a point where he can keep up with them. If he can I could see him doing great on the PP.

I'm still concerned about his 5v5 play but until he gets a chance we really won't know how he does. I'm predicting he will be a top Pp guy and 5v5 getting easier matchups 3rd pairing.

 

[snipes]

Nurse did well on the PP cause his shot is good when he uses it and he has the speed to keep up with the forwards. It'll be interesting to see it Bouchard can get his skating to a point where he can keep up with them. If he can I could see him doing great on the PP.

I'm still concerned about his 5v5 play but until he gets a chance we really won't know how he does. I'm predicting he will be a top Pp guy and 5v5 getting easier matchups 3rd pairing.

Nothing wrong with that. Larsson and Bear can do more 5 v 5 heavy lifting initially.

I agree, he needs to work on his 5 v 5 play like most young D. However, he’s in a good spot to be eased into an offensive and PP role. He’s in a really good spot organizationally to succeed in a way that he wouldn’t have been on past Oiler teams. It’s nice to see our D prospect pool starting to flourish.

 

[Samus44]

Nurse did well on the PP cause his shot is good when he uses it and he has the speed to keep up with the forwards. It'll be interesting to see it Bouchard can get his skating to a point where he can keep up with them. If he can I could see him doing great on the PP.

I'm still concerned about his 5v5 play but until he gets a chance we really won't know how he does. I'm predicting he will be a top Pp guy and 5v5 getting easier matchups 3rd pairing.

Worst case scenario for me is Shattenkirk and best case scenario is Dougie Hamilton. I think he's going to be a top 2 dman myself, the defensive side is the only thing I see holding him back and I don't think it'll be a huge issue as he gets older.

 

[MessierII]

Worst case scenario for me is Shattenkirk and best case scenario is Dougie Hamilton. I think he's going to be a top 2 dman myself, the defensive side is the only thing I see holding him back and I don't think it'll be a huge issue as he gets older.

Personally I think Bouchards offensive tools are better than Hamilton’s by a decent amount but I feel like he has a longer way to go with the rest of his game than Hamilton did at the same age. Shattenkirk isn’t really a great comparison because the way he creates offense isn’t anything like the other two.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Does anyone else get giddy thinking about a PP with McDavid, Draisaitl, Nuge, Bouchard, and a net front presence type guy down the road? Then we can roll out Bear and Yamo on the second unit.

Our PP was already the best in the NHL in decades with Klefbom running the point and he’s so predictable.

Funny enough, I think the PP is better in it's current setup with a LH shot up high.

With the puck near always starting with RNH on the LW half-wall, you're essential giving him 3 shooting options to go to with McDavid, Draisaitl, and Klefbom, long with a net front presence to draw in another defender. Essentially they create four 2 on 1s, all featuring a shooter ready for a quick shot, or the net guy ready to pounce on a rebound.

This means teams either give RNH all the time in the world to make a play, or (more likely) have the guy covering Klefbom slide over to pressure him.

If that happens, Nuge should be able to pass to a wide-open Klefbom (think how many times with saw that behind the back pass), who is ready for a one timer, or to slide the puck over to Drai, or to play it into the slot for McDavid.

A defender who was covering McDavid (most likely) or Draisaitl will rotate to Klefbom, and that's where chaos ensues: the second one of those two is left uncovered.

Even if the guy that went to RNH is quick enough to rotate over to McDavid, that still leaves Klefbom free to pass back Nuge, letting him walk in and get a quick shot on net, or exploit the re-positioning defenders and pass to an open McDavid or Draisaitl.

That's the beauty of the current PP: even if it rotates in purely one direction (LW to RW), they still always exploit the PK by having one more (dangerous) option available than what the PK can cover.

If that's Bouchard, Bear, or Green up top, that's one less onetimer for teams to respect at the start of the play, and they'll do a better job collaping on the slot and taking away the seams this PP loves to exploit later in the play.


If you want to add a RH shot to the top unit, it will likely come at RNH's expense. However I'm not sure that would be an upgrade, especially as Nuge is already pretty damn good at getting a quick shot away from the LW during the few times the play goes RW to LW; plus his chemistry with the other two is near unrivalled.

Plus imo, having a LHS there makes it a bit harder on the goalie. With Nuge, the puck is ~2m closer to the boards vs. when a RHS is setting up there, and that's an extra couple if degrees that goalies need to cover. This is why we've seen Nuge end of with a lot of cheeky goals this season. His quick release catches a lot of goalies cheating off the post and their angle as they try to anticipate the pass to McDavid or Draisaitl.


My ideal PP's going into the playoffs:

Chiasson
Nuge-McDavid-Draisaitl
Klefbom

Neal
Green-Yamamoto-AA
Bear

 

[Captain Controversy]

second pp Unit should be

Neal (Net front Presence)

AA-Haas- Yamamoto

Bear as the Quarter Back

 

[FlameChampion]

Full time NHLer?

He spent as much time up in the press box as he did on the ice.

He also has numerous highlights in that video of him getting the puck off fairly quick or even one timing it, and while some of his shots he loads up on, he's still keeping the puck in motion so the puck isnt a stationary object for someone to get infront of, and changing the release location makes the goalies re-adjust.

Thing I find really confusing with Bouchard is that it just seems like so many people (mostly outside of Edmonton) have sort of seem to write him off. I am not sure why. He looked in pretty good in his 9 games with the Oilers a few years ago. He had a good AHL season this year. I didnt watch AHL much this year but his skating looked pretty good in training camp and the few AHL games that I seen. I would be shocked if hes not on the third pairing next year behind Bear/Larsson. I guess theres a chance Green comes back for a year?

Meanwhile Dobson who was kept in the NHL but barely played, everyone seems to think hes light years ahead of Bouchard. If Edmonton had kept Bouchard up but only played him half the time, the media would of shredded them.

I am not saying Bouchard should be ahead of Dobson or anything. I think Bouchard is a pretty damn good prospect and checks a lot of boxes for our team. I think outsiders being down on him isnt valid at this point. Sometimes I just think its the media hating on Edmonton.

 

[Samus44]

Thing I find really confusing with Bouchard is that it just seems like so many people (mostly outside of Edmonton) have sort of seem to write him off. I am not sure why. He looked in pretty good in his 9 games with the Oilers a few years ago. He had a good AHL season this year. I didnt watch AHL much this year but his skating looked pretty good in training camp and the few AHL games that I seen. I would be shocked if hes not on the third pairing next year behind Bear/Larsson. I guess theres a chance Green comes back for a year?

Meanwhile Dobson who was kept in the NHL but barely played, everyone seems to think hes light years ahead of Bouchard. If Edmonton had kept Bouchard up but only played him half the time, the media would of shredded them.

I am not saying Bouchard should be ahead of Dobson or anything. I think Bouchard is a pretty damn good prospect and checks a lot of boxes for our team. I think outsiders being down on him isnt valid at this point. Sometimes I just think its the media hating on Edmonton.

Id take Bouchard over Dobson all day as I think Bouchard has #1 D potential and I dont think Dobson has the offense to be that guy. As for what others think, I don't think its just a victim mentality to say there's an anti-Oiler bias on HF from some posters. We have a big fanbase and had some lottery luck so some people are bitter.

 

[McJadeddog]

Thing I find really confusing with Bouchard is that it just seems like so many people (mostly outside of Edmonton) have sort of seem to write him off. I am not sure why. He looked in pretty good in his 9 games with the Oilers a few years ago. He had a good AHL season this year. I didnt watch AHL much this year but his skating looked pretty good in training camp and the few AHL games that I seen. I would be shocked if hes not on the third pairing next year behind Bear/Larsson. I guess theres a chance Green comes back for a year?

Meanwhile Dobson who was kept in the NHL but barely played, everyone seems to think hes light years ahead of Bouchard. If Edmonton had kept Bouchard up but only played him half the time, the media would of shredded them.

I am not saying Bouchard should be ahead of Dobson or anything. I think Bouchard is a pretty damn good prospect and checks a lot of boxes for our team. I think outsiders being down on him isnt valid at this point. Sometimes I just think its the media hating on Edmonton.

The encouraging thing about Bouchard, is that he apparently improved quite a bit during the year in the AHL. Getting more and more "trusted minutes" from the coaching staff. That is really all you can ask for with a young player: improvement. I don't think he's going to be a solid NHL'er next year or anything, but I also don't see any reason to be really down on the player after a pretty good rookie AHL year. 10th in dman scoring, 3rd in dman rookie scoring, and 3rd on his team in scoring (only 5 points off the team lead). I don't see why that isn't encouraging.

 

[FlameChampion]

Id take Bouchard over Dobson all day as I think Bouchard has #1 D potential and I dont think Dobson has the offense to be that guy. As for what others think, I don't think its just a victim mentality to say there's an anti-Oiler bias on HF from some posters. We have a big fanbase and had some lottery luck so some people are bitter.

Its not only HF posters. Its just the media in general. But yeah I think some people are just bitter.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

second pp Unit should be

Neal (Net front Presence)

AA-Haas- Yamamoto

Bear as the Quarter Back

Haas in a Stoll/Letestu roll is something I'd also have time for.

 

[RavenGuard]

Bouchard will be a great defenseman. His instincts, shot, and especially those stretch passes that he makes are game-breaking.

I'm surprised to see Ty Smith so low. Admittedly, I was unimpressed with Smith before the draft, but he seems to be the D-man making the most strides in his two-way play and overall composure

I hope you are right, I get Tom Poti vibes from him. I'm wrong about a lot of things so hopefully this is one of them.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Haas in a Stoll/Letestu roll is something I'd also have time for.

Stoll and Letestu had a skill for hard one-timers. I haven't particularly noticed Haas for this. Is this in his toolbox?

 

[Hynh]

Scott Wheeler ranked his top 50 NHL affiliated prospects. Bouchard was 12th overall and 2nd among defencemen behind Byram.

 

[oobga]

Scott Wheeler ranked his top 50 NHL affiliated prospects. Bouchard was 12th overall and 2nd among defencemen behind Byram.

And just to bum people out. Zegras was #2 behind #1 Cozens, and Broberg didn't make the list.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Thing I find really confusing with Bouchard is that it just seems like so many people (mostly outside of Edmonton) have sort of seem to write him off. I am not sure why. He looked in pretty good in his 9 games with the Oilers a few years ago. He had a good AHL season this year. I didnt watch AHL much this year but his skating looked pretty good in training camp and the few AHL games that I seen. I would be shocked if hes not on the third pairing next year behind Bear/Larsson. I guess theres a chance Green comes back for a year?

Meanwhile Dobson who was kept in the NHL but barely played, everyone seems to think hes light years ahead of Bouchard. If Edmonton had kept Bouchard up but only played him half the time, the media would of shredded them.

I am not saying Bouchard should be ahead of Dobson or anything. I think Bouchard is a pretty damn good prospect and checks a lot of boxes for our team. I think outsiders being down on him isnt valid at this point. Sometimes I just think its the media hating on Edmonton.

Dobson was ranked higher than Bouchard by a lot of people pre draft too. Both good offensive but Dobson was night and day better defensively.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Dobson was ranked higher than Dobson by a lot pre draft too. Both good offensive but Dobson was night and day better defensively.

I’m willing to bet my life savings that Dobson was not ranked higher than dobson

 

[CycloneSweep]

I’m willing to bet my life savings that Dobson was not ranked higher than dobson

You know what I meant lol

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Not sure if this has been posted, but here’s a good highlight package from this year.

His offensive instincts and shot are off the charts.

Anyone have a working link for the video?