Bouchard is gifted offensively and putrid defensively. A player with a good shot, ability to QB the PP and make a first pass playing with prime McDavid is going to put up a lot of points.
McDavid turns everyone he plays with into superstars.
Untrue and also untrue but some posters on the main boards including this one I just quoted are uneducated about Oiler players so not surprised that this dumb narrative is posted here continuously.
Not saying that Bouchard is great defensively because he does have those "head in the clouds" moments but he's definitely improved from where he was even last season.
And.... McDavid doesn't turn everybody into stars. There have been quite a few players tried with McDavid that haven't succeeded big. It takes a certain type of player to play well with McDavid, namely a guy who will get him the puck, wins puck battles down low and causes havoc around the net but, no, he doesn't turn everybody into stars. Not true at all. There is definitely a McDavid inflation that exists but not everybody succeeds big with him.
Also, the Ekholm-Bouchard pairing thrives with and without McDavid. You can argue that Ekholm has been a bigger reason for Bouchard's success than McDavid has, a strong argument but, sure, it's all McDavid all the time. Everybody is super awesome with him and super sucky without him because.....reasons.
Entertainingly, we saw Tyson Barrie on this team. With McDavid. He was nowhere even close to as good as Bouchard is.
in 21-22 Bouchard had two more points than Barrie. 43-41. Bouchard had 35 points at even strength. Barrie had 19.
Barrie was a powerplay merchant. Bouchard is good everywhere, and produces everywhere.
They'll never get it. You can also just watch the games and see that Bouchard controls play and is a better outlet passer than Barrie was and not by an insignificant margin.
I also remember when Draisaitl was a product of McDavid and wasn't even a #1 center without him. I remember it well.