Oilers’ Evan Bouchard is already elite. It’s time to get even higher

EDMONTON — They used to say that Mario Lemieux appeared “lazy.” Until, in fact, he sauntered into the Hockey Hall of Fame as one of many best ever to lace ‘em up.

When Anaheim drafted Ryan Getzlaf nineteenth general, with such luminaries as Hugh Jessiman and Robert Nilsson already off the desk, it was as a result of some scouts questioned Getzlaf’s drive when he was a junior in Calgary.

Leon Draisaitl as soon as famously admitted, “I’m misunderstood,” whereas within the midst of one more 50-goal, 100-point marketing campaign, his physique language emitting an air of frustration that maybe by no means actually existed.

We do, as hockey folks, are inclined to weed by the great generally, to be able to determine the dangerous.

“You’ve got to understand my game,” Bouchard mentioned. “The individuals who do get me, the best way I play. … It would not all the time look the best from the stands, or up prime (within the press field). But it’s what it’s.

“I think I am (appreciated by) the people who really understand the game, who have played it and really understand the kind of game that I do like to play.”

Suddenly, it’s as if the Connor McDavid contract has reframed the whole lot in Edmonton — even when it’s been this manner for some time round right here.

Sure, the Oilers have been to 2 straight Stanley Cup Finals, performed the second-most playoff video games up to now 5 years (behind guess who?), and have accrued the fifth-most common seasons wins within the NHL over that span.

But by some means, it looks like they’ve three years to win a Cup, or else. And if that’s the case, then an excellent crew has to discover a strategy to get just a bit bit higher.

Or, in Bouchard’s case, an excellent participant has to enhance his sport that 10 or 15 per cent. And when you find yourself the third-highest scoring defenceman over the previous two common seasons, and lead the playoff factors race by an insane margin — 55 factors to second place Miro Heiskanen and Cale Makar’s 20 the previous two springs — we’d all agree that Bouchard isn’t going to get a complete lot extra productive offensively.

The meat of his enchancment will largely be present in his personal zone, with an appetizer discovered maybe on the offensive blue-line, the place Bouchard should discover a strategy to preserve his effectiveness whereas eliminating some high-risk play from his sport.

“I’ve got a few things that I need to work on, consistency being a big thing,” he admits. “When you’re not feeling it, you have to find that level where you’re not dropping below standards. That’s something that I’m going to have to be better at, for sure.”

On his greatest days, which have a tendency to come back within the greatest moments every spring, Bouchard’s puck play is immaculate. But he’s received the puck a lot throughout any given sport, that on a foul day he can value his crew video games.

“So you have to raise the level of your worst day?” He is requested.

“That’s kind of what I was saying,” acknowledged Bouchard, whose twenty sixth birthday arrives on Oct. 20. “Your standard has still got to stay the same. They’re not all going to be good (games). And when you’re not feeling the best, you’ve got to find a way to get away with it.”

Bouchard has led the Oilers defence in ice time for 2 years operating now, climbing as much as 23:28 final season. And this season he leads them in wage, having inked a four-year deal this summer time with an AAV of $10.5 million.

He has the puck greater than every other Oilers defenceman, and as such will get extra factors, makes extra beautiful outlet passes, and commits extra giveaways than any of his colleagues.

The hockey world dwells on these errors. He hopes to not.

“I know mistakes happen — it’s about getting over those mistakes the next shift,” he mentioned.  “The puck, I appear to have it rather a lot. I attempt to make performs generally when performs aren’t there, however that is one thing I’ve received to determine.

“But it’s something that I’m going to keep doing, because that’s what they pay me to do.”

Chris Pronger performed in 4 Olympic Games’ for Canada and doesn’t see an Olympian within the present type of Evan Bouchard. Nor do the Team Canada choice makers, Pronger deduces.

“Is he currently penciled in? I don’t think he is,” mentioned Pronger. “They want folks that may be dependable defenders. They needn’t rating objectives from the again finish — they’ve Cale Makar, Shea Theodore, Josh Morrissey. They have guys that may run an influence play.

“They need two-way defenders. Players who can provide offence, but are reliable defensively,” he mentioned. “Is Evan Bouchard keen to try this? Is he ready to try this, when on his crew, he nearly makes use of defending as a strategy to relaxation? To have sufficient juice left to be offensive?

“He would have to change that.”

It’s true. Makar will run the facility play in Italy this February, and Theodore can deal with the second unit.

Bouchard may do both with no points, and he shoots the puck more durable than each of them. But he isn’t thought-about a greater all-around defender, and Bouchard is aware of he has about three months to change that narrative — starting on Opening Night versus Calgary.

“(The Olympic team) is a goal of mine, but so is the start of the season. And the start of the season will determine (whether he’s a candidate or not), so we’ll focus on that,” he causes. “Hopefully my game speaks for itself, and I’ll get a chance to make that team.”

Bouchard could have just a few alterations in thoughts to alter the minds of Olympic GM Doug Armstrong and his group. But he’s about to air these out in a pre-season interview.

“I don’t really think I’ve got to change anything,” he decides. “I just have to start the year off strong. Start the year the way I finished it in the playoffs.”

Paul Coffey has stepped off the Oilers’ bench as an assistant coach, however he’ll nonetheless spend time round his outdated college students this season on a part-time foundation.

“I remember one of my first meetings with Bouch when I first got hired,” recounted Coffey. “I mentioned, ‘Bouch, you remind me just a little little bit of myself. But if the chance far outweighs the reward, we will have bother right here.

‘But I’m going to maintain enjoying you, as a result of I do know you are good, and you are going get higher.’”

Today, Bouchard has turn out to be what solely about 16 or so NHL groups can declare to have: a legit, all-day-long NHL No. 1 defenceman.

Bouchard has, on common, the toughest slapshot within the league. He quarterbacks an influence play that, since he stepped into the spot on prime of the umbrella three seasons in the past, ranks No. 1 within the NHL. Since turning into a full-time NHLer within the 2021-22 season, he has extra playoff objectives (20), assists (61) and factors (81) than every other NHL D-man, rating behind solely Florida’s Gustav Forsling in post-season minutes performed.

He is an elite, elite defenceman. Yet, because the Olympic cycles begins, on the heels of a 4 Nations Team Canada that excluded him, Bouchard is on the skin trying in.

“He’ll get a serious look. But to me it comes down to, who’s not going to be there if he’s there?” Asked Coffey. “Is Bouch going to get a look? Absolutely. Is Cale Makar suddenly going to fall off the face of the earth? No.”

At six-foot-three and practically 200 kilos, there merely needs to be a extra conscientious defender in Evan Bouchard. He’s such a sensible participant more often than not, there needs to be a strategy to whittle some danger out of his sport.

It’s loopy, whenever you take a look at his numbers and the best way he operates in probably the most pressure-packed video games of the season. But there have to be enchancment, if he’s going to put on the Team Canada jersey that each Coffey and Pronger wore.

If he’s going to win the Cup or Cups that can preserve McDavid in Edmonton past this subsequent contract.

“Yeah, he can get better,” Coffey mentioned. “But is his shot going to get higher? Is his passing going to be higher? No — that stuff’s elite.

“He just needs to be more consistent, and he will. He’s still a young kid. He might have a demeanor sometimes, where it looks like he doesn’t care. But he does. He’s a fierce competitor, and a proud guy.”

The final phrase goes to Bouchard, maybe the perfect defenceman to have so many detractors that we’ve ever lined.

He’s an enigma, wrapped in a conundrum. Or he’s an elite, No. 1 defenceman that 31 different groups would gladly settle for.

It simply relies on the lens you’re trying by.

“Everybody plays a different way,” Bouchard mentioned. “Some folks play arduous minutes, whereas different folks play minutes which are arduous in their very own manner. My time on ice goes to be completely different than (Darnell Nurse’s) time on ice. He performs a heavy sport.

“I don’t play that heavy game, but that doesn’t mean the intensity is not there. It’s just in a different way.”