London Knights blueliner Evan Bouchard turned 16 barely two weeks before he started exhibition play against the best under-17 players on the planet in the World U-17 Hockey Challenge. Of his 21 teammates on gold medal-winning Canada White, 19 were older, and the exceptions were the club’s fourth-line centre and No. 7 defenceman.
No worries. Bouchard played regular top-four minutes at even-strength, anchored Canada’s top power play and tied for the scoring lead among defencemen with six points in six games. “The thing about Bouchard is that he’s very poised, very smart,” said one scout. “His hockey sense and his skill level are both really good, and there’s just no panic to his game, which is a rare thing to see in a player that age. He plays like a much older player than he is.”
That low panic threshold was on display all tournament, where at times it was hard to believe Bouchard’s audacity. Once when leading the rush, he deked through not one but two opponents at the offensive blueline, gaining the zone with possession. Another time, he casually blew by a forechecker, carrying the puck out of the defensive zone himself and gaining centre ice before passing off to a teammate for the entry into the opposition end.
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The ice water in Bouchard’s veins particularly comes into play in the offensive zone, where his patience seems almost endless. In the gold medal game, he calmly waited as a diving shot-blocker both entered and exited his shooting lane; then he effortlessly picked the top corner of the net with a wicked wrist shot. As it turned out, teammate Jaret Anderson-Dolan had scored moments before on a goal that was initially missed and eventually credited, wiping Bouchard’s marker from the record. It didn’t matter; Canada would go on to a 6-2 victory in that game.
It isn’t just poise that separates Bouchard from the pack, though. He’s already 6-foot-2 and 179 lb.; he has the size that NHL teams tend to cover in their defencemen. Because of his late birthday, he isn’t draft-eligible until 2018, meaning that he has nearly three full years to continue to grow; size should be a definite plus when all is said and done.
He doesn’t mind playing a physical game, either, and he’s good at timing is hits. Twice in the four games I saw, he made crushing contact with an opponent trying to carry the puck into White’s zone, in each case dumping his man to the ice and preventing the other team from even gaining the attacking end.
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He’s a right shot, and he can score in a number of ways. His wrist shot is frightening: hard, accurate and off his stick in a hurry. He’s also capable of hammering the puck from the point, with White’s power play making good use of his heavy slap shot.
Bouchard is of course not a perfect player, as even a scout who sees him as a strong prospect acknowledged when asked to describe his skillset. “I like him a lot,” the scout said. “Good puck-moving defenceman with size. He has a booming shot from the point; will put up a ton of points. Can be a little lax defensively, but I’ll take it from him because his offence offsets any minor defensive deficiencies.”
Those defensive problems showed intermittently at the U-17 tournament. He wasn’t consistent from game-to-game in clearing the zone; his puck-moving skills were obvious but in one preliminary-round contest in particular he made several gaffes in a short span of time. His willingness to take offensive risks at times left him out of position, too, though at least at this level it was far more positive than negative.
It’s important, though, not overstate those foibles. Bouchard is a very gifted hockey player, one who far more often than not makes the right decisions and is in the right position. He was a critical piece of Canada’s gold-medal winning effort, playing in all situations and on both special teams, and he brings qualities on the back end that are in short supply in any league. He’s likely to be a very early pick when NHL teams get their first crack at him in 2018.