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

EDMONTON — They used to say that Mario Lemieux looked “lazy.” Until, of course, he sauntered into the Hockey Hall of Fame as one of the greatest ever to lace ‘em up.

When Anaheim drafted Ryan Getzlaf 19th overall, with such luminaries as Hugh Jessiman and Robert Nilsson already off the table, it was because some scouts questioned Getzlaf’s drive when he was a junior in Calgary.

Leon Draisaitl once famously admitted, “I’m misunderstood,” while in the midst of yet another 50-goal, 100-point campaign, his body language emitting an air of frustration that perhaps never really existed.

We do, as hockey people, tend to weed through the good sometimes, in order to identify the bad.

Which brings us to Evan Bouchard.

“You’ve got to understand my game,” Bouchard said. “The people who do get me, the way I play. … It doesn't always look the greatest from the stands, or up top (in the press box). But it is what it is.

“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 is as if the Connor McDavid contract has reframed everything in Edmonton — even if it’s been this way for a while around here.

Sure, the Oilers have been to two straight Stanley Cup Finals, played the second-most playoff games in the past five years (behind guess who?), and have accrued the fifth-most regular seasons wins in the NHL over that span.

But somehow, it feels like they have three years to win a Cup, or else. And if that’s the case, then a very good team has to find a way to get just a little bit better.

Or, in Bouchard’s case, a very good player has to improve his game that 10 or 15 per cent. And when you are the third-highest scoring defenceman over the past two regular seasons, and lead the playoff points race by an insane margin — 55 points to second place Miro Heiskanen and Cale Makar’s 20 the past two springs — we’d all agree that Bouchard isn’t going to get a whole lot more productive offensively.

The meat of his improvement will largely be found in his own zone, with an appetizer found perhaps on the offensive blue-line, where Bouchard must find a way to maintain his effectiveness while eliminating some high-risk play from his game.

“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 best days, which tend to come in the biggest moments each spring, Bouchard’s puck play is immaculate. But he’s got the puck so much during any given game, that on a bad day he can cost his team games.

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

“That's kind of what I was saying,” acknowledged Bouchard, whose 26th 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 two years running now, climbing up to 23:28 last season. And this season he leads them in salary, having inked a four-year deal this summer with an AAV of $10.5 million.

He has the puck more than any other Oilers defenceman, and as such gets more points, makes more lovely outlet passes, and commits more giveaways than any of his colleagues.

The hockey world dwells on those mistakes. He hopes not to.

“I know mistakes happen — it's about getting over those mistakes the next shift,” he said.  “The puck, I seem to have it a lot. I try to make plays sometimes when plays aren't there, but that's something I’ve got to figure out.

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

Olympic dreams

Chris Pronger played in four Olympic Games’ for Canada and does not see an Olympian in the current form of Evan Bouchard. Nor do the Team Canada decision makers, Pronger deduces.

“Is he currently penciled in? I don't think he is,” said Pronger. “They need people that can be reliable defenders. They don't need to score goals from the back end — they have Cale Makar, Shea Theodore, Josh Morrissey. They have guys that can run a power play.

“They need two-way defenders. Players who can provide offence, but are reliable defensively,” he said. “Is Evan Bouchard willing to do that? Is he able to do that, when on his team, he almost uses defending as a way to rest? To have enough juice left to be offensive?

“He would have to change that.”

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

Bouchard could do either with no issues, and he shoots the puck harder than both of them. But he is not considered a better all-around defender, and Bouchard knows he has about three months to alter that narrative — beginning 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 reasons. “Hopefully my game speaks for itself, and I'll get a chance to make that team.”

Bouchard may have a few alterations in mind to change the minds of Olympic GM Doug Armstrong and his group. But he’s about to air those 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.”

Consistency is key

“Bouch has it all.”

Paul Coffey has stepped off the Oilers’ bench as an assistant coach, but he’ll still spend time around his old students this season on a part-time basis.

“I remember one of my first meetings with Bouch when I first got hired,” recounted Coffey. “I said, ‘Bouch, you remind me a little bit of myself. But if the risk far outweighs the reward, we're going to have trouble here.

‘But I’m going to keep playing you, because I know you're good, and you're going get better.’”

Today, Bouchard has become what only about 16 or so NHL teams can claim to have: a legit, all-day-long NHL No. 1 defenceman.

Bouchard has, on average, the hardest slapshot in the league. He quarterbacks a power play that, since he stepped into the spot on top of the umbrella three seasons ago, ranks No. 1 in the NHL. Since becoming a full-time NHLer in the 2021-22 season, he has more playoff goals (20), assists (61) and points (81) than any other NHL D-man, ranking behind only Florida’s Gustav Forsling in post-season minutes played.

He is an elite, elite defenceman. Yet, as the Olympic cycles begins, on the heels of a 4 Nations Team Canada that excluded him, Bouchard is on the outside looking 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 nearly 200 pounds, there simply has to be a more conscientious defender in Evan Bouchard. He’s such a smart player most of the time, there has to be a way to whittle some risk out of his game.

It’s crazy, when you look at his numbers and the way he operates in the most pressure-packed games of the season. But there must be improvement, if he’s going to wear the Team Canada jersey that both Coffey and Pronger wore.

If he’s going to win the Cup or Cups that will keep McDavid in Edmonton beyond this next contract.

“Yeah, he can get better,” Coffey said. “But is his shot going to get better? Is his passing going to be better? 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 last word goes to Bouchard, perhaps the best defenceman to have so many detractors that we’ve ever covered.

He’s an enigma, wrapped in a conundrum. Or he’s an elite, No. 1 defenceman that 31 other teams would gladly accept.

It just depends on the lens you’re looking through.

“Everybody plays a different way,” Bouchard said. “Some people play hard minutes, whereas other people play minutes that are hard in their own way. My time on ice is going to be different than (Darnell Nurse’s) time on ice. He plays a heavy game.

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