SAN JOSE — Dictionary.com defines the word narrative as, "A story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious."
The Cambridge online dictionary deviates from that somewhat, defining the word narrative as "A story or a description of a series of events; a particular way of explaining or understanding events."
The Oxford Dictionary says this: “The part of a novel that tells the story, rather than the dialogue; a way of explaining events to illustrate a set of aims or values.”
For Evan Bouchard, the word has its own context altogether. His narrative states that he is lazy defensively, doesn’t care enough in his own zone, and is prone to The Big Mistake.
While a five-bell giveaway for a goal against gets way more views and reaction than a silky retrieval, the 26-year-old is now reshaping that narrative early this season into something more flattering.
“He just makes the right play nearly every time. His poise with the puck is just second to none,” Leon Draisaitl was saying after yet another three-point, plus-four game by Bouchard on Wednesday in Anaheim. “It's pretty funny how he's viewed around the league, in my eyes.
“But, people can continue to see it that way. We'll just gladly have him on the ice.”
Out there, on the 200 by 85-foot NHL sheet, Bouchard is off to a career start to the young season. He has been on the ice for 11 goals for and just one against at even strength through the first four games. Bouchard has 11 points and he leads the entire NHL with six goals.
He controls the game like Sergei Zubov once did, and shoots the puck like Sheldon Souray.
But here is where the narrative still clicks in the wheels of Bouchard’s bicycle.
The goals and assists are always part of the highlight package that folks watch on a Thursday, after hitting the sack right about the time Bouchard skated out for the second period the night before in California. The points are out there for everyone to see, but the plays that dispel the narrative that he is shaky and can not be depended on defensively, those are simply everyday plays.
Plays that will never qualify as a highlight.
And then, when the eventuality occurs, and a 25-minute defenceman turns a puck over, BAM! There’s the highlight that every editor building every late-night hockey package grabs.
The smooth zone exits. The crisp passes that land on Connor McDavid’s tape in stride, night after night after night. If you’re not watching the game live, you don’t realize how often they occur, and the volume of difficult plays that the chilled Bouchard makes so smoothly.
And we’re not just talking about American news outlets that are already forcing their talent to pick award winners off of four games. Outlets that place Bouchard behind all the sexy No. 1 defencemen in hockey. We’re talking about a guy like Mike Babcock, who is by all accounts one of the biggest hockey nerds in the game.
He watches more hockey than most, and even Babcock is recalibrating his opinion after spending a few weeks watching Bouchard hop the boards live and in person.
“Well, I didn't know he was this good, this talented,” the new head coach said. “(That he) saw this many plays, moved the puck as good as he does. And in saying that, I've talked a lot to Bouch about it — he can be way better. He's got a growth opportunity here.
“There's no question he should be in running for the Norris every year. He's that good, and we’ve just got to get him to be a little more competitive defensively. He's already working towards that, and then he'll be right at the front of that group.”
Will he? Really?
Can Bouchard ever change the narrative? Or does he have to move East and out of McDavid’s shadow, to a New York, Montreal or Toronto?
“Bouch has an opportunity,” reckons Babcock. “He's an elite player already, way better than people think. But he's way more competitive, and he's got great pride, and he wants to get better. When you got an elite brain, an elite skill, you're going to get better.”
