Edmonton Oilers Talk: Bouchard, The Bison King (TM), and the Latest NHL Rumors

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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The Athletic

Evan Bouchard’s first full NHL season a learning experience

Bouchard ranks No. 45 among qualifying NHL defenders in five-on-five assists per 60 (.98), according to Natural Stat Trick.
As the season continues and Bouchard’s excellence becomes more obvious, expect the Oilers coaching staff to play Bouchard close to full time on the top pairing.
In combined time with McDavid and Draisaitl this season, Bouchard’s goal differential is a plus-9 (14-5). Barrie is 14-12 in the same situations.
For Bouchard, it’s important to move from where he is now, a brilliant young defender, to where he needs to be with Tippett.
- The danger is that trust never comes. Oilers fans saw the result of that scenario last summer, when young defencemen Ethan Bear and Caleb Jones were traded for more veteran help.
His five-on-five shot (52.8 percent) and goal (54.8 percent) differentials are quality, and Bouchard’s suppression numbers are excellent compared with the other Oilers’ regular defencemen.

PLAYER	MINUTES	GA/60	SA/60
Evan Bouchard	366	2.29	30.79

In something of a surprise, he has also been a strong penalty-killing option for Edmonton; Bouchard’s 4.4 goals-against per 60 ranks 24th among NHL defencemen with 30 or more minutes in the scenario.

BLH’s Thoughts: It didn’t matter when Bouchard started his NHL career full-time, there was always going to be bumps in the road. That said, I would be willing to bet my neighbor’s cat that he’s going to have a really good 2nd half to the year and then we’ll be off to the races with him. He’s a ridiculously smart hockey player and all he needs is some reps to work out the kinks.

Oilersnation

Random Thoughts

Last night against the Kraken, the Oilers got scored on within the first minute of the game and it was yet another example of the team not being ready to go, which is endlessly frustrating and makes winning that much more difficult.
Even worse is the fact that I don’t know what the solution is or how Dave Tippett and his staff can fix it, but what I do know is that chasing nearly every game at the NHL level is an excellent way to start piling up losses.
One of the bright sides from Friday’s disappointment was that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins registered his 500th-career point in his 678th game, becoming only the 10th Oiler to ever reach that mark.
With 500 career points now under his belt, the next markers he’ll be checking off have to do with games played as RNH will soon pass Charlie Huddy, Wayne Gretzky, and Craig MacTavish on the Oilers all-time list.
I legitimately cracked up laughing when I heard the news that Jesse Puljujarvi had submitted a trademark application for his new nickname Bison King.

BLH’s Thoughts: Do the Oilers need an energy to start the games with in order to get into the right frame of mind? We heard Yanni Gourde say during the intermission of the SEA/EDM game the other day say that he’s always looking to drag guys into the game and I wonder if Edmonton could use that sort of player.

Say, isn’t Brendan Gallagher looking to get out of Montreal?

All I’m getting at is this team added a bit of “Son of a Bitch” to the lineup when they inserted Markus Niemelainen, but they need some more now that Zack Kassian has become a pacifist.

Max Domi?…

I dunno… Where’s that bloody cloning machine? Somebody kidnap Pat Verbeek pronto!

All Hail the Bison King!

The Daily Goal Horn

Some teams that may have interest in acquiring (Braden) Holtby by the trade deadline include the Maple Leafs, Rangers, Oilers, and Avalanche.
- This season, he has a 4-4-1 record with a .927 SV% and a 2.30 GAA.
“Chicago has not made up their minds yet,” ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported. “If a trade proposal does come for Marc-Andre Fleury they are definitely open to listening to it..”
Other notable goalies up for grabs are the Blue Jackets Joonas Korpisalo, and the Rangers Alexandar Georgiev.

“Since 1993, the team has been running in circles,” Roy said to Le Journal de Québec. “What do they have to lose by giving me the chance to see what I can do with this club? At the same time, I understand the situation. The club is owned by Geoff Molson and he’s the one pulling the strings. It’s his team and at the end of the day I might not be the guy for him. I accept that.”