Breadcrumb Trail Links
Published Nov 08, 2023 • Last updated 35 minutes ago • 5 minute read
Evan Bouchard (2) and Connor McDavid (97) of the Edmonton Oilers celebrate after the second goal against the Las Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the second round of the NHL playoffs at Rogers Place in Edmonton on May 10, 2023. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia, file
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Bench Evan Bouchard? Oh yeah! That’s a no-brainer.
In the second period of a tight 3-2 game against Vancouver, Bouchard went for the puck at the offensive blueline for one split second, allowing a two-on-one, then failed to hustle back hard enough to take away the stick of the attacking player on the rebound shot and fourth Vancouver goal.
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It was the kind of slow reaction we’ve witnessed all too much from Bouchard this year, right?
Definitely bench him.
Staple his butt to the bench.
But why stop with Bouchard? On that same play, for instance, Warren Foegele lost a battle and fell down, making him at least as responsible for that 2-on-1 as Bouchard.
Definitely bench Foegele too, right?
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“We just need to buckle up harder & play harder.”
Despite 20 shots in the opening frame & 42 shots in total, the #Oilers were handed their third defeat to the Canucks this season in a 6-2 affair at @RogersArena. Paige recaps. pic.twitter.com/KEadahhj6V
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 7, 2023
And how about Leon Draisaitl, Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak, Vincent Desharnais, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Mattias Ekholm and Connor McDavid?
Desharnais has had his share of mental mistakes this year, and on the first goal against Vancouver he slammed a cross-crease pass into Edmonton’s own net, a backbreaker of a play that brought to a crashing end Edmonton’s one goal lead and brilliant start to the game.
On Vancouver’s next goal, Leon Draisaitl coasted slowly through the neutral zone, leaving Pius Suter unchecked as he entered the Edmonton end, wide open to take a pass in high slot and score. This wasn’t Draisaitl’s first weak back check of the year, either.
Bench him, too, correct?
On the same play Foegele covered the same man as Brett Kulak, instead of taking Suter. For his part, Kulak had backed into the Edmonton, giving too much gap, too much time and space, thus allowing the pass into the slot to Suter.
Then Stuart Skinner somehow muffed the high slot shot to the middle of the net.
Bench them all! Right?
If Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft really wanted to slam dunk his message home, he would especially have had Draisaitl miss the entire second period, as Draisaitl is a team leader, and that’s how a coach can best make an example, correct?
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Woodcroft could also have benched Desharnais and Kulak along with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins a few shifts after the Bouchard benching, as Desharnais got beat down the wing, Kulak allowed a juicy pass into the slot and RNH got out-muscled by Suter on a nasty break-in shot.
Early in the third, Mattias Ekholm was caught way up ice, allowing a dangerous odd-man rush and wicked backhand shot by J.T. Miller.
Bench him too? For sure.
A few minutes later, McDavid ran into Draisailt in the o-zone, lost the puck, and again the Canucks were off to the races on an odd-man rush culminating in a 5-alarm shot.
On that one, you could have had a double-benching, McDavid as well as the wayward Ekholm again, as he was again caught up the ice.
Benchings were definitely in order, at least if we’re going to be consistent, at least if we’re going hold McDavid and Ekholm to the same high standard as we are holding Bouchard.
We would not want to be accused of being hypocrites, right? Of having it in for one particular player while going soft on others, right?
As for who would play with all these players benched, that’s a small matter compared to the need to lay down the law.
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Bench, bench, bench, bench. Send that message.
Or, just maybe, the right thing is what Woodcroft did. He benched no one. His team got down early and he used every one of his players in the arduous attempt to come back.
Asked after the game why he had not held Bouchard accountable and benched him, Woodcroft said, “Well, where we’re at, we got six d-men. And can he be better on that play. Yeah, he can. I’m not going to dress that one up in any way. In fact, if you look at the way Draisaitl backchecked on that one, he put his head down, he’s on the face0off dot, and he came back with reckless abandon. That’s the type of effort that we’re looking for in that type of situation. Can Evan be better in that? Yeah, he can. But when you’re down and your top point producing d-man is part of helping you get back into a situation, are there times for accountability? Sure there are. Are there times for trying to find a way to come back in the game. Yeah, there are too. So you learn from your mistakes and in the end we can be better on that one.”
My point in all this? There’s been no shortage of horrid mental errors and misread plays by Oilers players all year. There’s been a pandemic of them.
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In the Vancouver game, there were numerous errors every bit as bad as the ones Bouchard made. If the slow backcheck incenses you, well, we’ve seen this kind of inadequate effort many times from many Oilers players.
Would benching them now and then make a difference? It might. At the same time, if the team leaders aren’t holding themselves and their own teammates accountable, the Oilers are going nowhere. Benching by the coach would seem a last resort. We’ve only rarely seen it employed with any Oilers coach.
Of course, watching the miserable and stunned play of the Oilers this year, there’s been times when I thought a benching was in order, mainly on bad line changes leading to dangerous shots against. That kind of mental mistake, in particular does it for me.
So I get the focus on Bouchard. I get folks calling for him to be bench.
At the same time, it’s the last thing I want to see or hear.
The fact is that Evan Bouchard the kind of player that simply rubs some fans wrong. He just is. He makes the toe of their boot super itchy.
He can be slow on defence. He can look lazy. He sometimes lets his check get on the wrong side of him. He sometimes appears to lack urgency in recovering from a misplay. Bottom line, he’s far from a solid NHL defender.
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At the same time, his shooting and passing is extraordinary. He’s gifted on the attack.
And there have also been long stretches, including in the NHL playoffs these past two seasons, when he played long stretches of solid two-way hockey.
If the Oilers are to turn this thing around — and I’m still betting on that — Bouchard will be a key piece of that turnaround
When it comes to Bouchard, I’m reminded of Justin Schultz, another recent offensive-minded Oilers defender who had his lazy-looking moments on defence.
A mob in Edmonton turned on Schultz in 2015.
He was run out of town, but then won two Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh, becoming a key cog on the 2016-17 squad.
Of course this same mob now has a target on Bouchard.
Will they never learn?
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Composite image of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and American right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson. Gavin Young/Postmedia and Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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