Sean Maloughney: Oilers vs Canadiens - Sorting Out The Blueline

Bouchard is a defensively limited offensive defenseman. He's gonna be an expensive upgrade to Barrie very soon. And I don't know if I'd call him an upgrade.

Bouchard is a defensively limited offensive defenseman. He's gonna be an expensive upgrade to Barrie very soon. And I don't know if I'd call him an upgrade.
- wreckage

Bouch 5 on 5 Goals For/Against - 71/47
54.55GF% away from McDavid and Draisaitl
56.12CF% away from McDavid and Draisaitl
Plays more minutes at 5 on 5 than any Oilers defenseman
Leads all Oilers defensemen in takeaways
The Ekholm/Bouchard pairing has the best xGA/60 in the NHL

For every 10 good things Bouchard does he makes 1 mistake. That mistake can be costly but it laughable to see his critics focus purely on that while ignoring the 10 excellent things he does.

Bouch 5 on 5 Goals For/Against - 71/47
54.55GF% away from McDavid and Draisaitl
56.12CF% away from McDavid and Draisaitl
Plays more minutes at 5 on 5 than any Oilers defenseman
Leads all Oilers defensemen in takeaways
The Ekholm/Bouchard pairing has the best xGA/60 in the NHL

For every 10 good things Bouchard does he makes 1 mistake. That mistake can be costly but it laughable to see his critics focus purely on that while ignoring the 10 excellent things he does.
- freelancer

And Nurse gets a free pass. We all know who his biggest critic is, explains a lot.

"They matched up great against the Avalanche with the game ending in OT. "

5v5

SCF%: COL 62.5% EDM 37.5%
HDCF%: COL 63.64% EDM 36.36%
CF% COL 58.65 EDM 41.35
xGF% COL 62.02 EDM 37.98

And all of that is with last change.

It's obviously just one game but I wouldn't say they matched up great in that game.

https://www.naturalstattr...eason=20232024&game=21070

Maybe that's a indication of how lucky your team was to get the win in OT there Foppa. Geo is gonna sink you guys again come playoffs.

Bouchard is a defensively limited offensive defenseman. He's gonna be an expensive upgrade to Barrie very soon. And I don't know if I'd call him an upgrade.
- wreckage

It's crazy to me how many people on this site are just so up front about how little hockey knowledge they have. You know you can just say nothing instead of telling us how little you know about anything

Maybe that's a indication of how lucky your team was to get the win in OT there Foppa. Geo is gonna sink you guys again come playoffs.
- Slappywaggle

Especially with the god awful OT format, 3v3 OT has got to be the worst thing ever. One team just cycles and holds the puck and plays ridiculously passive until the absolute perfect chance, and then back the other way if it doesn't work out. I remember when they implemented 3v3 they thought it was going to be fast, exciting hockey. Yet it makes OT unbearable to watch.

Maybe that's a indication of how lucky your team was to get the win in OT there Foppa. Geo is gonna sink you guys again come playoffs.
- Slappywaggle

"again"?

Last playoffs Georgiev had a .914 save % with 2.60 goals against average and 2.1 goals saved above average. Skinner rocked an .883, 3.68 and -6.9.

I'm still confused how the Avs were lucky to get the win when they clobbered Edmonton statistically. Most people would look at those numbers and think Edmonton was lucky to get the game to OT. BTW, Skinner played well with a .930 but Georgiev had a .941.

Well done Sean.

Hopefully two points tonight don't want to waste the opportunity vs a bad MTL club.

Although probably more Habs fans than Oiler fans in the stands tonight lol

And Nurse gets a free pass. We all know who his biggest critic is, explains a lot.
- K-man25

Ah the village idiot hath arrived with a little KY...

Conroy has this Flames looking solid while Ovechkin fills the net.

The saviour...

Oilers are the best team in the NHL since the start of the new year. Never a bad thing being on a roll going into playoffs.

Ah the village idiot hath arrived with a little KY...

Conroy has this Flames looking solid while Ovechkin fills the net.

The saviour...




- LordHumungous

Ouch!
got chased out of the Nucks thread?

People, including you Sean, are not giving Ekholm the credit he deserves for bailing out Bouchard time and time again. I actually don't recall seeing a flat footed dman just f0c7in standing there in the house while his partner plays BOTH corners! Watch Bouchard in the d-zone...they're usually hemmed in, under pressure, with Bouch kicking the puck around and missing his assignments (if he's not just standing there)...meanwhile Ekholm is doing 1.75 jobs! (hey, it's working I guess, but it's certainly not because of Bouchard). Look at your fancy stats with Bouch away from Ekholm...it's a disaster for sure.

You speak of transition play, and zone exits...DUDE! you can't seriously tell me you don't see Bouchard's passes either end up as icing, or just not near the fwd's tape (the fwds are always reaching for his sh1t outlet passes). He might be better at D then his outlet passes, and his D sucks. Haha

Offensive d-men often pinch, and quite often don't hold the blue line well, but this is also a big negative for Bouchard. He just doesn't hold the line well. It's an effort and awareness thing.

...and why do you think Draisailt can't score from "his spot" anymore??? Maybe it's because his one timer passes are constantly outside of his wheelhouse? Bouch is very inefficient with his passes.

I think he has acheived a lot for his age and he's a great asset at his current salary, but this is by no means an elite, or even 1st paring dman on a contending team. They just cannot sign him long term at a big cap hit. I don't have a problem with him being on the second pairing and playing PP1 with a supportive partner (or Nuge! Haha), but playing him 20+ min is ask8ng for trouble.

He's also a floater, which I hate, but so are McDavid and Draisaitl a lot of times.

Re: "hockey knowledge": too many of you are mesmerized by his slapshot, which is great, but look deeper.

"They matched up great against the Avalanche with the game ending in OT. "

5v5

SCF%: COL 62.5% EDM 37.5%
HDCF%: COL 63.64% EDM 36.36%
CF% COL 58.65 EDM 41.35
xGF% COL 62.02 EDM 37.98

And all of that is with last change.

It's obviously just one game but I wouldn't say they matched up great in that game.

https://www.naturalstattr...eason=20232024&game=21070




- FoppaForever

Wow! You could sort of tell this was the case but I didn't know it was THAT bad.

Ouch!
got chased out of the Nucks thread?
- K-man25

lol no just having some fun with NFU today...

People, including you Sean, are not giving Ekholm the credit he deserves for bailing out Bouchard time and time again. I actually don't recall seeing a flat footed dman just f0c7in standing there in the house while his partner plays BOTH corners! Watch Bouchard in the d-zone...they're usually hemmed in, under pressure, with Bouch kicking the puck around and missing his assignments (if he's not just standing there)...meanwhile Ekholm is doing 1.75 jobs! (hey, it's working I guess, but it's certainly not because of Bouchard). Look at your fancy stats with Bouch away from Ekholm...it's a disaster for sure.

You speak of transition play, and zone exits...DUDE! you can't seriously tell me you don't see Bouchard's passes either end up as icing, or just not near the fwd's tape (the fwds are always reaching for his sh1t outlet passes). He might be better at D then his outlet passes, and his D sucks. Haha

Offensive d-men often pinch, and quite often don't hold the blue line well, but this is also a big negative for Bouchard. He just doesn't hold the line well. It's an effort and awareness thing.

...and why do you think Draisailt can't score from "his spot" anymore??? Maybe it's because his one timer passes are constantly outside of his wheelhouse? Bouch is very inefficient with his passes.

I think he has acheived a lot for his age and he's a great asset at his current salary, but this is by no means an elite, or even 1st paring dman on a contending team. They just cannot sign him long term at a big cap hit. I don't have a problem with him being on the second pairing and playing PP1 with a supportive partner (or Nuge! Haha), but playing him 20+ min is ask8ng for trouble.

He's also a floater, which I hate, but so are McDavid and Draisaitl a lot of times.

Re: "hockey knowledge": too many of you are mesmerized by his slapshot, which is great, but look deeper.
- JLO961

TLDR

TLDR
- freelancer

IDBY

Geez blew that lead vs a pretty crappy MTL team looking a bit like the Nucks with blown leads but hanging on. Good to see the extra point in OT.

IDBY
- JLO961

NFUC

NFUC
- LordHumungous

NFUC?

NFUC?
- Oildrum

lol I added the C for Clown. Inside Joke in the Nucks thread. We have this poster that has changed his handle and avatar a few times now and he thinks we don't know who he is. A true clown tho. lol I think he's fifteen years old...

lol I added the C for Clown. Inside Joke in the Nucks thread. We have this poster that has changed his handle and avatar a few times now and he thinks we don't know who he is. A true clown tho. lol
- LordHumungous

Sweet win by the Oil tonight with the 8 spot. 80's hockey baby!

Sweet win by the Oil tonight with the 8 spot. 80's hockey baby!
- Oildrum

Wow 5 goals in the third...

Game day blog today Sean?