watchman wrote on Tue, 04 February 2025 19:45

PlusOne wrote on Tue, 04 February 2025 19:23 watchman wrote on Tue, 04 February 2025 20:21 PlusOne wrote on Tue, 04 February 2025 19:12 If the media, and some fans, drive Bouchard out of Edmonton I'm going to be livid. The guy makes a couple mistakes but he does things one the ice that MAYBE ten other defenceman in the league can do. The ratio of good to bad is worth every time and I can't believe that some think he is the problem. I can ignore a couple defensive gaffes to gain the dozen or so special plays he makes per game. ...the only way Bouch will be gone is if he thinks he's worth more than Nurse. Depends on what you mean by worth more. Worth more than what Nurse is paid, no but close. Worth more than what market value is for Nurse, yes. I am not one who hates Nurse but he is overpaid. Bouchard is a rare talent, the puck moving, offensive RHD that every team wishes they had. Bouch has regressed from last year. Less physical in his own zone. Zero goals on the PP. Anyone can do that. His defensive lapses usually result in one or two zone breakaways. ...he's certainly a polarizing player. I guess he's certainly not horrible, but I can think of 4 other D on the team I would want defending late in a 1 goal game. Maybe 5, but I haven't seen Klingberg enough.

There's an awful lot of Oilers fans who are just dreadful at assessing defencemen. They only remember a couple bad plays and have super-selective memories - remembering more the mistakes of the players that they don't like (usually the offensive defencemen) and immediately forgetting the mistakes of the ones they do like (usually the physical guy who does nothing else of use).

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks