Jeff O’Neill on TSN: “the pecking order on D in the National Hockey League is 1: Cale Makar and 2: Bouchard…”

46 comments

  1. If you don’t have Hughes and Makar at 1 & 2 (in either order) then I think you’re either rage baiting or clueless.

    Perhaps O’Neill is both.

  12. I’d say Bouchard is more comparable to Alex burrows with the sedins. A good player who fits perfectly in the machine of two stars. All he has to do is be in the right spots and shoot the puck.

  13. So fucked up that Quinn isn’t next to Cale. Wtf game is this guy watching?

  17. If he’s strictly talking about producing offense, he’s in the conversation. Overall he’s not even close to #2.

  18. Makar, Quinn, Slavin, Miro, and then the list gets a lot harder to make.

  20. Bouchard is an elite offensive Dman who is probably top 10 in the league but definitely inflated by playing with Mcdrai

    Quinn Hughes is either #1 or #2 depending on your flavour and that’s just facts. Nobody else even comes close to his or Makar’s level right now and it’s ridiculous to insinuate otherwise, I mean have none of these guys seen the Canucks split stats for when Quinn Hughes is on the ice versus not? They go from literally being one of the best teams offensively over the past 20 years to being literally bottom 2% over the past 20 years and absolutely no inbetween, he is the air that Canucks team success breaths and a franchise level talent, Bouchard is simply none of those things, but he’s got a great shot.

  21. I love Bouchard! Every time we play the Oilers, he gives up 4 or 5 grade A turnovers.

  24. Switch Werenski with Bouchard on current teams. What happens? Werenski 100 point season with McDrai, Bouchard falls off the face of the Earth -30.

  25. Bouchard offensively is probably on the top 3-4. He also has that playoff bump. Overall man he just doesn’t have the most well rounded game.

  26. Defensemen I rank over Bouchard

    Makar, Q.Hughes, Werenski, Dahlin, Josi, Slavin, Heiskanen, (3-7 could all have a case made to be swapped around) after that it gets harder to pin anyone better than Bouchard. So in my opinion he’s still a top 10 but more like 8-10th best.

  27. Makar 1
    Q Hughes 2
    Maybe ya start thinking Werenski for 3

    Bouchard at 2??!! NO!

  28. Psssst!!! Boochie! Over here in the corner in the coffee hut! You in bud! …. lol love it

  29. It’s Makar and Hughes as 1 and 2 (with arguable order) then a small chasm before any other d man right now

  32. Bouchard the only defenseman in last decade of the d men the oilers have had that has played elite with them ok both sides of the puck. ( Barrie has some PP success ) his defense is way better than people give credit for. He does make some egregious mistakes but they are not as often as people make my them to be. Players with the puck all the time no matter how good they are will make mistakes.

    I always find the he plays with mcdrai argument hilarious because no one has replicated what he’s done since they’ve come to Edmonton.

    It’s like everyone saying the teams Edmonton has beaten we’re just playing bad— not crediting what is actually the Team playing much better.

    Bouchard has done things in the playoffs that we haven’t seen since Orr. Him being on team Canada is far from a pipe dream.

  33. And this is why the NHL media is so fuckin dumb. 6 weeks ago he was a problem area

  34. I would love to hear him or anyone for that matter explain to me how Evan Bouchard is a better defenseman than Quinn Hughes. Literally the only thing I can think of that Bouchard has over Hughes would be his blue line clappers. Maybe you can say his size, but Evan isn’t a super physical force out there.

  35. Hughes carried the Canucks this year. Problem is all the ‘pundits’ are out East and never watch him play cause it’s past their bedtime.

  37. Pecking order for Canadian dmen? You can make that argument.

    Pecking order in the league? Hughes carries a team on his back. Bouchard has the two best players in the world to feed our get him the puck. Massive difference.

  38. Another L take from ESPN hockey coverage, colour me surprised. They give me a small amount of respite from Leafsnet homer coverage but outside of this reason, I’ll never watch them.

  40. Ex-athletes with grade 9 education and 17 concussions are always perfect for sports talk radio.

  42. There’s like 7-8 guys I’d rather have than Bouchard as a defender. Love his offense tho.

  43. You know when you “lol” out loud in real life? Yeah that was me when I heard him say this. Moron.

  44. Most Points-Per-Game All-Time in the NHL Playoffs by Defencemen
    (Min. 50 GP)

    #1. Bobby Orr: 1.24
    #2. Evan Bouchard: 1.14
    #3. Cake Makar: 1.08
    #4. Brian Leetch: 1.02
    #5. Paul Coffey: 1.01

    He has a lousy season and comes alive in the playoffs. He single handedly saved game 4 in the LA series to tie it up by keeping the puck in.

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