This in from former NHL d-man Jason Demers, now an NHL Network analyst, his defence of Edmonton Oilers d-man Evan Bouchard after Bouchard’s nightmarish game against the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
“Evan Bouchard will have a two point night next game save this tweet. Everybody take a chill pill the guy has been to the Finals last two years and probably had a nice night out in NYC at Catch. He will be finem, go pound sand.”

Demers wasn’t alone in standing up for Bouchard, who by all acounts had one of the worst games of his NHL careers against the Islanders.

Allan ‘Lowetide’ Mitchell of the Athletic noted, “Here’s the thing about Evan Bouchard. He’s worth it. I understand and see the flaws. (Sports writer) Rachel Kryshak accurately calls it ‘controller unplugged’ and those plays have an impact. He’s worth it. He’s SO good with the puck. And he WILL mature. Keep the faith!”

Bouchard’s defensive partner Mattias Ekholm also stood up for him, telling reporters after the game: “People can be hard on him for the mistakes, but you’ve also got to look at the upside of what he brings. I’m sure he knows he could have made some other decisions to tonight…  You saw the other night when he was just pulling through their forwards and just makes everyone look silly, and things I wouldn’t even think of. ”

Ekholm continued: “I’d be careful criticizing him because that’s who he is. And obviously he knows that he would want it (the mistakes) back. There’s going to be nights, there’s going to be mistakes, and I think one of Evan’s super power is he forgets quick and he just goes out there and plays his game. I’m pretty sure we’ll see a different Bouchard on Saturday.”
Bouchard took a beating after making eight major mistakes leading to Grade A shots against, three of them leading to goals against.”

After Isles attacker Matthew Barzal stole the puck off him to score, game analyst Ray Ferraro said, “”The Achilles’ heal of Evan Bouchard. He always thinks he’s got more time. But you don’t.”

And NHL stats analyst Mike Kelly noted on-line:
“Turnovers leading to scoring chances against (within 10s this season):
Chabot – 10
Sergachev – 10
Rinzel – 9
Bouchard – 8”

And Edmonton hockey podcaster Kevin McCurdy: “This is the poorest period I’ve seen out of Evan Bouchard in about 3 years.”

And former NHLer Jordan Schmaltz: “Bouchard gets his pocket picked in broad daylight like a tourist from Council Bluffs Iowa strolling thru Central Park. Welcome to the concrete jungle fellaaaa.”

And Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, “That’s the mistake that will have Bouchard in Turks and Caicos during the Olympic break, not Milan. A needless dangle while last man back, pocket picked, 1-0 Isles…
After 20 minutes, the official game sheet has zero giveaways for Evan Bouchard. Julien Brisebois, the Tampa GM who is part of Team Canada’s front office, may have noticed a few however, from his seat in the UBS press box.”

And the Journal’s Jim Matheson: “Evan Bouchard is fantastic playoff performer as we know but if people picking Canada’s Oly team were scouting that first period they are throwing up their hands. So many mistakes.”

And Oilers prospec writer Bruce Curlock: “I’m about 100% confident if Walman and Regula were playing that Bouchard wouldn’t see another shift this game.”

And TSN’s Ryan Rishaug: “Tough night for Bouchard. Turnovers, lack of awareness, just really bad mistakes. This is the way it goes with him. Brilliant playoff performer who has a tendency to have these types of nights during the regular season. His bad nights are awful. His best nights are fantastic. They knew this when they signed him but need to keep pushing him to cut this stuff out of his game.”

And former NHLer Scottie Upshall: “It’s unacceptable. This isn’t the Bouchard show. Makar Hughes and Doughty don’t do this. I think of Karlson sometimes when I see this, but he actually played like a forward so you let him just go. These mistakes are bad habits that costs games. Makes ya think his ‘give a shit’ meter is on empty.”

And Spittin’ Chiclets podcaster Ryan Whitney: “Bouchard has been so bad tonight that he’s either getting the game winner or handing it directly to someone on the Islanders.”

As for Bouchard himself, he told Sportsnet’s Spector: “When it’s not going my way, I’ve got to find a way to make different plays.”

And Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said of Edmonton’s loss: “Especially early in the game they were sneaking in behind us and we were not having awareness of picking up those guys, gave up a lot of breakaways, probably three or four in the first half of the game, which is just unacceptable.”

As for Bouchard specifically, Knoblauch said, “I’ve seen Evan play better… We cannot just accept that… Mistakes happens. But you have to address what type of mistakes are happening.”

Knoblauch added that Bouchard is one of the best d-men in the NHL and he expects him to bounceback.

“I usually see him bounce back immediately after a bad shift, maybe a turnover, it doesn’t phase him and he can make the next play the next time. We’re going to have to move on from it. We can’t dwell on it too much. We’ve got to learn form things that happen. But Evan is one of our players and we have got to have him playing as one of our best.”

More to come…