Evan Bouchard dressed up as an NHL defenceman, and it ended up being the worst costume on the ice.
And it was probably for the best. The way things have been going, he likely would have freely given away whatever candy was in his loot bag to the closest opposing trick-or-treater anyway.
His Edmonton Oilers treated their way to a two-goal lead against the New York Rangers on Thursday, only to leave Rogers Place with a 4-3 overtime loss in a game where Bouchard was directly responsible for two of those goals-against, as well as ghosting his man on the decider in overtime.
Put it this way, he could have dressed up as the Invisible Man and it would have been easier on his team than having him out on the ice.
And not for the first time this season, either. Not by a long shot.
Twelve games into his fifth full NHL season, and the 26-year-old D-man has now recorded a trio of performances ending in a plus-minus rating of minus-3.
He is a team-worst minus-9, and is pulling other teammates down in that category, as well.
Connor McDavid, who averages a career plus-16.5, is sitting at minus-4 right now, despite being tied for a team-leading 14 points alongside Leon Draisaitl, who has played less on the top line with Bouchard on the top defensive pairing, and is plus-4.
Bouchard’s one goal and six assists in 12 games so far hasn’t nearly made up for the mistakes that have cost his team wins.
OK, but is Bouchard really having that bad a season?
Nobody’s perfect.
Fellow defenceman Darnell Nurse had a horrendous first period one game earlier, seeing two turnovers of his own end up in the back of the Oilers net before getting sat down at the end of the bench for five minutes to start the second.
His response? Looking in the mirror the next day and coming out flying against the Rangers. He came up with two goals in what was his best performance in recent memory, only to have it overshadowed by an overtime loss.
“To grab your game back, you just get back to being simple,” Nurse said. “I think sometimes when you’re forcing the plays you think the next one is going to get through, and that’s been the case a little bit.
“When we’re losing momentum and you feel the other team coming, it’s about simplifying your game and getting back to the hard work.”
Bouchard didn’t get the same pine treatment Thursday, however.
He sends a pass across the blue line in the O-zone to his fellow defenceman, and it ends up going for hockey’s version of a pick-six, a breakaway at the other end of the ice for the game’s opening goal.
And then he coughs up another one, this time at his own blue line, allowing the Rangers to tie it and force overtime.
Bouchard still ended up playing 22:34. And in a lineup featuring seven defencemen, no less, whom he ended up leading in ice time. So, it’s not like there wasn’t a ready replacement had Kris Knoblauch wanted to send the embattled blue liner a strong message.
Instead, the head coach decided to save it for his post-game mic time.
“Absolutely, we’ve got to hold all our players accountable,” Knoblauch said. “There’s a fine line on mistakes that periodically happen, because no player’s going to play a perfect game and there’s always going to be a mistake.
“But if there’s an accumulation of mistakes that are costing us regularly then, yes, we need to hold everyone accountable.”
It sounds good, in theory. But we have yet to see it put into practice when it comes to Bouchard, who averages, 23:24 a game, the most ice time out of any Oilers player this season aside from McDavid — and that’s only by one second.
So, what does the head coach think about Bouchard’s troubling start?
As he does, Knoblauch takes his concerns over Bouchard in stride.
“With Evan, sometimes your greatest strength is also your biggest weakness,” Knoblauch said. “You have a great talent at making passes and feel confident you can do that, but when it’s not working it’s costing with chances against.
“When turnovers are happening, a lot of times it’s not moving your feet. You’re standing still, you’re not making a pass, Very rarely do I see a player, especially Evan when he is moving his feet, he’s opening up lanes, then passes are usually made. But when they’re stationary, you’re locked in one spot, it’s a pretty fine line to execute a hard pass.”
But what does he mean?
Move. Faster.
His go-to gear appears to be lackadaisical, even after coughing up the puck and knowing he is the only player in blue and orange in the vicinity to try and make up for it.
Bouchard’s nonchalance and lack of giddy-up, at times, do nothing to endear himself to the Oilers fan base, who have gotten all too used to the idea that you simply have to take the good with the bad when it comes to Bouchard.
G-MAN’S TAKE: There are no excuses. He simply has to be better. Or at least find a way to not be such a liability.
It would be easy to shrug Bouchard off if it weren’t for the fact that he singlehandedly (OK, maybe also with the help of Evander Kane) saved the Oilers’ season last year with two of the timeliest goals imaginable against the L.A. Kings in what was otherwise headed for a disastrous early playoff exit.
He’s like a chess master sitting on the street corner, where questionable life choices might have ended him up there, but he turns into nothing short of a savant when the biggest responses are required.
So, the team puts up with some stumbling and bumbling early on — and maybe more than some — knowing there is a bit of a wild card back there ready to pull an ace out of his sleeve when it matters most.
In the meantime, they just have to endure.
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
Related
Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters.
You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post, and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun