The Edmonton Oilers have begun to bounce again from their gradual begin and have improved to a 9-7-1 report with their current 3-2 victory over the struggling Nashville Predators. As they intention to make it again to the playoffs and hopefully win their sixth Stanley Cup in franchise historical past after simply lacking the mark final season, they’ve some issues they should remedy earlier than they are often thought-about contenders once more.
Fortunately, it appears as if the group has discovered a option to start enhancing their penalty kill in addition to achieve momentum on the person benefit. They nonetheless have questionable defensive depth that would damage them down the road, in addition to a possible concern with their goaltending depth if Stuart Skinner can’t discover a option to elevate his sport and set up himself as a beginning goaltender over Calvin Pickard.
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One factor the Oilers might want to work out sooner or later is the pending contract extension of defender Evan Bouchard who has taken a slight step again at each ends of the ice this season however has saved his sport at an elite stage. Whereas some followers have questioned whether or not or not giving him a large pay increase may very well be justified after his gradual begin and his lack of defensive consistency, there was a current report suggesting that he’ll nonetheless obtain round $10.5 million yearly on his subsequent deal. Sadly, giving him that sort of contract means the Oilers will likely be investing virtually $20 million into two defensemen, Bouchard and Darnell Nurse. Nevertheless, it appears as if the group is prepared to take that threat.
Bouchard’s Offensive Energy Outweighs Defensive Lapses
Oilers followers are often cut up up the center with regards to their opinion of Bouchard. Half of the fanbase often values the analytics and offensive manufacturing and believes these outweigh the negatives of his defensive sport, whereas the opposite half merely doesn’t perceive why he’s as extremely touted as he’s since they see lazy efforts defensively in addition to some questionable decision-making as he exits the defensive zone. I’m on the aspect that values his earlier manufacturing and I imagine he can bounce again from his gradual begin.
This season, Bouchard has scored 4 objectives and added six assists for ten factors via 17 video games, which comes out to a 0.59 points-per-game common. All through his profession, he has scored 45 objectives and added 136 assists for 181 factors via 282 video games which comes out to a 0.64 points-per-game common. Final season, he scored 18 objectives and added 64 assists for 82 factors via 81 video games notching a career-high in all three stats. One in all his greatest strengths is his shot, and it was utilized in an enormous manner final season on the person benefit. Sadly, he hasn’t been capable of finding the identical confidence and carry it over into the brand new marketing campaign.
When taking a look at his defensive lapses, they appear to be blown a bit out of proportion. Whereas he has taken a step again, it’s nonetheless very early within the season with loads of time to bounce again, so there ought to be no motive to panic simply but. Whereas $10.5 million yearly might sound a bit steep for a top-pairing defender, it’s the worth the Oilers could must pay with the wage cap going up and contemplating the rarity of fine right-handed defenders.
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