Edmonton Oilers: Dave Tippett confirms plans for Evan Bouchard
It’s no secret that the Edmonton Oilers need help badly when it comes to their Power Play scoring. The truth of the matter is, it’s supposed to still be a strength of the team based on how great they were at it last season but now, it’s a weakness. It’s to the point where head coach Dave Tippett has to tweak his lineups to put his team in a better situation to capitalize in these important scoring situations.
The good news is, it looks like based on Friday’s unfortunate loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tippet is now considering making some tweaks to their lineup to combat this. TSN Edmonton Bureau Reporter Ryan Rishaug confirmed this via Twitter below:
Tippett says they've discussed the idea of dressing 7 Dmen to get Bouchard into the lineup and get him some minutes, possibly on the PP. Didn't commit to anything but they're considering it. Monitoring a few injuries for Sundays lineup.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) January 23, 2021
In the grand scheme of things, this would be a brilliant decision by Tippett. The Oilers need to get back into scoring first and maintaining leads instead of always playing catch up in hockey games. Perhaps this could be the spark that the Oilers need to turn things around in this short, 56-game regular season.
Evan Bouchard is precisely what the Edmonton Oilers need
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Oilers fans won’t know if this will be the case until more than likely sometime on Sunday afternoon when final lineups are announced.
Hopefully, we see Tippett make these changes since it should help open things up offensively since this is an area where defenceman Evan Bouchard shines in.
Throwing Bouchard into these Power Play situations will undoubtedly help the cause for the Oilers and give their offense something for opposing teams to fear.
Bouchard is an incredibly smart hockey player that is not only fantastic with his offensive abilities but will do whatever it takes to get the job done. Not to mention, he’s going to continue honing his craft as a top defenceman as the years go by on the Oilers.
Let’s see what Tippett decides to do as the Oilers have a day off on Saturday as they try to regroup with two more road games before heading home. As they prepare to face the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, making a few lineup changes to throw Bouchard when it’s needed on Power Play scoring situations could be exactly what this team needs to get back into their winning ways.
Trending. It might be time for the Oilers to drop Zack Kassian to third line. light
Overall, all hope is not lost on the Oilers as the season is still extremely young and plenty of changes will happen as the new year progresses. Don’t worry, it hopefully won’t be long before Tippett works out all these kinks and then the Oilers will finally start to develop their identity as a team once again.