"“Sorry, but Bouchard is a disaster. The league learned he has a big shot and they take it away. He rarely gets a shot through this year. On defence he does not have the skating abilities to recover from some of his risky offensive plays. He is a minus 11 which is 9 more than the next worst defensemen. Puljujarvi looks lost. At minus 13, he tops the Oilers. What gets counted as hits in the stat sheet hardly look like they have any impact on the shifts he plays.” — David Pickrell"
You do realize that Bouchard is only 23 and hasn’t even played 150 NHL games yet, right David?
But I suppose you were perfect at everything in your early 20s…./sarcasm.
What a stupid comment. If you were actually in NHL player development you’d be ruining Bouchard’s confidence and soon enough his entire career.
Again, an overreaction lacking context. Young NHLers have more peaks and valleys in their careers than veterans do, which is why Bouchard is currently playing on the third pairing.
Yes, he was -13 but over the last four games that’s improved significantly to -5 – and I would be willing to bet likely to get even better from here.
Yes, the Bison King looked lost but again he was out of the lineup last game and was only in the lineup previously due to injury. I guess you just failed to mention that.
Your comment about hits is just……weird. What qualifies you to know what the definition of a hit is that everyone else in the NHL is in the dark about?
I’m waiting.
*crickets*
*crickets*
*crickets*
*crickets*
I guess you’ve got nothing but the audacity to think you know better than every other stats person employed in the NHL. Wow……