Oilers' defenceman Evan Bouchard deserves Norris Trophy votes

The Edmonton Oilers selected defenceman Evan Bouchard 10th overall at the 2018 NHL Draft and now eight years later, it is clear that Bouchard was the correct choice at this slot.

The next five selections in order were; Oliver Wahlstrom, Noah Dobson, Ty Dellandrea, Joel Farabee, and Grigori Denisenko. Bouchard is far and away the best of the bunch, which some may actually find to be a controversial opinion, wrongfully so.

Evan Bouchard is one of the best defencemen in the NHL

Bouchard currently stands as the leader amongst all defencemen in points, having scored 19 goals and 63 assists for 82 points in 72 games. This puts him on a roughly over 93 point pace over a full season, something that would exceed both Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes over the past two seasons.

Despite this, there is still an overarching narrative surrounding Bouchard that he is undeserving of being labelled as an elite player. In order to not create a strawman, the two most common critiques of him -- especially as it pertains to the Norris Trophy race this season -- is that he is poor defensively and that he creates too much offence as a byproduct of playing with stars.

Both of these narratives are false or at least are not true to the extent that they are pushed by others to discredit Bouchard.

Bouchard's defensive woes

It cannot be denied, Bouchard is susceptible to a few face-palming gaffs, as are many offensive defencemen. But by traditional and underlying metrics, the belief that he is a poor defenceman defensively, at least so much so that it undoes all of the good he does offensively, does not hold up. Using a simple metric like plus/minus, Bouchard has been a positive over the course of his career with a plus-76 and has been every season since his sophomore year.

Taking a look at his underlying numbers using evolving-hockey.com, Bouchard ranks 17th amongst the 110 defencemen who have played 1000 minutes at 5-on-5 in corsi against per 60 minutes and a slightly less impressive 73rd in expected goals against per 60. Again, he is not a stalwart defensive defenceman but Bouchard is not the league's worst blueliner in his own end like some believe.

Bouchard is not carried by his elite teammates

Most people will agree, even if they believe that Bouchard is one of the worst defensive defencemen in the league, that he is at least a high end offensive player. However, some will even refuse to give him full credit for that, saying he is propped up but this is a talking point that has been debunked time and time again.

Using naturalstattrick.com's line tool, you can isolate players impacts when they are with and without certain other linemates. Looking at Bouchard when he shares the ice with captain Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, it is one of the most lethal trios in the entire league. When together, they dominate and control play with 64.8% corsi for percentage, 67.3% expected goals, with a 62.5% goals for.

If Bouchard was carried by his two forwards, you would expect a major drop when he is away from both players but in fact, he actually holds his head above water quite well. Away from McDavid and Draisaitl he has a 51.4% corsi for, 49.6% expected goals, and a 42.3% goals for.

It does represent a significant drop but what is wild is that when McDavid and Draisaitl are away from Bouchard, their numbers are actually worse. Together they have a 47.8% corsi,42.14% xG, and a 30% goals for percentage.

To say Bouchard is carried would be untrue and saying it devalues his elite level of play. He is arguably the Oilers best defenceman in decades and is one of the league's top defencemen, worthy of Norris Trophy consideration.