Playbook Playbook: Evan Bouchard's Passing

Revisiting the class of 2018 & how the Oilers' number-one defenseman controls the game

2018 was the first NHL draft that I worked as an analyst in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.

A number of highly touted defensemen were selected in the opening round:

• Rasmus Dahlin (1st overall to BUF)

• Quinn Hughes (7th, VAN)

• Adam Boqvist (8th, CHI)

• Evan Bouchard (10th, EDM)

• Noah Dobson (12th, NYI)

• Ty Smith (17th, NJD)

• Ryan Merkley (21st, SJS)

• K’Andre Miller (22nd, NYR)

• Filip Johansson (24th, MIN)

• Jacob Bernard-Docker (26th, OTT)

• Nicolas Beaudin (27th, CHI)

• Nils Lundkvist (28th, NYR)

• Rasmus Sandin (29th, TOR)

• Alex Alexeyev (31st, WSH)

Out of this sizeable group, Dahlin, Hughes and Bouchard have emerged as number one defensemen.

Dobson, Miller and Sandin are top-four Ds, though not quite franchise cornerstones.

Bernard-Docker and Alexeyev are depth NHLers, the type that teams can acquire anytime for a mid-round pick rather than a first-rounder.

Boqvist, Smith and Lundkvist have struggled to translate their skills to the NHL.

Merkley, Johansson and Beaudin washed out due to completely different reasons. One refused to learn how to defend. The other was an out-of-left-field pick who was never that good. The third reads the game alright but doesn’t move near well enough to stick at the NHL level.

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Between you and me, I wasn’t all that impressed by Bouchard’s draft-year performance with the OHL’s London Knights. The right-hander put up big point totals by blasting shots from the point, both at 5v5 and on the powerplay. He also routinely played more than half the game and managed his energy accordingly. At his worst, Bouchard looked slow and disengaged, the type of player who’d be exposed by the superior pace and physicality of the AHL, nevermind the NHL.

I was wrong about Bouchard, and the following shift (from Game 4) shows why.