EDMONTON — Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm are just about as perfect a defence pair as you’re going to find, especially in the way they complement each other.
One has unbelievable vision and poise with the puck all while being armed with a cannon for a shot.
The other is no chump offensively, either, and is an excellent one-on-one defender and a bruiser when he can deliver a check.
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Oh, and they have some things in common, too.
“The biggest thing for a defenceman that doesn’t get enough attention is how well you move the puck out of your zone,” their coach Kris Knoblauch said. “When they are in a position to defend, they’re good at that. But what really sets them apart is their puck movement.”
Together, they’ve formed the backbone of the Edmonton Oilers’ defence. Sure, they’ve gotten 60 percent of their five-on-five ice time alongside Connor McDavid, per Natural Stat Trick, but they’ve put it to good use.
The Oilers have outscored the opposition 77-45 in 1,171 minutes in that situation with Nos. 2 and 14 skating together. That 63.1 percent goal share can’t be overlooked.
Both defencemen are compiling eye-popping numbers in their own right and are major factors why the Oilers are about to enter the playoffs as Stanley Cup contenders. They each deserve Norris Trophy consideration.
Neither appears to have much chance of taking home the award for the blueliner who “demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.” Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes has been the front-runner since October. Roman Josi led Nashville back to the playoffs. Cale Makar is, well, Cale Makar. There are a handful of other defencemen who’ve excelled, too.
But Bouchard and Ekholm should get down-ballot votes from selected Professional Hockey Writers Association members, of which this writer is included.
“You have two guys who should be in the picture,” Knoblauch said. “It depends on who’s voting and what they feel is most important.”
Both could be in the running for top-10 spots. That might sound far-fetched, but it was just two years ago that Colorado’s Makar and Devon Toews finished within the first 10 of voting. (Florida’s Aaron Ekblad and MacKenzie Weegar were sixth and 12th, respectively, in the same 2021-22 season, too.)
That leaves just one question: Which Oilers defenceman should get a vote if there’s room for just one on a ballot?
The case for Bouchard
The more dynamic offensive guy in the tandem tends to get more love. Just look at the Makar-Toews example mentioned earlier. Makar, a tour de force, edged out Josi for the Norris in 2021-22. Toews, more of a steady but understated player, finished eighth.
When it comes to offence, make no mistake about it, Bouchard is one of the top defencemen in the NHL. The numbers back it up.
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Bouchard is fourth among blueliners in scoring with 81 points, trailing just the big three of Hughes, Makar and Josi. His 18 goals were good for fifth among his blue-line peers, prior to Tuesday’s games. He has seven game-winning goals — an Oilers record for defencemen — tops for all rearguards. Two of those goals have come in overtime.
He’s doing things no other Oilers defenceman has done other than the great Paul Coffey. Bouchard’s point total is sixth in franchise history and the most of anyone who isn’t his assistant coach.
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The 24-year-old also is a focal point of one of the top power plays in the league. His patent “Bouch Bomb” has allowed him to find the back of the net eight times on the man advantage. Josi is the only blueliner ahead of him around the league. His 35 power-play points are third among all blueliners.
That’s a big reason for Bouchard having almost double the number of points compared to Ekholm’s 44.
“You can talk about Bouchard being near the top of the scoring race (for defencemen) and how much he impacts our team,” Knoblauch said. “You can look at Ekholm, too. His power-play points are very minimal being on the second unit and not getting much opportunity. What if he had the first-line power-play points of some guys around the league?”
Bouchard has the role because he’s most suited for it. He’s the best offensive defenceman on the Oilers. It isn’t even up for debate.
His presence is precisely why GM Ken Holland felt comfortable trading former power-play quarterback Tyson Barrie to acquire Ekholm from Nashville last February.
But Bouchard is more than a power-play merchant or one-way threat. He’d have to be to lead the team in ice time at 23 minutes per game — two more than Ekholm.
Bouchard’s limited aggression and physicality, plus issues recognizing danger, have made him prone to a few terrible goals against this season — something Ekholm hasn’t been immune against, either. Mistakes are going to happen when in that much opportunity.
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The good far outweighs the bad when it comes to Bouchard.
Colleague Shayna Goldman broke down the Hart Trophy race last week and Bouchard scored fantastically. He had the fifth-highest net rating in the NHL behind the much-discussed Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, McDavid and Nikita Kucherov. Those players are all forwards. Bouchard was the top defenceman just ahead of Hughes and Josi.
Colleague Dom Luszczyszyn’s awards watch piece was published Tuesday and showed why Bouchard is worthy of Norris buzz.
Though Hughes closed the gap, Bouchard is firmly entrenched as one of the top defencemen in the NHL.
Now, Bouchard has the worst defensive rating of anyone in the top 10 when it comes to net rating, but that’s beside the point. It’s about the overall package here. Bouchard’s clearly going stride for stride with the best of the best.
Ekholm is in the picture, but Bouchard is comfortably ahead.
The case for Ekholm
This very question was posed to an NHL defenceman, an NHL coach and an NHL executive. Two of them hemmed and hawed for a bit. One was emphatic. All three of them had the same answer: Ekholm.
Ekholm, 33, has been one of the premier defensive defencemen in the NHL for years but has flourished in his 13-plus months in Edmonton.
He got off to a slow start to the season because of a groin/hip flexor injury sustained in captain’s skates before training camp, an issue that sidelined him for the exhibition schedule and the season opener. His return to better health and form was instrumental to the Oilers’ turnaround after the November coaching change.
No, Ekholm hasn’t come close to matching Bouchard’s offensive output. But he’s posted respectable numbers. Ekholm has a career high 11 goals and his 44 points have tied his personal best from 2018-19.
Ekholm and Bouchard have identical stat lines of eight goals and 36 points at five-on-five, which ties them for seventh in the NHL before Tuesday’s games. Maybe Knoblauch’s right to wonder how Ekholm’s numbers would look with more power-play time. Ekholm’s played 68 minutes in that situation — mostly without McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — whereas Bouchard’s had 276 minutes.
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That’s deflated Ekholm’s production. He was asked if there should be a minimum offensive standard for a defenceman to be considered for the Norris.
“It’s so hard because you see some of the guys who are up in the 80s and 90s and 100 sometimes (in terms of points) like last year (with Erik Karlsson). When somebody’s sitting with 30 and 40 (points), I don’t know where you compare it,” Ekholm said. “If you have a cutoff, you have to look at all the different stats. Is there a cutoff for the defensive side, too?
“The points are pretty obvious. That’s the offensive side. But what’s the defensive metric where you have the cutoff? If there’s a cutoff for points, there should be a cutoff for the defence, too.”
Ekholm believes the best way to measure a defenceman’s defensive value is plus/minus — with a caveat.
“If you took away the six-on-five and five-on-six plus/minus, I think it would be a lot more accurate,” he said.
By the traditional stat, Ekholm is second in the NHL at plus-44. He trails only Florida’s Gustav Forsling. Bouchard is tied for seventh at plus-35 but is also behind Zach Hyman and McDavid on the Oilers.
Looking at it through Ekholm’s lens, he’s 11th in the NHL with a 63.3 percent goal share at even strength of skaters playing a minimum of 500 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick. In terms of defencemen with the same time of ice criterion, Ekholm is fourth behind Forsling, Ekblad and Winnipeg’s Dylan DeMelo.
By comparison, Bouchard is 44th in the NHL and 11th among blueliners with a 60.1 percent goals share. That difference stems from play on both ends of the ice. Relative to his teammates, the Oilers score 0.46 more goals per 60 in Ekholm’s minutes, and allow 0.16 less — both numbers trump Bouchard’s.
Knoblauch said expected goals for how he rates the effectiveness of a defensive-minded defenceman. Well, Ekholm is the best defenceman in the league and fourth among all skaters with a 61.2 expected goals percentage at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick. Bouchard is sixth and 13th, in those respective categories.
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There are two other things to consider.
The Ekholm-Bouchard tandem has a 63.1 percent goal share in 1,171 minutes at five-on-five. That time on ice makes up 81 percent of Bouchard’s minutes and 87 percent of Ekholm’s.
Ekholm without Bouchard: 71.4 percent (10-4) in 174 minutes. Bouchard without Ekholm: 57.1 percent (16-12) in 268 minutes. It’s a much smaller sample and the margins are slim, so there is only so much to draw from it, but this favours Ekholm. It’s tricky to say if that definitively proves that Ekholm is the driver of that pair, but it does help prove that he’s the stabilizing force of that duo that allows Bouchard to rove around the ice and play to his strengths. That was the case when the Oilers first acquired him and seems to still be a year later.
Lastly, there’s the penalty killing factor.
Bouchard is an elite offensive player and justly gets the lion’s share of the power-play time among Oilers blueliners. The coaching staff uses him to his strengths. He seldom skates while they’re short-handed, so he can be used in more advantageous situations for the benefit of the team. He gets less than 7 percent of the Oilers’ short-handed minutes.
Only Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci have more PK time than Ekholm’s 161 minutes. Bouchard has been used for 27 minutes all season. He’s just considered an option when Nurse, Ceci, Ekholm or Vincent Desharnais takes a penalty.
This shouldn’t necessarily be held against Bouchard. Hughes and Josi are rarely used on the penalty kill by their respective teams, too. But since “all-around” play is part of the Norris criteria, it’s another notch for Ekholm in this debate.
(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
