Oilers have one of NHL's best defensive pairings in Ekholm and Bouchard

The Edmonton Oilers have a dynamic duo, though it isn’t the duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl that most would assume.

While McDavid and Draisaitl are continuing to dominate as arguably the two best forwards in the game, this dynamic duo comes on the back end. Oilers fans quickly came to notice last season how the arrival of Mattias Ekholm helped elevate the play of Evan Bouchard, and that has continued to be the case in 2023-24.

Early in the season when the Oilers were losing games on what felt like a nightly basis, Bouchard seemed to be a whipping boy for his untimely defensive miscues. Now that they are back to winning, however, many are beginning to realize how elite the 24-year-old is offensively. His 36 points rank fifth in the league amongst blue liners, and while his defensive play remains a question mark at times, Ekholm’s steady presence more than makes up for it.

Okay Bouchard and Ekholm… #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/cHMH4QoOB9

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) January 5, 2024

X user @JFreshHockey, who is well known among hockey fans on the social media platform for his great work in the analytics department, shared a graph today that shows the Bouchard-Ekholm pairing as being the best in the league from both an offensive and defensive standpoint — and it isn’t particularly close.

To be fair, analytics shouldn’t be the only way to view a player’s performance, as the eye test can also be quite telling. With that said, declaring Bouchard and Ekholm as the undisputed top d-pairing in the league would be considered nonsense by many, and perhaps rightfully so. What is clear, however, is that since being put on a pairing together shortly after Ekholm’s arrival, they have been one of the better duos in the NHL, and have helped improve the Oilers back end in significant fashion.

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