Oilers' Bouchard deserves to be in the Norris conversation
It’s time for Edmonton Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard to get into the Norris Trophy conversation this season.
The 24-year-old has been lights out for the Oilers this season, notching 11 goals and 42 points in 40 games from the blue line. It looks like he has perfected his patented “Bouch Bomb” from the point and his defensive metrics have rebounded from a tough start.
He has overtaken Darnell Nurse as the Oilers’ top defender this season and his strong play should absolutely have him high up in voting for the Norris Trophy, which is given to the league’s best defender every season.
A RECORD BREAKING BOUCH BOMB 💣 pic.twitter.com/cSmOm4v7r5
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 14, 2024
Recently, it appears that voters for the award have skewed toward players who put up gaudy offensive totals. Erik Karlsson won it last year after scoring a ridiculous 101 points with the San Jose Sharks while putting up subpar defensive results. Though Bouchard may not put up that high of numbers, he is still on track to be among the league leaders.
As it stands, Bouchard is currently second in goals among all NHL defencemen and fourth in points. Regarding offensive defenders, the former 2018 first-round pick is among the league’s very best.
But it doesn’t end there for Bouchard. His play on the other side of the puck has been steadily improving as well and his on-ice analytics are glowing. According to Natural Stat Trick, Bouchard ranks second among all NHL defenders in chances-for percentages (CF%) at 62.19%. The only person ahead of him is his defensive partner Mattias Ekholm.
NaturalStatTrick.com
Through the 703 minutes that Bouchard has been on the ice in five-on-five minutes, he has limited opponents to just 521 chances against and has helped to generate 857 chances for. To put this into perspective, Vancouver Canucks defender Quinn Hughes, who is widely seen as the favourite for the Norris this season, has CF% of 54.78%.
If that wasn’t enough, Bouchard also leads all defenders (over 500 minutes) in expected goals-for (xGF) at 44.34. Karlsson is in second place with an xGF of 43.5.
NaturalStatTrick.com
This tells us that Bouchard is operating at an elite level this season. When it comes to limiting chances against while also generating offence for your team, there is no defenceman better right now, according to the stats, than Bouchard.
It will be a very competitive year for the Norris with guys like Hughes and Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar playing as well as they have. Bouchard has the disadvantage of starting the season slow, but there is no question that he should be in the conversation right now.