Quoting: yycofred
I don't disagree with that, I have a soft spot for Bouchard as I think he's a D man every team in the league could use. I do see a little hope in terms of the coaching staff seeing him as more well rounded this seasons just based on how he's being deployed (66% Dzone Starts) Murray obviously isn't the ideal partner for him, would be nice if the Oilers went out and got him a lock down partner than let him play a little more on the edge. I won't speak on it cause I obviously don't know as much as an Oilers fan would but if you could hand pick a partner for Bouchard, who would it be?
From our current roster, honestly id roll Bouch on the 2nd line with Kulak, Keep the Shutdown pair of Nurse - Ceci, Fire Barrie into the sun, and have a 3rd pair of Nemalainen - Broberg, Puck mover with big, physical shutdown defender, Broberg has said he can play just fine on his off side
This time next year is a different story, would absolutely run Bouch as the 1RD, Kulak - Ceci 2nd line shutdown and Nemo - Broberg as a super solid 3rd pair with Desharnais as the 7th dman
Desharnais is a big shutdown defender who only isnt playing right now as he dealt with an injury from training camp, I think we could have very well seen barrie dumped and him on the 3rd pair if he was able to play preseason