'He'll shake it off': Ugly mistakes part of winning formula for some players, ex-NHLers say

Several former NHL players came to the defence of embattled Edmonton Oilers defender Evan Bouchard after the player made several ugly and costly mistakes on goals against in Edmonton’s 4-3 OT loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

On the Real Kyper & Bourne show out of Toronto, former NHL d-man Garry Galley, now a commentator with Sportsnet, compared Bouchard to former Boston Bruins great Ray Bourque, noting that Bourque also made numerous turnovers, so much so that his teammates used to tease him, calling him “Ray, Ray Give-away.”

Galley, who played 1141 regular season NHL games from 1984 to 2001, played with the Hall of Fame Bourque for four seasons in Boston during Bourque’s prime.

“We’d get on him,” Galley said of Bourque’s Boston teammates. “I remember, you know, (Boston coach) Mike Milbury would come in the locker and say, “Once a game, Ray! Once a game! Always throwing it up the middle on the giveaways!'”

Galley continued: “You know what was the crazy thing? And I say this because you guys know I have so much respect for Ray, is that two shifts later, he’ll come around the back of the net, and he’ll make that same play. It won’t even phase him. He’ll put it right through two sticks and a set of legs right onto someone’s tape. And that’s what makes him a great player.”

Kypreos described Bouchard’s giveaway at the side of the Oilers net to Buffalo’s Tage Thompson as “one of the easiest goals he’ll ever have in the history of hockey.”

Galley said once his attacking team was on the power play when the defenders got another penalty call against them. His team pulled the goalie, but when he passed it back to a teammate, that teammate missed the puck and it shot all the way back into his own team’s end and into the middle of the net.

“I have scored on my own net while on the power play,” Galley said. “So that is as drastic and as bad as you can feel.”

Hr continued: “You make some bad ones in your career. I mean, you do. You can’t play in the best league in the world, and with the pressure that’s on you, and not make some mistakes. So yes, the Bouchard mistake is one you hope that your strong, your most veteran players, the ones you count on, you pay the most for being consistent, you hope that’s not going to happen very often.

“For Bouchard, a veteran guy, you know he’ll shake it off… Just don’t have a long term memory, just let it go.”

On Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer, former NHLer Brian Lawton, who went on to be an agent and NHL GM, objected to the strong reaction against Bouchard’s mistakes: “With a player like Evan, you have to be willing to live with that. You know, just look at last night’s game when you are down big he’s the most likely player to at least get the puck to the key players in the game to change that…,” Lawton said.

“You’re going to judge a player’s game on what you’re asking them to do, how they perform in that job, and understanding that every job that you ask a player to do is not the same. Ty Emberson is not asked to handle the puck and make the level of plays that Evan Bouchard is on a nightly basis. One player is going to absorb a lot more risk, the other players not. That’s all it is.”

Lawton acknowledged that accepting such mistakes is difficult, as they can be incredibly frustrating. But he said he’s against the harsh judgements of the player. “To say things like, ‘It’s unacceptable’ is not something that resonates with me. It’s just a work in progress. You can say it’s unacceptable, but that doesn’t change anything. You got to have a plan. You got to work with your players every day to try to recondition them to make the right decisions. In Evan’s case, he’s still going to absorb risk, and you’re still going to have mistakes no matter what happens, because that’s part of what you’re asking him to do on a nightly basis.”

My take

1. Well said by Galley and Lawton.

Galley’s Bourque analogy was spot on, as was Lawton’s point that in asking Bouchard to quarterback this team, you’re putting him in a place where he’s constantly handling the puck, so it’s not reasonable to expect he’ll never make ugly errors.

2. I judge players by how many plays they make to create Grade A shots as opposed to how many mistakes they make on Grade A shots against.

By this standard, Bouchard is easily the best d-man the Oilers have had since Chris Pronger was an Oiler.

He’s creates a high volume of Grade A shots with his brilliant passing and shooting. He also makes a high number of mistakes on Grade A shots against with his turnovers and lost battles. But, overall, he’s way ahead on the Grade A shot count. He’s had the best differential on the team for several years now, and that positive differential only grows in the playoffs.

The Oilers are lucky to have Evan Bouchard, warts and all. And if Bouchard keeps up this high level of play for a decade he’s got a chance to be in the Hall of Fame, just like Bourque.

3. All that said, Bouchard does need to crank up his defensive game. It’s been sliding for a few years now in the regular season. It’s a worrisome trend.

But I have little doubt he’ll pick it up, as he’s done so when the stakes are the highest in the NHL playoffs.

At the Cult of Hockey

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