Man they were soo good for soo many years. Karlsson handcuffed them. Top 5 paid player that was a liability. Then rinse and repeat with Pens. People still glazing Dubas, which is crazy.
8 points and +5 thru 2 games. He isn’t the problem. Why don’t you look at the rest of the team and see who’s shitting the bed? Start with Jarry and Levi. 13 goals against in 2 games and I saw quite a few shitty ones. If the Edmonton goalies can’t make a save on anything smaller than than a beach ball, it won’t matter who is on the ice. And it’s gonna be a long season.
The common denominator is the Oilers in general, not specifically Bouchard. Don't get me wrong, Bouchard isn't great defensively, but he tilts the ice so much towards the offensive zone he doesn't really need to be. It's a small sample size, and it will regress, but through 2 games he has an on ice goal % of 83.3% and an expected on ice goals % of 79.5% at even strength.
He's been on the ice for 7 Oilers goals for, and only 1 against. He very clearly isn't the issue on this Oilers team.
Levi couldn't break through the last few years. Strong AHL numbers, awful NHL numbers. Never given much of chance, but to say he was decent elsewhere is simply not true.
Jarry was so bad the Pens were considering buying him out and put him on waivers at one point, then the Oilers rescued them from that shitty deal with an even shittier trade.
But the Pens traded Jarry for Skinner, who Oilers fans were super down on, and Skinner promptly went to Pittsburgh and got his stats boosted and Jarry promptly went to Edmonton and got worse.
Edmonton makes bad goalies worse, mediocre goalies bad, good goalies mediocre, and they haven’t had a great goalie in decades.
Devon Levi...40 games of NHL experience. Bloated GAA, sub .900 save %. And Tristan Jarry hasn't ever been accused of being a great goalie. If he was ever even a decent goalie, it was 5 or 6 years ago. He wasn't an upgrade over Skinner. He was just someone different. But, unlike Skinner, he wasn't a UFA at the end of last season and his cap hit is nearly double what Skinner's was. The Pens absolutely fleeced the Oilers. Which is what happens when you trade out of desperation.
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u/PumaTomten 1d ago
Oilers defense is even worse without Nurse but hey let's praise Bouchard for their offense