If you were to go back and look through my archive of blogs, I've probably written close to 50 blogs with the word "consistency" in the title. That is because this team can often be infuriatingly inconsistent. They can get shutout by a weak defensive team in the Canadiens only to score 5 goals the following night. A goalie can look like an AHL player on one night and a legit top end starter on another night.

The Oilers played a solid game against the Ottawa Senators. That means very little if they are not able to follow it up with another solid performance tonight, and the next game, and the next. Solid games does not have to always mean victory either. Sometimes the Oilers will play a phenomenal game but still end up losing. It is when the team plays great one night and plays like a lottery team the next that there are concerns.

Edmonton claimed Kasperi Kapanen off waivers. The 28 year old Finnish forward has been a solid contributor as a middle six option, averaging roughly 11-12 goals a season in the mid 20 to low 30 point range. The other key thing that Kapanen brings that this Oilers forward core needs is speed. His top end speed belongs in the upper echelon of NHL forwards. Offensively Kapanen has struggled with the Blues this season but at a 1 million dollar cap hit it is a fairly low risk move for the Oilers.

Yes, the Oilers need to add another defenseman but I don't expect to see that happen until much closer to the trade deadline. So far this season the Oilers have managed to keep their head above water defensively which appears to have always been the goal. Going into the post-season it seems the Oilers have two very good pairings. Ekholm and Bouchard remain a great top pair (more on Bouchard in a second) and Kulak and Emberson are looking like a very consistent shutdown third pairing. Kulak has had a great start to his season and Emberson is looking more confident with every game.

The bigger concern right now is that this team is not scoring goals. They have a number of strong options but none of them are finding the back of the net. I don't expect Kapanen to suddenly become a 20 goal scoring threat on this roster but it does help to shake some things up and provide a different mix. Here are the expected lines for tonight.

Podkolzin-McDavid-Draisaitl
Skinner-RNH-Kapanen
Janmark-Henrique-Brown
Caggiula-Ryan-Perry

Ekholm-Bouchard
Kulak-Stecher
Dermott-Emberson

Skinner

Arvidsson remains out and is not expected to play Saturday and Hyman is expected to miss 4-7 days. The Oilers play Saturday against the Rangers and then have a 5 day break and do not play again until next Friday. Hopefully most of the roster, including Darnell Nurse will be ready for the game against Utah on Friday November 29th.

ON BOUCHARD

Over the past few games we have witnessed why Evan Bouchard has so many fans and naysayers. We watched Bouchard against the Leafs be directly responsible for back to back goals against. He tried to make a dangerous cross ice pass which failed and ended up immediately in the back of his net. The second goal against was a failure to recognize an attacking Leaf player and more of an issue by my eye was a lack of effort on returning to his own end. Those are the types of plays that his detractors will point to.

Then you have games like the one against the Senators where Bouchard opened the scoring on a fantastic play where he cut through the zone like McDavid, deking out two defenders, made a great backhand pass which set up the first McDavid goal and notched one more assist on the powerplay.

Bouchard is a 25 year old defenseman and shockingly is not a perfect player. What might surprise people to know is that there are very few perfect players in the NHL. The areas that Bouchard excels at, quick and accurate breakout passes, strong lateral mobility in the offensive zone and an accurate shot are three highly important aspects of the modern offensive defenseman game.

Last season, McDavid and Draisaitl were in the top 5 of giveaways. Pastrnak had the most, followed by Kucherov, then Draisaitl, Barzal, McDavid, and MacKinnon. Is that because they are bad players or is it because they always have the puck? A big part of the reason that Bouchard and Ekholm work so good as a top pairing is how they compliment one another. Ekholm is the defensive conscious who excels at taking away lanes and stripping the puck, BUT he almost always passes it to Bouchard after because Bouchard is the player who excels at making the breakout pass to send the Oilers away in transition.

Yes, Bouchard needs to clean up aspects of his game and recognize that there are times when he needs to make the simple low risk play and chip the puck out of the zone but his ability to make those passes up to Draisaitl and McDavid is a huge part of the Oilers success. There are going to be times that is going to burn them but if he is making even 85% of those passes than it is giving this team a chance to win games. When Bouchard is at his best, what he brings to this team far outweighs his issues.

---

Thanks for reading.

Join the Discussion: » 9 Comments » Post New Comment

» What Is This Oilers Team?

» Mc1000

» Oilers vs Islanders - Finding Ways to Score

» Oilers Scoring Woes Changed Against Canucks

» Oilers vs Golden Knights - McDavid Returns