Yesterday afternoon, the OHL announced that Evan Bouchard is this year’s recipient of the Max Kaminsky Trophy which is awarded annually to the league’s Most Outstanding Defenceman for 2018-19.
Each year, the Max Kaminsky Trophy is awarded to the league’s best defenceman as selected by the OHL General Managers and it was Evan Bouchard that got the call in 2018-19. Before selecting a winner, all 20 teams first submit a nominee for the award, but are not permitted to vote on the player from their own team, eliminating biased voting as much as possible. Bouchard will be presented with the trophy at the OHL Awards Ceremony which takes place June 5th at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. With this win, Bouchard becomes the sixth Knight to win the award and first since Danny Syvret did it back in 2004-05, which is a nice finish to what was a fantastic junior career.
It’s been a wild season for the former 10th overall pick as he got a taste at every level of hockey that he could. After cracking the Oilers’ lineup to start the season, Bouchard was returned to the London Knights with the expectation that he would pick up where he left off. Despite a slow-ish start upon his return, Bouchard went on to record 53 points (16G, 37A) in 45 games which gave him 1.18 points-per-game, the second highest total in the OHL. He was also the only defenceman to average more than four shots on goal per game, and that trigger happy attitude is something that will definitely endear him to Oilers fans upon his arrival.
Over the course of his four seasons in London, Bouchard played in 223 games and amassed 54 goals and 147 assists for 201 points which put him in second place all time for points by a Knights defenceman (Rich Carriveau is number one). Outside of London, Bouchard also represented Canada at the 2019 World Junior Championship and Team OHL at the Canada/Russia Series. Upon completion of his OHL season, Bouchard was assigned to the Bakersfield Condors where he had a very impressive debut, scoring one goal and adding two assists in Tuesday night’s win over the Colorado Eagles.
EVAN BOUCHARD’S SEASON
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PGP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -5 | ||||||
| 2018-19 | London Knights | OHL | 45 | 16 | 37 | 53 | 40 | 28 | 11 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 6 |
| NHL Totals | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
“NoT aN eLiTe PrOsPeCt” eh, Craig Button?
Button is overrated. In his latest mock draft, he has Turcotte and Zegras out of the top-10. I don’t pay attention to the dude.
A Flame reject.
There is a reason Button is an ex-GM,and it is very obvious, big mouth,small brain.
You are too kind, he is an idiot, should be employed by the Oilers soon.
Button is an asshat, he has something againts the Oilers. Never says one thing nice about them.
How come ON won’t let me use the word [email protected]? I was trying to say Button is [email protected] but it won’t let me use the word [email protected] for some reason.
it’s 2019, sadly. I get it, it’s just a word. The world is “eff’d”. God I hate this site and this team but I just can’t stay away.
It’s like the Kramer painting, “It’s a loathsome, offensive hockey team. Yet I can’t look away.”
Craig Button just hates the Oilers. Pay him no mind.
Well Danny Syvret won the same award.
Yeah he’s looking good so far but it’s a long road to being successful in the NHL.
I just don’t want to place crazy expectations on him like we did on Schultz.
I presume you were bang on that yak and Reinhart were going to both be collosal busts.
Swoooooonnnnnnn!!! Hey BM, I think Bouchard will be my Nuge. Untouchable
Ohhhhhhh I like that. Pick your horse early!
Happy for Bouchard! Now the Oilers need to let him finish his development in Bakersfield (if that’s allowed).
If the Oilers bring up Bouchard next year I know they will be lying again about allowing prospects to completely develop.
Personally I have no problem giving a player a chance if they earn it. (previous season AHL performance, preseason). The problem I have is when players are not sent down when it is obvious they are not ready yet (Yamamoto, Puljujarvi). If Bouchard earns himself a look by his play in the AHL playoffs and next years preseason then give him a shot. The change I want to see is if he is over his head or not playing enough then send him down. There should not be any catch-all rule, some players are ready sooner than others.
100% agree. Next year needs to be a quiet one on the ahl where he can work on his game. Next season is lost one for the oil anyway to boot.
He is a slide candidate next year. There are a lots of options in Bakersfield. No way he should play more than 10 in Edmonton.
Cant wait to hear this sound “Booooouuuuuush!”
Oiler prospect Dimitri Samarukov scored a hatty tonight in the OHL playoffs tonight – another good up and coming D man.
Excellent!
I cant wait to see Bouchard in Bakersfield next year, I imagine he is going to be an anchor on defence for the Condors and with his skill set you can bet he will be putting up some pretty decent point totals, I think He and Bear will be horses for the Condors next year. The Oilers need to be patient with Bouchard, yes he could tear it up , but if the Oilers need him up for a game or three, okay, but not permanent. Schultz ripped it up in the AHL and in college but the Oilers didnt use him wisely, way too many minutes and the guy suffered from it. The Oilers need to not repeat the same mistakes
The OBC already has him penciled in over top of Russels name on their war room chalkboard. I will be genuinely shocked if he plays a minute for the Condors next season. Ditto JP.
They will because the same people are still making the decisions.
Good for Evan, I hope he has a great NHL career.
Sadly all I can think about is how quickly will the Oilers ruin this guy. Being named OHL dman of the year is a guaranteed roster spot on the Oilers so I hope he’s ready for big minutes in the NHL.
I’ve already told this story – but I took my son to an OHL game and met up with EB in the hall before the game.
An autograph, a pic and a super happy 10 year old.
Bouchard was a super nice guy and we told him we were really looking forward to seeing him play for the Oil
The future looks bright on defense, not so much in goal.I think you have one more season to decide who stays and who goes.?Probably the one guy that might be up for moving is Russell.[this summer].Bring up one guy this year and the rest marinate in the AHL.
Future would be here at forward if we didn’t trade hall and eberle
It’s one thing to come to the AHL and slowly produce, but to come in to a AHL playoff game againts a physical team like Colorado and get three points!!! Impressive *Vaders breathing *
“Most Impressive”
I like the fact that his playoff numbers are awesome.
This is how you properly develop a player. Don’t rush them, let them find sucess and progress slowly.
hmmm, and who else has been in the past?
of note: chris pronger, Bryan Berard (twice), Brian Campbell, Andrej Sekera, Marc Staal, Drew Doughty, Ryan Ellis, Dougie Hamilton, Aaron Ekblad, Mikhail Sergachev. Of not note: Ryan Sproul, Anthony DeAngelo, Danny Syvret, Brendan Bell, Eric Reitz, Alexi Semenov, John Erskine, Chris Allen, Sean Blanchard, Jamie Rivers, Drake Berehowsky. And I am not sure how to categorize James Wisniewski
It’s going to be weird to have a defence that can possibly provide some offensive threat…
How did he not win this last year when he led all D in scoring and was seventh overall in the OHL?
Won by Nicolas Hauge that. 10 fewer points but 10 more goals that Bouchard. Draft pick of the Golden Knights 34th overall in 2017.
Pencil him in top d position next year