Welcome to the day after where we dive into what’s happening with the Oilers the day after a game. 
Evan Bouchard made his season debut for the Edmonton Oilers last night playing 16:55 and not a second of which did he look out of place.
It was a pleasant, yet unsurprising treat to see Bouchard play such a steady game. As much as we love to kid about Bouchard looking much older than he actually is, his game is that of a veteran.
He played a calm, controlled game and as head coach Dave Tippett noted after the game, he didn’t expend any energy in places he didn’t need to. It took a few shifts for him to get his legs going, but once he did he was one of the best Oilers on the ice last night.
“I was really, really pleased with his game,” said Tippett after the game. “(He) got an assist on a real nice shot from the point and just jumped in and didn’t look out of place at all. That’s real nice from a young player.
“You know what he’s done? He’s matured. He’s gone from a junior player to a man playing in a man’s game. He’s a young player that’s going to continue to grow, he’s going to be a real good NHL player.”
Paired up with Kris Russell, the Oilers controlled 56.76 percent of the shot attempts with Bouchard on the ice at 5×5 outscoring the Senators 1-0 there, too. He got a point in thanks to a shot from the point that was deflected in by Jesse Puljujarvi.
Bouchard saw a fairly steady dose of the Senators second line that consisted of Chris Tierney and Tim Stutzle and did a great job against them. In his own zone, he limited shots to the outside all the while generating offence with smooth breakouts from the Oilers end.
There was a lot of good in his game and it’s going to force some tough decisions moving forward. The Oilers now have seven or eight defencemen in town that, for the most part, showing they’re capable of playing NHL minutes. It’s a good problem to have, a “luxury,” as Tippett noted last night, but at the end of the day you have to dress six (or seven) defencemen each night.
But with how good of a debut game Bouchard had, there’s good reason to believe he could step in and be a successful player for the Oilers every single night.

Backhanders…

  • How about Jesse Puljujarvi, hey? He had a great game last night getting his first two goals of the season. The first was one you wouldn’t expect from him based off his first three NHL seasons while the second was a right place, right time deflection that found its way into the net. It was great to see him get some of that puck luck come his way.
  • The Oilers played a fairly sound 60 minutes last night. Tippett had some interesting comments in regards to preparing for games highlighting they don’t focus as much on the opposing team, but rather on themselves and what they can do. It’s a great concept to have and after giving up five against the Senators on the weekend, they definitely tightened things up last night.
  • The Zack Kassian-Brady Tkachuk stuff is going to be an interesting story to follow. They got into it a little bit at the end of the second period, and upon the final whistle in the third were involved in a skirmish at the benches. If there’s one thing the Tkachuk’s love to do, it’s get under Kassian’s skin. The Oilers play the Flames on Saturday and we’ll see if any sparks fly between he and Matthew. Brady gets another chance to say hey with two more games coming early next week.
  • Look for something from me diving into the Oilers defencemen. I think they deserve a good deep dive based off what we’ve seen here in the early going of the season.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.