Monday Mailbag – Were the Oilers right to send Bouchard back?

Welcome, friends, to the pre-long weekend edition of the Monday Mailbag! Alright, so there’s still a week to wait before the next round of practice retirement but I can’t help but get excited just thinking about it and also that you’re here with me now. As always, we’re giving all of you the opportunity to learn a little something from our panel of deep thinkers and pillars of Oilers’ entertainment, and it was your questions that made it happen. If you’ve got a question, you can email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy.

I don’t see a need. Send them down and keep Rattie, Caggiula, Chiasson on RW. They have produced better. They can recall Brad Malone if they need an extra body.

No, I don’t think it’s necessary, but it’s a possibility if Puljujarvi doesn’t respond favourably to having been made a healthy scratch and ends up sitting again. I thought he looked pretty good against Detroit, but let’s see how it plays out between now and the 20-game mark.

You can send both Yamamoto and Puljujarvi down and operate with Chiasson, Caggiula, and Rattie as your game of musical chairs on the right side. I think Caggiula and Rattie can compete with each other for the spot on the top line while Chiasson fits nicely with Drasiaitl and Rieder. That said, I think the one place to add would be a good skating, two-way forward for the Strome and Lucic third line. I dig the idea of sending both Puljujarvi and Yamamoto down to get premium ice time in the AHL rather than what they have going on right now.

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but if Caggiula can remain offensively competent and Chiasson keeps playing solid hockey then I think the Oilers can afford to send both Yamo and Puljujarvi down to the AHL with Rattie back. The Oilers don’t have much more time for Puljujarvi where he’s waiver exempt and they need to use it now. They should both be playing top six and top PP somewhere.

I absolutely think that they should. I’ve been suggesting that they take a look at Mats Zuccarello since the draft and I think that would be a really nice fit. If the Rangers retain a little money, the Oilers should be able to get him for just a package of draft picks. He’s a proven top-six winger, could help on the powerplay, and would allow the Oilers to send Yamamoto down to the AHL where I think he belongs.

If that was the case I think they would have acquired a veteran option in the summer. Alex Chiasson and Drake Caggiula are running hot so I bet they’ll keep those until Ty Rattie’s ready. I agree. I’d rather see Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto in Bakersfield getting big minutes at even strength and special teams.

As of right now, no. Alex Chiasson and Ty Rattie are performing great on the right side, so there is no need to replace them. If Chiasson and Rattie can continue like this for the rest of the year (probably unlikely, but I’m hopeful) then Yamamoto and Puljujarvi can play in Bakersfield and grow.

I would love to see both of those guys down on the farm but I don’t know what it would take to make that happen. The Oilers would need health luck and a cheap rental that could fill in as a stopgap, and that’s a pretty specific wishlist item this early in the season.

First impression was he struggled on bad angle shots and the scouting report was he kept his glove hand low. I have seen him improve on bad angle (goal line etc) shots. He didn’t face those in the KHL very often so it was more about him getting comfortable. He has looked good in his three appearances, but it is only three games. I’m not ready to anoint him a starter.

First impression? Thought he was terrible. Improved significantly in wins over Nashville and Chicago before only being OK in win over Detroit. Need to see more of him, but he’s better than I first thought.

He looked like ass during the pre-season but has been excellent during the regular season. He’s playing at the level the Oilers need from their backup goalie because Cam Talbot has proved he can’t be relied on for another insane 70-game season.

My first impressions came in preseason where he was a sieve. This new version that looks pretty competent is trying its best to rehabilitate those first impressions. It’s early for him but I’m happy with his play overall.

Well, through three games he’s been fantastic. I didn’t have any faith in Koskinen given his contract and his play during the preseason but he has made me, and plenty of others, look kind of dumb so far. If he keeps this up and can win 15 games for this team throughout the season, he will be well worth the $2.5 million price tag.

It’s too early to tell. He has one shutout and two games under .890 save percentage for a .935 save percentage in three games. I need to see more.

How can you argue with his 3-0 record? The inner-Oiler fan in me is waiting for him to crash and burn, but he truly has been playing great, and I hope it continues. Now I’m curious to see how Cam Talbot will answer to Koskinen’s strong play.

So far so good! With three starts under his belt, he is 3-0 so there’s not a whole lot to complain about. He’s proving a lot of people, including myself, wrong for doubting him. Here’s hoping it continues.

Considering they have dominated the Pacific Division the past two seasons I see it as a positive if they maintain a winning record prior to facing the Flames on November 17^th. They were 19-6-3 in 2017 and 16-11-2 in 2018. Last season they only played three Pacific Division opponents in the first 24 games so their schedule isn’t much different this year. In fact, they play five Pacific teams in their first 24 games. They just didn’t face one in the first 18 games which is a bit odd.

Neither. Of course, it’s always better to face divisional rivals when you’re playing well and healthy, as the Oilers are now, but you don’t control that. Just go play.

I think the goal of saving the inter-division games for later is to build playoff race intensity. Whatever, just beat whoever you play.

I think it would be best case scenario if they had banked these points against division rivals, but at the end of November, the team starts hitting the Pacific teams. That’s when this season really gets interesting.

The Oilers typically play their own division very well, so I’ll say it’s actually an advantage. As we get later into the season, the games start to matter more and divisional games have an even bigger emphasis on them. Also, the Pacific isn’t very good this year. LA looks horrendous, Anaheim is really struggling, I don’t think this start by the Canucks is sustainable, and the Coyotes are… well… the Coyotes. There’s a real chance for the Oilers to grab one of the three divisional playoff spots, and beating teams in their division will go a long way in ensuring that happens.

I consider it an advantage. Even if they stop winning they can make those points up in division. That’s a nice option to have.

Right now we’re playing good hockey so I wish we would start playing some Pacific teams now. There will come a time in this season where we are on a small skid, so I just hope we’re not playing any Pacific teams when that time comes.

I guess that depends on how they perform, really. If they can stomp their way through the Pacific then they’ll be in mighty fine shape but if they struggle well then… you know.

PP is too inconsistent, and they have to end Lucic experiment on the PP. He isn’t helping. PK has shown good signs, but then has a game like Minnesota where they allow three goals on three chances. I think the players are more committed to being in the right spot on the PK. The PP has their three most skilled forwards together so it should have success.

A lot of improvement? It comes and it goes. You can’t just qualify it with “the odd game here or there.” A bad night on the PK and PP cost the Oilers two points against Minnesota Oct. 30. Would rather see consistent good results than alternating between awful and great. Overall, though, I sense improvement in approach that will play itself out over the course of the season.

The PK has still been bad and the PP is inconsistent and thrives largely from McDavid being insanely good. Both need to be better.

I am still really suspicious of the PP’s success. Right now it feels a lot like 90% of its success is dependent on McDavid’s genius. I can’t figure out why Lucic is allowed to be on the ice in an offensive situation at all. Swap him out with a right shot who can make and take a pass and I think it does even better.

The penalty kill is definitely off to a better start than last season and there’s no doubt it’s helped them win games. I would say that the powerplay has not been very good though. The five left-handed shots is not working very well. They struggle generating offence off the cycle and Milan Lucic kills more plays than he makes. I think they need to change up the personnel a bit. I also would like to see them just keep Connor McDavid on the ice for the whole two minutes.

I’m not sure about that. I’m extremely skeptical of the five-lefties power play and their penalty kill is bottom five in the league.

The Oilers are moving the puck really well on the power play, and they’re making things happen. Does this come from a confidence thing? Maybe, I’m not sure. Whatever is working for them, I would credit the new coaching staff.

I like how aggressive the boys are on the PK and that’s a big difference from last season. Last year, I found that the Oilers would sit back in a passive box whereas, this year, they’re pressuring the other team’s powerplay a hell of a lot more.

100% it was the right move. He needs to maintain confidence. He can learn how to handle pressure situations via the World Juniors. He can also continue working on defensive areas of his game. There is a lot a player can learn, and often they learn better when they are playing a lot and playing with a high level of confidence.

Yes, it was the right move. He did play well enough to “stick around,” but the bar should be set higher than that. He’ll continue to mature in the OHL and that’s not a bad thing.

Yeah, he was fine, but playing nine minutes a night isn’t going to do much for him. Now he can go back to Junior, play in the World Juniors, and actually have an idea of what to work on to thrive at the NHL level.

He can learn how to be automatically protected in the expansion draft down in London. Also, the NHL is not a development league and Bouchard is not so much better than every junior defender that came before him that he belongs in the NHL where they had to be sent back. It will not hurt him to play huge minutes in the CHL then for team Canada and play for a Memorial Cup hopefully at the end of the year.

I believe he was their fifth best defenseman, but ultimately they did what was best for his development. He was very impressive though and it will be interesting to see him go back and dominate at the OHL level. After seeing him for seven games, I have no doubts that he will be a very good NHL defenseman, it’s just a matter of how long it will take him to reach his full potential. I think next year we’ll see him in the NHL for a full season.

Absolutely. I didn’t see enough to convince me he’s ready for the NHL. Playing limited minutes in the NHL at 19 doesn’t seem beneficial to me. Let him play 30 minutes for London and focus on improving his skating. The counterargument is he’s learned all he can in junior and or will develop bad habits. NFL players often sit a year or two after being drafted and play after learning a bunch from the coaches and veterans. I feel like that’s a different situation. I’d rather Bouchard play 30 in junior than 13 in the NHL.

I would have loved to see him up with the Oilers, but it was the right move to send him down, especially that Matt Benning has found his game a little bit. Evan will go down and hopefully win a Memorial Cup, and play for Team Canada in the WJC. This will be a great developmental experience for him.

It was absolutely the right decision. It was what’s best for the player and good asset management as the cherry on top. See you at the World Juniors, dad!

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