Rookie Bouchard ahead of the game
NHL rookie camp is only the appetizer for the big camp main course, but the questions off the menu are the same, like can defenceman Evan Bouchard and right winger Kailer Yamamoto actually be contributing factors on the Edmonton Oilers roster this season?
Or should the teenager Bouchard, the 10th overall pick in June, be back on the London Knights junior blue line, playing for Dale Hunter and on Canada’s world junior team at Christmas?
Should last year’s first-round pick Yamamoto be racking up points on the No. 1 line on the AHL farm in Bakersfield after the 20-year-old got a taste of the bigs for nine Oilers games last fall before he was sent back to the Spokane Chiefs?
“You earn what you get and if they ’re ready to play, this league is trending to younger and younger,” said Scott Howson, Oilers vicepresident of player development, who is in charge of the rookie camp. “One theory is, ‘are they too good for junior?’ Kailer is a different scenario for us because he can go to Bakersfield at his age, but is Bouchard too good for junior? We could do what we did with Ales Hemsky many years ago.”
The Oilers took the Czech forward Hemsky 13th overall in 2001 after his 100-point season with Hull Olympiques and sent him back to junior because he had only had one major junior year. He had 97 points in 53 games in his second North American season. With one year of junior eligibility left, they decided he’d be better off with the Oilers, and he played 59 NHL games with six goals and 30 points.
Bouchard, 18, has played three years of junior already. Maybe that’s enough after 87 points last year.
“Maybe we use this year as a development (NHL) year for Evan where we play him and sit him at times,” said Howson. “But what happens with young players is they come in, they have to prove they ’re ready and it’s the best thing for the team.
“Evan’s a late birthday (Oct. 20) so he’s had an extra year of junior (when drafted). He’s only got the one year of junior left, but defence is a hard NHL position. We’ve all seen how young defencemen struggle.
“We certainly don’t want Evan with us and having played eight games at Christmas.”
The Oilers made sure Hemsky didn’t sit too long.
“It’s easier to break in a young forward (NHL roster) because you have 14 of them,” said Howson.
There are no established offensive right wingers on the Oilers roster right now.
Ty Rattie, Tobias Rieder, Jesse Puljujarvi and Zack Kassian are the top four, for now.
“With Kailer you can see there might be room on the wings and it’s an area where we can use some scoring,” said Howson. “But if he doesn’t make it, it won’t hurt him to go to the American League.”
MANTHA STILL NOT AVAILABLE
Highly-rated farmhand defenceman Ryan Mantha’s career hangs in the balance after suffering a blood clot in his left eye during a game last year in Bakersfield. He hasn’t been given medical clearance for camp.
“Nobody can explain why these things happen but there’s some small hope he can continue,” said Howson.
Mantha’s straight-ahead vision, he said in an off-season interview, was the problem. Not peripheral.
“I don’t know what the prognosis is, if it’s going to improve,” said Howson.