Dynamic duo brings hope Oilers boast a new top d-man pairing
Can we believe our eyes and intuition? Are Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard going to be as good a pairing over time as they looked in their first full game together against Las Vegas on Friday night?
There was talk before the season that at some point this year Bouchard, 22, would improve his game to the point where he’d take over on the right side from Tyson Barrie with Nurse. Oilers coaches Dave Tippett and Jim Playfair hinted at it.
But with Barrie’s defensive game an on-going area of chaos, and with Bouchard playing steady defensive and sharp-as-a-skate-blade offensive hockey early on, Tippett went to the pair of Bouchard and Nurse against Las Vegas, a tough opponent. The two played exceptionally well. They looked like a real tip top-pairing.
Could this pairing get locked in? I can’t see why not. The two fit each other well, with Bouchard’s outstanding passing and shooting a good fit with Nurse’s aggressive defending and hitting and his dynamic skating and attacking.
If Nurse ever gets into trouble, he can get the puck to sure-passing Bouchard. If Bouchard is ever getting crushed by an offensive cycle, Nurse can break it up.
Yes, it’s one game, and, yes, I’m getting way ahead of myself, but watching the two play so well, I could not help but think of other impressive Edmonton d-man pairings.
When it comes to great Oilers d-man pairings, only a handful stand out, starting with the duo of Lee Fogolin and Kevin Lowe and the best Edmonton pairing of alltime, Paul Coffey and Charlie Huddy.
After one great season of Norm Mciver and Dave Manson in 1991-92, there was a lack of super solid parings until 2016-17, at the end of the Decade of Darkness.
The Oilers had some good d-men in that 25-year span, players like Bo Mironov, Eric Brewer, Sheldon Souray, Lubo Visnovsky, Ryan Whitney and Tom Gilbert, and even one great player in Chris Pronger, but no good-to-great d-man pairings in that timne (save for the Pronger/ Jason Smith and Jaroslav Spacek/steve Staios pairings in the 2006 playoffs).
• Lee Fogolin – Kevin Lowe, 1979-87
• Paul Coffey – Charlie Huddy, 1981-87
• Craig Muni – Kevin Lowe, 1987-92
• Reijo Ruotsalainen –
Randy Gregg, 1987 and 1990 playoffs.
• Norm Mciver – Dave Manson, 1991-92
• Chris Pronger – Jason Smith, 2006 playoffs
• Jaroslav Spacek – Steve Staios, 2006 playoffs
• Kris Russell – Andrej Sekera, 2016-17
• Adam Larsson – Oscar Klefbom 2016-19 Did I miss any top pairings there? It’s certainly possible but those are the ones that came to my mind.
As for Bouchard and Nurse, they’re easily Edmonton’s two best d-men this year, though Cody Ceci has also played a run of steady games.
Nurse is crushing it with his physical play, where he leads the NHL in hits with 32 in five games, and his solid offensive bursts up the ice, leading me to name him the Edmonton Express of the 21st Century (with Eddie Shore being the Edmonton Express of the 20th Century).
As for Bouchard, his passing and shooting is extraordinary. He’s bound to struggle now and then playing against the most dangerous of opposing attackers, a job he’ll have more often if matched up with Nurse, but his defensive game has been OK enough so far.
Will this pairing last? Will Bouchard hang in over time against tough comp? Will this pairing one day join the list of the very best Oilers d-man pairings?
My intuition says yes, but these are early days. That said, it’s hard not to get your hopes up, given the Dynamic Duo’s individual and collective level of play early in the 2021-22 season.