Bouchard catches Coffey at 50 assists by Oilers defenceman
It’s no secret Evan Bouchard is a live-by-the-gun, die-bythe-gun sort of defenceman.
The Edmonton Oilers knew exactly what they were getting when they brought the six-foot-three, 192-pound right-handed shot onto their blue-line.
And make no mistake, it’s an absolute shotgun.
But that’s only part of the offensive arsenal that brought Bouchard to the frontlines of the season, where the 24-year-old took a run at history by recording his 50th assist in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens.
In doing so, he became the only Oilers defenceman other than Paul Coffey to reach that milestone.
Of course, Bouchard would have to do it again five times over in order to fill the rather large shoes left behind by the Hall of Fame defenceman. And that was before going on to record 50 assists another eight more times elsewhere over a 21-year career.
But it’s something no defenceman has been able to do around here for the past 36 years.
Until now.
“That’s a great milestone,” said Coffey, a four-time Stanley Cup champion who returned as part of Kris Knoblauch’s coaching staff to the blue-lines he once patrolled as a player in Edmonton. “Let’s hope that’s 50-plus every year for the rest of Bouch’s career.
“He’s that good of a player. He’s as headsy as there is out there, there’s a lot of good offensive defencemen that play the game and he sees the ice very well.”
Perhaps it should come as no surprise Bouchard is really coming into his own under the tutelage of a legendary Oilers player who wrote the book on offensive defencemen. But Coffey doesn’t exactly see himself, as the saying goes, in Bouchard.
“I mean, I guess points wise, yeah. But, no,” Coffey said. “We carry the stick a different way. He’s got a bullet of a shot. I was a little bit more of a skater, but the thing that excites me most about him is he’s only going to get better.
“Because I’m not only pushing him, we all are pushing him. Plus he pushes himself. In a good way.”