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Oilers Won’t Demote Evan Bouchard for Very Specific Reason

While fans would love for the Edmonton Oilers to demote defenseman Evan Bouchard so he can play, there’s a simple reason they aren’t doing so.

As much as fans would love to see defenseman Evan Bouchard get some ice time with this Edmonton Oilers roster, there is speculation his time with the team — at least on the ice this season — might be done. Still currently a part of the Oilers taxi squad, the defenseman hasn’t played in over a month. His last real tour of duty was at a time when Ethan Bear was dealing with an injury and since then, Bouchard has been sitting, watching from the press box and taking part in practices.

Unfortunately, the cry from fans for Bouchard to get some playing time will fall on deaf ears if all things go according to head coach Dave Tippet’s plan. As per Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal writes: “at this point it would likely take another injury for him to get back in the line-up.”

The Oilers like their roster (aside from whatever they might be looking for at the trade deadline). If all players remain healthy, the Oilers top-six on defense is pretty much set with the exception of the odd swap between players like William Lagesson and Caleb Jones. So, why not assign Bouchard? Why not send him where he can get a ton more minutes and play?

Just look at a team like Vancouver. That their season even continues is still technically up in the air, but they’ll be calling up players to fill in spots on the roster should they be able to ice a team. From there, they’ll be a waiting for those players to go through safety protocols. For the Oilers, should games go uninterrupted, they won’t have time off to wait for Bouchard to be ready.

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Evan Bouchard Edmonton Oilers Defenseman photo via Oilers Twitter

The Oilers Dilemma

Unfortunately, sending Bouchard down is not as simple as just deciding they’d rather seem him play more often. McCurdy adds:

There has been some talk that the Oilers might be wise to assign Bouchard rather than Lennstrom to the AHL club just to get some games in, but that would require two border crossings and a bunch of time in quarantine before he could again be available to the NHL club. So for now it seems he is going to have a stunted development year of practicing and travelling with the NHL club, but not a whole lot of actual playing.

Essentially, what is happening here is that the Oilers want to be able to call upon Bouchard in a pinch. If they send him to the AHL, that becomes more difficult to do. As such, the Oilers are going to accept the fact that Bouchard isn’t in game action as often as they’d like, acknowledging the roster flexibility is more important.

Should an injury hit the team or a player struggles… maybe even a trade that sends a blueliner out becomes necessary to get the piece the Oilers need, Bouchard is a simple snap of the fingers away. Yes, it would be better if he were playing, but he’s essentially the No. 8 defenseman for the team and general manager Ken Holland doesn’t want to get stuck in a situation where he demotes him and then wishes he hadn’t.

Oilers fans that hate the fact Bouchard isn’t on the ice simply need to understand how strange a year this is. Circumstances aren’t such that Edmonton is choosing to keep a player on the roster they know will never play. They’re forced to in case the crap hits the fan.

Bouchard is stuck in a strange place of limbo. He’s too good to not have access to, but he’s not quite ready to take over the role and be a regular for the Oilers when most of the players are healthy.

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