It’s fair enough that some folks are fed up with Evan Bouchard, some wanting him benched, others wanting him traded away. I get his casual style of play drives many a fan crazy, especially if they expect their d-men to be variations of the Big Bobby Clobber prototype d-man.

But as poorly as Bouchard has played this year — and he’s one of many grossly under-performing d-men on the Oilers this year though far from the only one — I can’t get worked up into hating on the player, certainly not so violently as I see many a fan and pundit doing right now. Article content Article content

In this post let me explain to you why I don’t see Bouchard this same way, why I have a monumental amount of goodwill and patience for the player.

1. I’ll start it off with my best argument, Exhibit A, when

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