Through three games Bouchard has averaged 25:41 of ice time per game \u2014\u00a020:09 at even strength. There are likely 15 teams that would kill for a legitimate No. 1 defenceman who can handle those minutes at anything close to the level Bouchard plays at \u2014\u00a0principally because they do not have even a reasonable facsimile.<\/p>\n
\u201cBouch is a guy that can effortlessly play 27 minutes,\u201d Smith said, \u201cand a lot of his minutes are in the O-zone and on the power play. They’re not heavy-lifting minutes. But you can\u2019t have two guys play all the minutes and the other four watch, that’s not what we came here (for). We came here to build a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to build a hockey team and not just five guys or four guys or three guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Smith acclimatizes himself with a D-corps that has been front and centre of a team whose defensive play needs work, project No. 1 revolves around who should play with Bouchard.<\/p>\n
Mattias Ekholm, who arrived as the perfect No. 2 and played shift-for-shift alongside the 26-year-old Bouchard for the past four seasons, is now 36. Ekholm can still play, but not 25 minutes a night against the other team\u2019s top units.<\/p>\n
It was general manager Stan Bowman\u2019s wish, as soon as last season came to its merciful conclusion, to find a way to take a few minutes off of Ekholm\u2019s average game as he enters a very team-friendly three-year contract that pays him $4 million annually.<\/p>\n
But without another No. 2 walking through the door in Edmonton, we wondered how that might happen.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve seen is Smith stealing a few shifts from Ekholm throughout the course of a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are probably five shifts a game, maybe more, that (Ryan Shea) goes with Bouch. Or Wally (Jake Walman) gets a shift with Bouch. Or it\u2019s four-on-four and Shea goes with Bouch, and Ecky goes against the top line with Murph (Connor Murphy).<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you as you age in this league, your value is in different areas,\u201d Smith said. \u201cEcky and Murph, you put them out there at the last minute of the game? They’re as hard to score on as anyone in the league. So when you get down the last five minutes, is it Shea and Bouch and Ecky and Murph?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lost in this is Walman, who has not started the season like he is part of Smith\u2019s solution.<\/p>\n
We know what Bouchard is, and at 26 he can still be expected to improve. We know what Ekholm is, and that Murphy is a classic No. 4.<\/p>\n
Shea has shown an ability to play next to Bouchard and trade pucks with McDavid and Draisaitl, but he is not what we would call a prototypical No. 2 defenceman. He\u2019s not Brent Seabrook, who so perfectly complimented Duncan Keith, or the rugged Ekholm, who was perfect in his younger 30s next to Bouchard.<\/p>\n
But perhaps it is us who have to change our stereotypes. Maybe a big, burly guy who \u201cprotects\u201d your No. 1 is just yesterday\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n
![\"32](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791285031_990_32-Thoughts-podcast-Elliotte-Friedman-Kyle-Bukauskas-640x360.jpg\")
32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n
Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n