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Happy Friday, folks!
What was news last night, then became less new this afternoon, is now OLD news this evening. Perhaps fitting given it pertains to our very own Walter Matthau, Evan Bouchard. The senior-major-junior stalwart hit the ground at a gallop this fall after leaving the Edmonton Oilers and his 9-game bow, second among London Knights defenders with a tasty 15-37-53 in 45 games before posting an eye-watering - and team-leading - 4-17-21 in 11 playoff contests.
He’s since joined the Oilers farm club in California for their AHL playoff run. In his debut, he posted 1-2-3 en route to helping the Condors to a 2-1 series lead after taking game three 5-2.
While the verbiage out of the organization’s cabal of executive idiots this spring has mostly been about ripeness and maturity and not being Russian - or, maybe just not rushing - Bouchard’s performance this season might prove too hard to ignore.
His inclusion to Bakersfield’s roster and subsequent - if very small sampled - dominance, brings one back to a time when a young Jordan Eberle did similar some years ago, albeit not in the playoffs. If that’s anything to go by, we should feel something about knowing Bouchard will eventually be traded for Sam Gagner.
Yep, that Sam Gagner.