The Edmonton Oilers are partway through the second round of the playoffs, and they’re finding themselves trailing in their series against the Vancouver Canucks. A big reason why they’re down is due to goaltending, where the team is just not getting timely saves.
However, there are still bright spots on the team, particularly the performances of the Oilers’ stars. Yes, there’s the perennial lights-out play of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but this time, there are two faces on the blueline that have been otherworldly for Edmonton too.
The play of Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm currently stands out as quite possibly the best defensive pair so far in the playoffs. While Bouchard’s point total of three goals and 10 assists for 13 points is nothing short of spectacular, and Ekholm’s five points in eight games isn’t too shabby either, I wanted to move away from points (which definitely also adds to their case).
Instead, I’ll look at on-ice metrics to see how the pair handles the play in their own zone and in the offensive zone. Using 5v5, score- and venue-adjusted data from Natural Stat Trick, here’s how this duo stacks up. The stats are filtered for defencemen with at least 100 minutes of playoff ice-time.
Bouchard and Ekholm’s stats
So far, the pairing has been well above average across various on-ice metrics.
| Player | CF% | GF% | xGF% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evan Bouchard | 57.9 | 65.7 | 64.3 |
| Mattias Ekholm | 57.1 | 61.1 | 64.2 |
As seen, they’re well ahead in terms of Corsi percentages, but better yet, both of them have GF% and xGF% north of 60%! That’s an incredibly hard threshold to surpass, especially in the playoffs.
Here is the same table, but instead of the percentages, this shows their ranking among all defenders in the playoffs, again with the filter of at least 100 minutes.
| Player | CF% rank | GF% rank | xGF% rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evan Bouchard | 7th | 7th | 2nd |
| Mattias Ekholm | 9th | 14th | 3rd |
Bouchard’s ranked seventh overall for GF%, where he has on the ice for 10 goals for and five goals against. Ekholm has been on the ice for eight goals for and the same five goals against, hence his lower ranking. The score and venue adjustments don’t change these values significantly, and it’s easier to conceptualise goals for and against as whole numbers anyway.
However, the standout metric for the pairing is their xGF%. As a duo, they currently take the second and third spot among all defencemen. The only player ahead of them is Colorado Avalanche defenceman Devon Toews, who has an xGF% of 65.7%.
So Edmonton is currently boasting not just one player, but two defensive partners who are performing well enough at 5v5 to take two out of the top three spots for xGF%. For extra context, removing score and venue adjustments, Bouchard and Ekholm drop to third and fourth, respectively, with Florida Panthers defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson leapfrogging them.
That said, using score- and venue-adjust stats for 5v5 metrics gives a lot more context and better highlights how a player, or in this case, both players are performing.
The NHL’s best playoff pairing
There are 62 NHL defencemen who fit the criteria of 100 minutes. A good number of them are already eliminated with their teams bowing out in the first round. However, as one might expect with it just being the second round, there are still plenty of players who are still playing. A total of 45 out of the 62 players have featured in eight games or more this postseason, which means the bulk of the players being ranked are still playing playoff hockey.
With Bouchard and Ekholm playing as many minutes as they have together, it’s no surprise that their rankings have them both near each other with similar stats. However, the biggest plus for the Oilers is just how high they’re ranked.
Bouchard and Ekholm are making a strong case that they’re the best defence pairing in this year’s playoffs.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
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