While Simon Bourque may not be a dynamic offensive defender, or a punishing blue-line bruiser, he’s one of the most talented at his position in the QMJHL.

I had many questions surrounding his even-strength play following a season in which 69.6% of Bourque’s points came on the man-advantage. This article attempts to answer questions such as how effective he is at preventing zone entries, how much Rimouski relies on him, and whether he is contributing offensively without getting points.

First, I would like to provide a bit of context regarding the players and data that will appear in this article.

The data is derived from seven of Bourque’s games in October, 2016. While eight different defencemen dressed in these seven games, only five of them played any meaningful minutes: Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Dominic Cormier, Andrew Picco, Artem Maltsev, and Bourque.

Bourque is utilized heavily in all situations and is regularly double-shifted at even strength. He is typically partnered with D’Astous, but also will be see some extra shifts with one of the sparingly-used defenders (Alexis Girard and Karl Boudrias).

Rimouski lives and dies by its power play, scoring on 32.3% of their opportunities (third in the QMJHL). The team also sits middle-of-the-table in both even-strength goals-for and shots-for percentages.

Without further ado, here’s a microstats breakdown of Bourque, starting with defence:

Defence

There’s no denying Bourque’s defensive prowess. Whether that was a shutdown role alongside Jan Kostalek as a 17-year-old, or the go-to defender in all situations since last season, Bourque has been a staple for the Océanic.

He excels at arguably the most important aspect for a defender: preventing zone entries.

Bourque denies zone entries at the highest rate on the team, thwarting controlled entries at a 56.8% success rate, while also directly breaking up 36.4% of all controlled attempts against.

These two clips illustrate a defensive play that Bourque has nearly perfected at the QMJHL level:

In both instances, Bourque establishes his gap at the red line, not at the blue line like most defenders do. A strong sweeping motion with his stick knocks the puck away as the forward crosses the blue line, ending the zone-entry attempt as it began.

By assuming this aggressive gap while protecting the inside lane, Bourque forces QMJHL forwards into three plays: (1) attempt to dangle Bourque one-on-one, which rarely works; (2) drive wide with speed, which is the most successful play against Bourque, or; (3) dump the puck in, which judging by his 69.2% denial rate (along with D’Astous’s 71.4%) is a low-percentage play. None of these options are particularly attractive.

It’s quite rare for a major-junior defenceman to assume such an aggressive gap (or any level defenceman for that matter), which is why Bourque is so efficient at denying entries. The earlier a zone entry is a denied, the quicker a breakout can occur, leading me into the next point.

Transition

While Bourque’s skating and puck-handling prevent him from being a puck rusher, he excels at puck movement through passing.

The team has a clear reliance on him to orchestrate the transition with his passing ability, given his team-leading 15.43 defensive-zone passes per game (second: D’Astous at 9.86) and 2.85 neutral-zone passes per game (second: D’Astous at 1.85). Although Bourque’s completion rate (DZ: 76.6%; NZ: 76.92%) isn’t as high as D’Astous’s (DZ: 82.14%; NZ: 87.5%) in either category, it’s reasonable given the sheer amount of passes Bourque attempts.

His defensive-zone exits by success rate don’t particularly stand out. He sits second in percentage of exits with control and third in controlled-exit success rate. However, he does sit first in both uncontrolled success rate and the percentage of uncontrolled exit attempts that maintain Rimouski’s possession.

The sheer quantity of attempted zone exits by Bourque can help explain why the team’s top defender and passer falls a tad short in zone exits:

Essentially, he averages more successful controlled exits per game than any other defender attempts, both controlled and uncontrolled. While undoubtedly impressive, it does present me with legitimate concerns about how I gathered this data. In an effort to reconcile myself with my data, I came up with four possible explanations:

Bias: As a Habs fan, there’s no doubt that I want Bourque to succeed, which definitely had a significant, albeit unintentional, impact on how I perceived and recorded all events. Small Sample Size Alert! While the data was pretty consistent game-by-game, again, it is just seven games. Usage: Bourque gets double-shifted roughly three-to-four times per period. Given his absurd usage, his on-ice events are likely to be more numerous than his teammates’. Reliance: Bourque’s teammates rely on Bourque to do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to transitions — D’Astous included. In fact, many shifts he’s the only defender who touches the puck.

I would also point out that that absurd number of zone exits isn’t necessarily a good thing; it could mean he’s spending more time defending.

With necessary caution advised, I want to now discuss offensive-zone entries.

Once again, Bourque’s ability relative to his teammates is significant. All the Océanic defenders tend to play fairly conservative at moving the puck, Bourque included. His zone-entry ability isn’t particularly noteworthy, but he does make 2.43 successful controlled offensive-zone entries per game (second highest: 0.71). 1.86 of his 2.43 entries are pass entries, which once again highlights his passing skills.

Offence

The biggest question I have about Bourque is: can he produce at even strength?

It’s a bit too early to evaluate his point totals, but for reference, Bourque sits second among Océanic defenders in even-strength points per game (D’Astous: 0.50; Bourque: 0.42) and third in ES primary points (D’Astous & Maltsev: 0.25; Bourque: 0.17).

The difference between those ranks is just one point, therefore I tracked shots on goal and primary and secondary shot assists to get an understanding of how Bourque is directly involved offensively.

Bourque is tied for first with 1.14 ES shots, but pulls away from his teammates with his 1.57 shot assists. His 2.71 offensive-zone contributions per game are solid, but certainly not indicative of dynamic offensive ability.

Unsurprisingly, he completes the most passes among Oceanic defenders (2.7/GP), although it’s not as substantial of a margin as DZ and NZ passes (Picco: 2.2/GP).

Where Bourque stands to improve is getting pucks on net. He gets just 32% of his shot attempts on goal, which sits fourth on the team, and far behind D’Astous’ 60%.

The power play remains where Bourque is most effective offensively. Seven power-play points put Bourque in fourth among QMJHL defenders, and he gets 61% of his shots on the man advantage.

Conclusion

The results of Bourque’s strong play are evident with his 56.74 Corsi-for percentage and 56.25 goals-for percentage, which lead the Rimouski blue line.

His aggressive gap control denies entries at the highest rate on his team, and also enables him to orchestrate the breakout at a rather ridiculous (but not necessarily good) rate. It’s the even-strength offensive-zone play that remains concerning.

Couple his lack of offensive upside with legitimate concerns that his skating will affect his NHL projection defensively, and there’s cause for concern. As mentioned, average pivots and top-end speed (for the QMJHL) allow forwards to beat him when attacking with pace. He also has a tendency to reach for pucks.

Although Bourque’s passing is great, if not excellent, in the QMJHL, he sends a number of passes with the puck on edge, causing unpredictable bounces and longer pass reception times. It’s not a huge issue right now, but something to watch when he turns professional next season.

While Bourque’s lack of flash keeps him out of the spotlight, he’s among the most effective in the prospect pool.