Evan Bouchard is typically a slow starter, but 2025-26 got off to a catastrophic start, even by his standards. He recorded zero points in his first six games, including a rough performance against the New York Islanders in which he was directly responsible for multiple goals against.

“That’s about as bad a two periods as I’ve seen an NHL player play,” said ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro during the broadcast.

Considering how poorly things started for Bouchard, it’s remarkable that it turned into a career year. By season’s end, he led all defencemen in scoring by a 14-point margin and finished fourth in Norris Trophy voting. His 12 first-place Norris votes were the most by an Oiler since Paul Coffey in 1985-86.

We’ve seen this movie from Bouchard before. The giveaways and poor defence early on. The gradual improvement throughout the season. The clutch playoff runs. But this season, he took it to the extreme. The worst start of his career turned into a dominant campaign that earned him a spot among the league’s elite.

After that slow October, Bouchard recorded 88 points across the final 70 games of the season, shattering his previous career highs in goals, assists, and points. He ranked second on the Oilers in expected goal share at 55.7 percent, and the team outscored the opposition 87-69 in his minutes.

Despite his incredible run from the start of November on, Bouchard couldn’t convince Hockey Canada decision makers that he belonged on the 2026 Olympic roster. Instead, they rounded out their blueline with “safer” picks like Drew Doughty and Colton Parayko. The team ultimately came up short against the US, scoring just one goal in the gold medal game. Would things have gone differently if they had another offensive game-breaker on the blueline? We’ll never know the answer for sure, but the result will fuel debates for the next four years.

It’s often been said that you have to take the bad with the good when it comes to Bouchard. That he has defensive lapses, but his elite offensive talent more than makes up for it most nights.

One such night was January 24, against the Washington Capitals, when Bouchard had the best game of his career. He scored his first NHL hat trick and recorded six points, including a beautiful assist on the overtime winner.

There’s no denying this was Bouchard’s best offensive season to date. But one thing he deserves credit for is that even his often-criticized defensive game was respectable. HockeyViz ranked his defensive impact right on par with league average.

It may seem strange that Bouchard’s results remain servicable, considering the goofy mistakes he’s put on tape. But his ability to drive possession and keep plays alive in the offensive zone reduces the amount of time he spends defending. That’s just as valid a way to keep the puck out of the net as being a traditional cycle-breaking defender. And even those pesky giveaways became fewer and farther in between this year, aside from his one bad month in October.

From a penalty kill perspective, Bouchard also held his own, once again ranking league average by HockeyViz’s model. It was the first time since 2022 that he spent more than 100 minutes on the PK.

Bouchard’s 95-point outburst made him arguably the best offensive defenceman in the NHL this season, but his ability to add a new element to his game on the PK and not give back as much defensively raised his impact to a near-Norris Trophy level. He’s never going to be elite at both ends of the ice, but he doesn’t need to be to help the Oilers. Being an average defender is more than enough, given his offensive talent.

Perhaps the only blemish for Bouchard beyond his slow start was his underwhelming playoff run. Edmonton’s banged-up top line and top pair uncharacteristically struggled, and he finished a minus-seven in the team’s first-round loss against the Anaheim Ducks.

Last month, NHL insider Frank Serevalli said he heard that Bouchard played through a concussion during the postseason, but Oilers general manager Stan Bowman later denied the report.

Regardless, Bouchard did suffer a nasty head injury at the World Championships shortly after the postseason, thanks to a high hit from Ryan Lindgren. He was briefly knocked unconscious during the play and missed the rest of the tournament. Luckily, Bowman later stated that he avoided the worst, and the injury wasn’t as serious as it looked.

Bouchard has played at least 81 games in five consecutive seasons. His continued health will be paramount as the Oilers push for a Stanley Cup.

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