Bouchard's Crazy Start And What Oilers Fans Can Make Of It

Through four games, Evan Bouchard has six goals and 11 points, and yet, there are still people who would rather talk about what he does wrong.

Edmonton Oilers fans are very good at finding something to criticize about No. 2, and don't get me wrong, sometimes he gives them a lot to work with, but he's also coming off a 95-point season, led every NHL defenceman in scoring last year and has started this season putting up numbers that haven't been seen in more than a century.

At some point, maybe we can forgive him for the occasional defensive mistake.

Bouchard scored twice and added an assist in Wednesday's 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks, bringing his season total to six goals and 11 points. He's leading the entire NHL in goals, sitting behind only Connor McDavid in points, and has already scored nearly a third of the 21 goals he managed over 82 games last season.

The last defenceman to score six goals through his first four games was Harry Cameron, who had eight with the Toronto Arenas in 1917-18. Bouchard is also the fifth defenceman in NHL history to record at least 10 points through four games, joining a group that includes Bobby Orr, Pat Stapleton and Morgan Rielly.

There aren't many opportunities to mention Bouchard and Orr in the same statistical conversation, although Bouchard seems determined to create a few.

His teammates have been talking about him with a certain amount of admiration for quite some time, and Leon Draisaitl had an interesting response when asked about how Bouchard is perceived around the league.

“It's pretty funny how he's viewed around the league, in my eyes. But people can continue to see it that way, and we'll gladly have him on the ice,” Draisaitl said.

Draisaitl understands everything that comes with Bouchard's game, including the mistakes that often end up on our social media feeds the next day. That said, he's also one of the players who benefits from having a defenceman who contributes offensively and creates scoring opportunities at a level most teams simply don't have on their blue line.

Edmonton has outscored its opponents 11-1 at five-on-five, making it hard to argue that his presence is hurting the Oilers when they're producing results like that.

Bouchard has also been carrying considerable responsibility on Edmonton's blue line, playing over 25 minutes a night and helping to drive an offence that has already scored 19 goals over four games.

His production last season was enough to consider him for the Norris Trophy. However, the Norris goes to the best overall defenceman, and at the time, his scoring did not make up for his defensive lapses. he eventually finished fourth in voting behind Zach Werenski, Cale Makar, and Quinn Hughes, and he admitted last May that being left off the final ballot bothered him.

“When I saw that come out, I was definitely upset a little bit,” Bouchard said on TSN OverDrive. “Stings a little bit, but you know what? You get back at it, and you forget about it.”

Four games into the following season, he's leading all three of those defencemen in scoring, and there's already some discussion about whether this could finally be the year he receives serious consideration for the award.

Bouchard hasn't said that's what's driving his start, although it wouldn't be particularly surprising if finishing fourth after leading every defenceman in scoring left him with something to prove.

The Norris Trophy is a tough one for Bouchard because of the way his defensive game is perceived. Makar, Hughes, and Werenski have established themselves among the league's best, and Bouchard is trying to convince voters that his offensive production deserves the same recognition.

Let's be clear though, if Bouchard were to conitnue at his current pace, he would score more than 200 points—that's a bit much, even for Oilers fans. Let's also be clear, at some point he'll mess up and somebody watching said game will be wondering why Edmonton is paying him $10.5 million per season, it's just part of his game.

However, the people who play alongside him don't seem nearly as concerned about those mistakes as everyone watching from home. Draisaitl's comments are a pretty good example of how highly he's regarded in Edmonton's dressing room, where his teammates see the opportunities he creates throughout an entire game.

Oilers fans can keep complaining about No. 2 whenever he makes a mistake in his own end, but for now, though, maybe enjoy what he's doing with the puck. There aren't many defencemen in the NHL capable of it, and Edmonton happens to have one of them.

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