'It's just weird': Oilers GM defends star Edmonton d-man on new mega contract

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This in from Oilers GM Stan Bowman, his take that Oilers d-man Evan Bouchard takes too much criticism. Speaking to John Shannon and Darren Millard on the 100% Hockey podcast recently, Bowman defended Edmonton’s star d-man, who just signed a new four year deal at $10.5 million per season.

“You know, he had a great playoff the year before I joined,” Bowman said. “And then I got to watch him close. And he’s a very good player. I think probably he takes too much criticism… I’ve tried to push back a bit on some of the media that are hard on him. I don’t think he makes any more mistakes than other guys. It’s just when he does, they tend to get highlighted more… I don’t know why that is. That’s one thing that I’ve never totally gotten a handle on is why some players tend to get more heat than others. Like, I’m talking really good players.”

Bowman continued: “I went through that with (Chicago goalie) Corey Crawford a bit. People used to complain about him. I mean, he was a great goalie. I never understood why if he would have a bad game or two, he would get so much criticism. And then some of the other goalies who never ended up winning any Cups, they seem to be like on this pedestal… Bouch is kind of the same way… He’s an amazing player… Yeah, he has turnovers, but so does everybody… It’s just weird. For some reason, his seemed to get magnified. But he does so many amazing things with our group.”

Bowman said Bouchard, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are the three players who make the Oilers go.

“I think the biggest thing with Bouch is patience and his confidence with the puck, too. Like he might have a tough start to a game or to a period. And he can turn the puck over and give up a goal. Doesn’t phase him one bit. He just goes back and makes good plays. And I think that’s actually a great lesson for something I’ve tried to tell my kids, too. It’s like you’re going to make mistakes, but it’s much easier to live with if you make three bad plays and ten good ones. People just sort of forget about the three bad ones. If you make three bad plays and two good ones, then you’re going to get a lot of focus on the bad plays you make. But just go out there and keep playing.

“He’s an amazing athlete too. He’s very underrated that way, phenomenal shape. He’s very durable. He played through a ton of pain this year. There were some games where this playoffs, talking to the doctor after the game, he’s like, ‘I don’t think Bouch is going to be able to go tomorrow.’ No one ever heard about that, right? That he was really gutting it out, but he just sort of goes out there and plays. By the time the game rolls around, he just says, ‘I’m fine. Yeah, like, no problem.'”

Bouchard took one more stop in the 2025 playoffs, Bowman said, doing well on the Oilers penalty kill.

“That’s always the measure really of the elite defenseman is can they play in all situations? Because if you can’t kill penalties, then your ability to totally be an all-around player is somewhat limited. But I think he stepped up big time in that and he was great in the playoffs.”

My take

1. Does Bowman have a point? Is it weird that Bouchard gets so much criticism? Or is there a reason for this?

2. As Bowman points out, the main thing Oilers fans and pundits complain about when it comes to Bouchard is his turnovers. Bowman suggest we should all weigh that against the good things that Bouchard does during a game, such as launch blistering shots on net, making great stretch passes to launch dangerous attacks, and defend well positionally.

That makes sense for me.

So let’s do just that. Let’s compare to what Bouchard gives to what he gives up.

3. One way to look at Bouchard’s puck management is to look at the number of stretch passes he makes that lead to Grade A shots, then compare that to the number of turnovers he makes that lead to Grade A shots against.

Stretch passes are a wicked attacking weapon in hockey. They’re not easy to execute.

Turnovers are likely the most hideous of defensive mistakes, as they give a team little time to regroup and defend the break-down. They often lead to the most dangerous kinds of shots against.

4. When we dig in what we see is that the last two years in the playoffs, Bouchard has been Edmonton’s best d-man at ripping stretch passes and he’s also limited his turnovers to about a team average rate for d-men.

In 2025 he made 1.75 stretch passes for a Grade A shot for every turnover he made leading to a Grade A shot against at even strength.

That’s 14 stretch passes leading to Grade A shots at even strength compared to eight turnovers leading to Grade A shots against in 22 games.

The team average was 0.81 stretch passes for every turnover, so Bouchard was more than twice as good as the average Oilers d-man.

Bouchard was also strong in this same category in the 2023-24 regular season, with 40 stretch passes leading to Grade A shots and just 33 turnovers leading to Grade A shots against.

But this past regular season was a different story. Bouchard made 23 stretch passes but 35 turnovers on Grade A shots.

Little wonder that some folks noticed this negative ratio of 0.69 stretch passes for every turnover and felt he wasn’t play that well. At times he wasn’t. At times he was too often careless with the puck.

3. Another way to rate and rank d-men is to look at their total contributions to Grade A shots (shots, passes, hard charges at the net and battles won) compared to their total mistakes on Grade A shots against at even strength (lost battles, turnovers, bad pinches, missed assignments, bad line changes, bad deflections).

4. In this category, Bouchard has been the Oiler’s best d-man for the past two years. He was dominant in particular in 2023-24. He slipped a bit last year, but was still the team’s best d-man, just ahead of Jake Walman, Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm.

In the playoffs, Bouchard again shot up and was by far the Oil’s best d-man the past two seasons.

5. When you take in all these factors, I’ll suggest that Bowman has a point, that it’s a bit weird that there’s so much criticism of Bouchard, especially when we consider his superlative play in the playoffs, where he’s been an absolute stone-cold killer on the attack and solid on defence for two years running.

Bouchard comes through for the Oilers when they need him most, and when a few other players on the Oilers fail to rise to the occasion.

He’s the kind of player who can drive a team to Stanley Cup wins and to Olympic gold medals.

I’m glad he’s signed on with the Oilers another four years. You?

At the Cult of Hockey

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