It’s well known that many Edmonton Oilers aces were playing hurt in the first round against the Anaheim Ducks, but it’s now clear we can add Evan Bouchard to that list.
Late in the second period of Game 1, big Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier bashed Bouchard into the boards, with Bouchard’s face hitting the glass.
“Bouchard, he got popped!” said play-by-play announcer Jack Michaels. “Face first!”
Bouchard was red hot after the hit and went after several of the Ducks, hacking at them.
It’s possible Bouchard was concussed on the play, though he finished out the game and the series.
On the 100% Hockey podcast with John Shannon and Daren Millard, Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer said recently: “I don’t know if anybody remembered, but Bouchard got belted in Game 1. And Anaheim was specific with who they targeted. They targeted Connor (McDavid), Leon (Draisaitl), Bouchard and (Mattias) Ekholm. And the Oilers didn’t do any of that. The Oilers couldn’t sustain a forecheck.”
On Oilers Now this week, Stauffer added that while people complain that Bouchard was a minus player in the 2026 playoffs, he got belted in Game 1.
“(Bouchard) has played through injury two years in a row in the playoffs,” Stauffer said. “Like at the end of the (2025 playoff) year exit interview last year for the Stanley Cup Final when Stan Bowman said, ‘We weren’t sure Bouchard was going to be able to play the final two games.’ We’re all like, what? Because he was out there for practice. Like, we were kind of in shock.”
Stauffer’s guest Frank Seravalli added: “Correct me if I’m wrong and maybe you won’t be able to. I think Bouchard might have had a concussion in the (2026) playoffs.”
“Well, I can either confirm or deny that,” Stauffer said. “But I’m going to tell you, he got belted in Game 1.”
Said Seravalli: “Belted is one way of saying it, but yes, that’s what I was told. I believe that to be factually accurate.”
My take
1. In six playoff games against the Ducks, Bouchard had seven points, but was -7 on goals plus-minus. Perhaps he was playing hurt. Seravalli says he was concussed. One would hope and expect that if it was a mild concussion that Bouchard and the Oilers were careful.
I note that the great Oilers attacking d-man started out slow against the Ducks but got better as the series went along. He is now playing more hockey for Team Canada at the World Championships, so it’s unlikely the injury was too serious.
hits
2. I was curious about which Oilers d-men took the most hits and handed out the most hits in the Anaheim series. If we look at their 5-on-5 numbers, it appears that out of 93 NHL d-men who have played at least 50 even strength minutes in the 2026 playoffs, Jake Walman took the lowest rate of hits, just 0.65 per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play. He did look slippery and smart out there avoiding hits — and was also Edmonton’s most effective d-man by far in the playoffs.
Bouchard ranked 58th out of 93 d-men for hits taken per 60, but Connor Murphy and Ty Emberson got blasted at an even higher rate, Emberson ranking 92 out of 93 d-men with 21.9 hits taken per 60.
I note that Murphy and Emberson are Edmonton’s least mobile d-men.
3. It’s a good strategy to hit opposing d-men hard and often in the playoffs. Evander Kane did so effectively against Quinn Hughes in the 2024 playoffs, for example, greatly slowing the then-Canucks whiz kid.
In the same way, Anaheim got on Ekholm and Bouchard this year and slowed them down, but the Oilers were unable to do the same to Ducks d-men like Jackson LaCombe and John Carlson.
And that’s how a team loses a first round series.
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