![\"Evan](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2273407889_77c4f9-e1778608076126.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Bouchard fought through concussion in playoffs <\/p>\n
The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> have gotten off to an inconsistent start this season, owning a 1-0-1 record through the first two games of the campaign that have been nothing short of wild roller coaster rides against the divisional rival Vancouver Canucks.<\/p>\n The Oilers were defeated 6-5 in overtime in their home opener by the Canucks, only to return the favor with a wild 9-7 win in Vancouver on Thursday night. While Edmonton\u2019s certainly not been short of offense in the early goings of the campaign, they are now once again facing serious questions regarding the state of their goaltending and defense.<\/p>\n One major bright spot on the defense is the play of defenseman Evan Bouchard, who broke the NHL record for most points by a defenseman (8) through the first two games of a season, besting a record that had been held since 1917-18.<\/p>\n Edmonton Oilers Players Open Up About Evan Bouchard<\/p>\n Bouchard, who helped the Oilers reach consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2024 and 2025, should be regarded as one of the game\u2019s elite players at his position, in the mind of his teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s special. He\u2019s special on both sides, and that part a lot of people don\u2019t see,\u201d forward Leon Draisaitl<\/a>\u00a0said at the NHL\/NHLPA European Player Media Tour last month. \u201cI watch him every single day, I watch every second and he\u2019s really, really special.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s as elite at it gets, and I know he doesn\u2019t get the recognition from a lot of people. But I know a hockey player when I see one, and he\u2019s elite.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone loves to comment on the boo boos, but he makes 1,000 great plays; it\u2019s the little details that I would say people may miss,\u201d Connor McDavid said. \u201cIt\u2019s the subtle little plays that he makes that are so good, and then of course he can make the great play too. So, he\u2019s a great player and we\u2019re lucky to have him here.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, McDavid explained that he valued his leadership abilities as well as his play on the ice.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s an elite defenseman and he doesn\u2019t get enough credit,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cHe\u2019s a special, special player. He\u2019s asked to do everything; he plays big minutes, plays on the penalty kill, plays 5-on-5 and power play, you name it, he does it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a leader in that room, he really is. It\u2019s taken him a while to kind of come into his own, but you can tell this year he\u2019s just got a different kind of aura about him and just seems confident and comfortable in who he is and what he\u2019s doing, and he\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n Bouchard is in the second year of a four-year pact carrying a salary cap hit of $10,500,000.<\/p>\n Evan Bouchard Has Eight Points In Two Games<\/p>\n Bouchard is now in the NHL record books for most points by a defenseman through the first two games of a campaign with eight; he\u2019s also registered a plus-five rating.<\/p>\n Bouchard and the Oilers will hope to clamp down defensively when they next hit the ice on Saturday evening against the visiting Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Whitaker<\/a> Michael Whitaker is a sports journalist based in metro Detroit with nearly a full decade of experience with publications like Clutch Points and The Hockey News. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Eastern Michigan University. More about Michael Whitaker<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Bouchard fought through concussion in playoffs The Edmonton Oilers have gotten off to an inconsistent start this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,4,24],"class_list":["post-676974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton-oilers","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-edmontonoilers","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-oilers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117372342007203423","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}