DALLAS -- Evan Bouchard is a soft-spoken player who carries a loud and offensively dangerous stick.
The “Bouch Bomb” has become a signature weapon for the Edmonton Oilers defenseman, and he is following up a breakout season with an outstanding run in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Bouchard has 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) in 12 playoff games, the most by a defenseman through the first two rounds of a single postseason in NHL history. He’ll look to add to his offensive totals when the Oilers face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final, which begins with Game 1 here at American Airlines Center on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“I just think come playoff time you have to step up,” Bouchard said following a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round on Monday. “The team did that, and the team played very well, and I think that team success leads to individual success.”
Selected by Edmonton in the first round (No. 10) of the 2018 NHL Draft, the 24-year-old Oakville, Ontario, native has developed into one of the top offensive defensemen in the League. He had 82 points (18 goals, 64 assists) in 81 games this season, finishing fourth among defensemen in scoring behind Quinn Hughes of the Canucks (92 points; 17 goals, 75 assists), Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche (90 points; 21 goals, 69 assists) and Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators (85 points; 23 goals, 62 assists).
Hughes, Makar and Josi are this season’s finalists for the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the NHL, but Bouchard is the only one still playing.
“He’s one of the smartest hockey players I’ve seen in this league,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said on Monday. “He has the puck an awful lot, so he doesn’t need to defend that much. He’s a great hockey player.”
Bouchard’s calling card is his powerful shot from the point, which is extremely accurate, but his offensive instincts and passing ability are also impressive. That was why the Oilers selected Bouchard from London of the Ontario Hockey League, but he has become reliable in his own end this season, too.
Bouchard is playing on Edmonton’s top defense pair alongside veteran Mattias Ekholm, who has been a positive influence along with Oilers assistant Paul Coffey. The Hall of Fame defenseman stepped behind the bench from his adviser's role when Kris Knoblauch was hired to replace Jay Woodcroft as coach on Nov. 12 following a 3-9-1 start.
“Having a coach like Paul definitely helps. He wants you to make plays, which is great for myself and everyone else,” Bouchard said. “Having Ekholm as a partner, it gives you that much more confidence. He’s smart with the puck, strong defensively, strong offensively, he can make the good first pass and he does it all, so having a partner like that definitely helps.”
Knoblauch leaned heavily on Bouchard and Ekholm in the series against Vancouver. The pair were on the ice for almost half the game in a 4-3 overtime win in Game 2, which evened the best-of-7 series 1-1. Bouchard played 29:59 and Ekholm 25:48. In Game 3, a 4-3 loss, Bouchard played 31:24 and Ekholm 26:12.
Bouchard scored the winning goal for Edmonton in Game 4, a 3-2 win, which tied the series 2-2, and he had a goal and two assists in a 5-1 win in Game 6 to force the deciding game.
In Game 7, a pair of “Bouch Bombs” in the second period resulted in Oilers goals. One was tipped in by Zach Hyman to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead at 5:50, and the other caromed off the end boards and out the other side to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a power play at 15:22, the eventual game-winner.
“He raised his game to another level,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “He's a pretty even-keeled guy, even on the ice, but it's nice to see his intensity, not just the way that he shoots the puck, we all know he can hammer it and pick corners, but I think his intensity around our net, some of the battles he got into. It's a great sign he's maturing and really figuring out he's a bit of an animal.”
Bouchard had 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in the seven-game series against Vancouver, outscoring Hughes, who had five assists.
“Unbelievable series, unbelievable player who’s just getting better and better as he goes,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “He’s so smart, one of the smartest hockey players I’ve ever played with. Just constantly learning on the go, and you’re starting to see him really come into his own. Everyone knew offensively what he could do. Defensively, he defends using his brain and he’s just getting really good at that.”
Knoblauch has shown a high level of trust in Bouchard defensively and had him out on the ice in the dying moments of Game 7, when the Canucks were pushing for the tying goal after cutting the deficit to 3-2. Edmonton was able to fend off Vancouver to win the series and advance to its second Western Conference Final in the past three years.
“He’s grown a lot,” Knoblauch said. “We had this conversation earlier in the day (Monday), seeing him play in junior hockey we had quite a rivalry with the Erie Otters and London Knights and you see this tall, lanky defenseman and I thought, ‘Let’s take advantage of him, he looks a little sleepy out there, he looks a little lost, and maybe we can take advantage of him,’ and we never did.”
Bouchard played four seasons in London and moved on to play with Bakersfield of the American Hockey League before making the jump to the NHL.
“He was such a good player, right from playing at 16 years old,” Knoblauch said. “He’s doing what I saw him do at junior level at 16, 17 years old, and now he’s doing it in the NHL. He’s just a really smart hockey player, making good passes, good reads and now his defensive responsibilities have just increased over the year, and I have a lot of faith in him.”
