Welcome to Oilersnation’s annual player review series, where we dive into the Edmonton Oilers season player by player. We’ll look back at the season that was, what kind of impact each player had, and what we could see from them next season. You can read about the analytics behind my analysis here. 

An emphatic turnaround

Evan Bouchard is typically a slow starter, but 2025-26 got off to a catastrophic start, even by his standards. He recorded zero points in his first six games, including a rough performance against the New York Islanders in which he was directly responsible for multiple goals against.

“That’s about as bad a two periods as I’ve seen an NHL player play,” said ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro during the broadcast.

Considering how poorly things started for Bouchard, it’s remarkable that it turned into a career year. By season’s end, he led all defencemen in scoring by a 14-point margin and finished fourth in Norris Trophy voting. His 12 first-place Norris votes were the most by an Oiler since Paul Coffey in 1985-86.

We’ve seen this movie from Bouchard before. The giveaways and poor defence early on. The gradual improvement throughout the season. The clutch playoff runs. But this season, he took it to the extreme. The worst start of his career turned into a dominant campaign that earned him a spot among the league’s elite.

After that slow October, Bouchard recorded 88 points across the final 70 games of the season, shattering his previous career highs in goals, assists, and points. He ranked........

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