Evan Bouchard keeps getting robbed.

The Edmonton Oilers defenceman was easily the best point-producing blueliner in 2025-26, yet didn’t even win the Norris Trophy. In fact, he didn’t even finish as a finalist. Instead, Cale Makar finished second in voting, despite finishing with 16 fewer points. Bouchard was pretty clearly robbed of recognition he deserved.

Makar just signed the largest contract in National Hockey League history Friday night, an eight-year deal worth $163.2 million, or $20.4 million annually. With Makar signing that contract, Bouchard’s four-year deal worth $10.5 million looks like highway robbery.

Now, this isn’t to say that Bouchard is a better defenceman than Makar because he’s quite simply not. Makar had a down year, while Bouchard had a career-best year, but Makar is going to go down as this generation’s best defenceman. That said, for the contract Bouchard is on, there’s a legitimate argument that Bouchard’s value is higher.

Bouchard’s 2025-26 season was underrated

Makar is better than Bouchard, but it’s not as wide a gap as some may think. Last season, Bouchard led all defencemen with 95 points in 82 games. That point total was 14 more than Zach Werenski, who finished second for points by a defenceman, but first in Norris Trophy voting. 

The scoring leader among defencemen not........

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