Evan Bouchard (born October 20, 1999) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

currently playing for the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). In the

2018 NHL Entry Draft The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the 56th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 22–23, 2018, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the second of two professional sports drafts to be held in the Dalla ...

, Bouchard was selected 10th overall by the Oilers.

Playing career

Junior

Bouchard was drafted in the first round, 17th overall, in the 2015 OHL Priority Selection by the

London Knights The London Knights are a junior ice hockey team from London, Ontario, Canada, playing in the Ontario Hockey League, one of the leagues of the Canadian Hockey League. The Knights started out in 1965 as the London Nationals but changed to their cu ...

. He helped London capture the OHL Championship and

2016 Memorial Cup The 2016 Memorial Cup (branded as the 2016 Mastercard Memorial Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a four-team, round-robin format tournament that took place at the ENMAX Centrium in Red Deer, from May 20–29, 2016. It was the 98th Memorial Cup cham ...

in his first year with the organization. Bouchard was named captain of the Knights for the

2017–18 OHL season The 2017–18 OHL season was the 38th season of the Ontario Hockey League, in which twenty teams played 68 games each according to the regular season schedule, from September 21, 2017 to March 18, 2018. The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds accomplishe ...

. At the conclusion of the year, Bouchard was named a finalist for the

Max Kaminsky Trophy The Max Kaminsky Trophy is awarded annually by the Ontario Hockey League to the most outstanding defenceman. The award is named in honour of Max Kaminsky, who coached the St. Catharines Teepees to the Memorial Cup in 1960 and died shortly thereaf ...

as Defenceman of the Year and the

Red Tilson Trophy The Red Tilson Trophy is awarded annually by the Ontario Hockey League to the most outstanding player (MVP) as voted by OHL writers and broadcasters. It was donated by ''The Globe and Mail,'' and first awarded in the 1944–45 OHA season by the O ...

as MVP of the OHL.

Professional

Bouchard was selected in the first round, tenth overall by the

in the

. A few weeks later on July 17, the Oilers signed Bouchard to a three-year, entry-level contract. On October 25, 2018, Bouchard became the youngest Oiler defenceman in history to record a goal when he scored in a 4–1 win over the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

. He had turned 19 five days before the game. After seven games with the Oilers, he was returned to the Knights on November 2. Despite only skating in 45 games for the Knights during the 2018–19 season, Bouchard recorded 16 goals and 53 points. He added another 21 points in eleven

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

games. On April 25, 2019, Bouchard was named the winner of the

as the league's top defenceman. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

's affect on the AHL, he spent part of the 2020–21 season with the

Södertälje SK Södertälje Sportklubb, also known as Södertälje SK and often referred to as SSK, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level of pro hockey in Sweden. Södertälje were charter members of Eli ...

of Sweden's

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system (after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL). Since the 2009–10 ...

. He then joined the Oilers for the shortened regular season, though it was noted that he had some difficulty getting ice time despite solid play. In the 2021-22 season, Bouchard solidified his place in the roster, managing 12 goals and 31 assists in 81 regular season games, pairing alongside former Blackhawk defenseman

Duncan Keith Duncan Keith (born July 16, 1983) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers. He won three Stanley Cup championships with Chicago in ...

while also quarterbacking the team's second power play unit. 35 of his points came at even strength play, ranked fourteenth among NHL defensemen. The Oilers qualified for the

2022 Stanley Cup playoffs The 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs was the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL). The playoffs began on May 2, 2022, one day after the 2021–22 NHL regular season, and concluded on June 26, 2022, with the Colorado Avalanche winnin ...

, making a deep run to the Western Conference Final before losing to the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

International play

On December 3, Bouchard was loaned to Team Canada to compete for a roster spot on their

2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

team. On December 25, Bouchard was named an alternate captain for Team Canada, along with

Jaret Anderson-Dolan Jaret Lynn Anderson-Dolan (born September 12, 1999) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward currently playing for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). Anderson-Dolan was selected in the second round of the 2017 NHL ...

and Ian Mitchell, for the 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouchard, Evan 1999 births Living people Bakersfield Condors players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Edmonton Oilers draft picks Edmonton Oilers players Ice hockey people from Ontario London Knights players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Sportspeople from Oakville, Ontario Södertälje SK players