The Edmonton Oilers lit up the Winnipeg Jets in preseason action this weekend, and a peek at the box score suggests there's one Oiler who is planning on hitting the 2026-27 ice surface at full speed. Evan Bouchard contributed on all but one goal in the 5-2 drubbing of the Jets, and that performance suggests he's ready to play some hockey this season.
Maybe he's using the Norris Trophy voting snub as inspiration. Maybe he is tired of the recycled headlines calling him one dimensional or defensively poor. Whatever the reason, if Bouchard plays like he did on Saturday night, he has a real shot at an all-time great season.
Longer season, more points
The games have yet to be played, but two factors suggest the century-mark could be within Bouchard's reach this year. First of all, Bouchard has proven he has the durability to make it through a full National Hockey League season. He's only missed one game in the past four years, including playing in all 82 last season and the one prior. Adding to that the fact that NHL teams will play 84 games for the first time in league history, and Bouchard doesn't need to up his game much more to reach 100 points.
Bouchard averaged 1.15 points per game in 2026-27. A straight across average gets him to 97 points in an 84 game season (97.3 to be precise). The Oilers will need to maintain their strong powerplay conversion percentage, which finished above 30% in 2025-26, but even if they don't convert at quite the same rate, they're due for some positive regression in terms of the total number of calls. The Oilers received 14 penalties fewer than the NHL average last season. If that moves up (which it should!) then Bouchard might even have some breathing room as he chases 100 points.
Health naturally comes into play with these season long stretch goals, as does puck luck and team success. But Bouchard has proven that sometimes he makes his own luck. I personally believe that if he'd been a point or two closer to the hundred mark last season, his teammates would have ensured that he got there. Similar to how we've seen the Oilers' leaders help Zach Hyman get more than 50 goals, or how often when a point production milestone is nearing, Connor McDavid finds that teammate in open ice. And naturally, if the Oilers end up with three 100 point players in McDavid, Bouchard, and Leon Draisaitl, we can assume the overall season will be going pretty well too.
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