Canada’s Olympic team made the right decision in leaving Bouchard off the roster – The Hockey Writers Edmonton Oilers Latest news, analysis and more

Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard has been playing fantastic hockey lately, scoring eight goals and 15 assists while firing 54 shots on goal and registering a plus/minus rating of plus-12 over the past 15 games.

Bouchard finished January with 23 points, the most in a calendar month for any Oilers defenseman since Paul Coffey scored nine goals and added 18 assists in March 1986, nearly four full decades ago.

Related: All of Evan Bouchard’s incredible stats in Oilers vs. Capitals win

In one 6-5 overtime win over the Washington Capitals at Rogers Place on Jan. 24, Bouchard had one of the greatest offensive performances by a defenseman in NHL history as he became the first Edmonton defenseman to score a hat trick in two decades, while also recording three assists and finishing the game with a plus/minus of plus-5.

Against the San Jose Sharks at home on January 29, Bouchard had 59 seconds left to tie the score at 3–3, then assisted on Connor McDavid’s game-winning goal in overtime to cap a three-point night.

While he has taken his game to the highest level during Edmonton’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last two postseasons, Bouchard has arguably never played better in the regular season than this current season.

All this has sparked debate about Bouchard’s absence from the Canadian squad that will compete in men’s hockey at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics (the opening ceremony of the Olympics is on February 6, while the men’s hockey tournament starts on February 11).

Terrible defensive play cost Bouchard an Olympic spot

On New Year’s Eve, Hockey Canada unveiled its Olympic men’s team that goes for gold in Italy. The 25-player roster includes eight defensemen: Drew Doughty, Thomas Harley, Cale Makar, Josh Morrissey, Colton Parayko, Travis Sanheim, Shea Theodore and Devon Toews.

At the time, the idea of ​​Bouchard being part of Team Canada was almost laughable. Although he was the leading point scorer among all NHL blueliners, his defensive play had been so atrocious that there was no way Canadian Olympic men’s hockey general manager Doug Armstrong could take over the Oilers blueliner.

Between all of Bouchard’s giveaways, misreads, errors and breakdowns, there’s already more than enough footage this season to produce a full-length video titled “How Not to Play Defense.”

What’s worse is that his blunders often occur during high-leverage situations that end with the puck in the back of Edmonton’s net. It’s no wonder Bouchard had one of the worst plus/minus ratings of any defenseman in the NHL during the first month of the 2025-26 NHL schedule.

You might be able to overlook Bouchard’s misplays if it only happened occasionally, but in October, November and even December he couldn’t go more than a week without serving a pizza or two. If Armstrong had tuned in to even a few Oilers games, chances are he would have seen Bouchard make a mistake so egregious that he would have concluded right then and there that there was no way he could trust this Bouchard in a winner-takes-all game with the hopes and dreams of an entire nation at stake.

Bouchard can still become an Olympic-level player

In addition to his remarkable offensive performances, Bouchard has played much better defensively in recent weeks. He recognized that he needed improvement and clearly took this to heart. He deserves a lot of credit for that.

The thing is, this isn’t the first time Bouchard has stepped up his game. He has had previous stretches of adequate – some would even say good – defensive play, only to eventually return to his old self.

Perhaps this is finally the time for Bouchard to develop into a reliably solid defender to complement his phenomenal attacking skills. But that will only prove itself in months and years. No sample size of 15-20 games.

It’s very easy to be a prisoner of the moment. That happens to almost everyone. But if we take a step back and look at the big picture, without recency bias, it’s hard to say Bouchard should be on Team Canada.

Bouchard is only 26. Many of the greatest blueliners in hockey history took until their late 20s to really get into shape, and then they maintained that level until their mid-30s. We won’t see Bouchard at the Olympics this year, but there is certainly a chance he will be there in 2030 or even 2034.