Evan Bouchard Roasted For Oilers' OT Loss; Media & Even Ex-NHLers Want Him Benched

Evan Bouchard, Edmonton Oilers defenseman

It's not new to see Evan Bouchard taking the brunt of the blame for an Edmonton Oilers loss, but the vitriol is reaching epic proportions in Oil Country after his disastrous game in their 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers Thursday night.

Let's start with Oilers beat writers, who are once again questioning the beleaguered defenseman's performance, and the lack of a benching.

Epic night for Bouchard, who goes minus-3 with the primary giveaway on two Rangers goals.
He goes to a team-worst minus-9 on the season.
— Mark Spector🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@SportsnetSpec) October 31, 2025

At what point does Bouchard get seat at end of bench?
— Jim Matheson (@jimmathesonnhl) October 31, 2025

Jim Matheson wondered, "At what point does Bouchard get a seat at the end of the bench?", followed by Mark Spector's pointing out that the Oilers' d-man went minus-3 in the loss, including the primary giveaways on two of the Rangers goals.

And on the OT winner, he gives JT Miller the red carpet treatment to barge in on goal (with 'assists', we should note, from Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid).

Oh maaaann Bouchard…

Let me just slow up and let Miller cleanly get the puck to his forehand for the GWG in overtime??

Bouchard’s -9 is tied for 7th lowest in the league. Tough look for a $10.5M defenceman.

pic.twitter.com/tp8S0svigw
— Tyson Cole (@tyson_cole) October 31, 2025

An earlier giveaway — called a "suicide pass" by the Rangers broadcast team — allowed Jonny Brodzinski to score the game-opening goal early in the first period.

Brodzinski picks off Bouchard's pass and beats Skinner on the breakaway 🔥 pic.twitter.com/jjIIVOvcRF
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 31, 2025

That just set the tone for this one.

Bouchard is now tied for the 7th-worst plus/minus rating in the NHL, at -9.

We've also got former NHLers weighing in with their thoughts. On the Got Yer Back podcast (h/t David Staples, Edmonton Journal), Jason Strudwick, a defenseman who played 14 years in the league, said that Bouchard was responsible for three “massive glaring errors. Three. And there’s only four goals against. So that’s 75%…. I am floored that he's making these massive mistakes this often early in the season...

"I suppose you could have benched him."

Fellow former NHLer Rob Brown agreed.

"They have seven defensemen in the lineup! They can do it (bench Bouch) without screwing with anybody's minutes, without poaching themselves...

“The next time this happens, there has to be accountability. Because if there’s not accountability, then it’s hard really holding anyone else accountable. Because we’re seeing it, the team is seeing it, someone has to stand up and say, ‘Enough is enough’ Because when your best players are this off, like Bouchard is, it’s really tough to be a good hockey club.”

So while letting Bouchard have it, the guys were also insisting that head coach Kris Knoblauch is also at fault "for not dropping the hammer" on Bouchard, as host Ryan Rishaug put it.

"The fact that Kris Knoblauch didn't do that tonight is a huge miss for me," added Brown. "There have been multiple opportunities that have been missed to absolutely fire a missile at this player's head (i.e. bench him) and say, 'Snap out of it!'"

The Oilers are now 5-4-3 on the season, in 4th place in the Pacific Division. Bouchard has seven points in 12 games, with the aforementioned -9 rating, while logging a career-high 23:34 ice time per night. He was signed to a new four-year, $10.5M AAV deal this past summer.