OilersNation has reported:

Edmonton Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard has opened the 2026-27 NHL season with six goals and 11 points in four games, matching Bobby Orr for the second-most points by a defenceman through the first four games of a season. Only Harry Cameron, who recorded eight goals and 14 points in four games in 1917-18, had a more productive start.

Bouchard’s opening stretch is also the best of his career. He leads the league with six goals, all scored at five-on-five, and with nine five-on-five points. He has been on the ice for 11 Oilers goals at five-on-five, the most in the NHL, and one goal against.

The comparison with Cameron reaches back to the NHL’s inaugural season, more than a century ago. Cameron added five points in his next 10 games after his record start, then finished as the league’s leading defenceman with 17 goals and 27 points in 21 games. In 1975-76, Orr scored two goals and nine assists for 11 points through four games, tying Bouchard’s current total.

The source estimates that 1,419 defencemen have played more than 100 NHL games, and places Bouchard in a tie for the second-best four-game start in league history. Saskatchewan-born supercentenarian Katherine Baumchen, born Feb. 10, 1915, is identified as the only Canadian alive when Cameron scored 14 points. The comparison underscores how rarely a start like Bouchard’s has been seen.

Bouchard is producing at both ends of the rink, with his defensive play singled out as a significant part of his first four games. He has been recovering pucks quickly, using his feet and stick to check opponents, and attempting fewer high-risk passes. The source says the conspicuous errors that had drawn criticism have receded, while acknowledging that mistakes are likely to happen during the season.

At the end of last season, Bouchard said he wanted to reduce the “highlight reel gaffe.” The assessment is that he has done so through the opening games. He finished fourth in voting for last season’s player recognition, and the writer said they understood why Zach Werenski won. Bouchard’s current performance is expected to draw attention, though the source urges readers not to make premature award predictions after only four games.

The fast start has revived questions about whether Bouchard could reach 100 points after posting a career-best 95 last season. A 100-point season would make him only the seventh defenceman in NHL history to reach that mark. It is too early for a reliable projection, and the source stresses that such a total is difficult for any player and especially challenging for a defenceman. Bouchard’s 11 points in four games, however, make the possibility easier to imagine.

Erik Karlsson is the only defenceman to record 100 points in the past 35 years. He had 101 in 2023, despite producing three points in his first four games that season, and later put together a 12-point stretch across four games. Bouchard has started with a similarly productive run, but a full season can change course: strong openings can fade, and injuries can interrupt them.

Bouchard’s production has extended beyond this brief opening stretch. Since Jan. 1, he has 69 points, the third-highest total in the NHL, behind Nikita Kucherov’s 83 and Connor McDavid’s 80. He has 19 more points than Quinn Hughes, the second-highest-scoring defenceman in 2026, and 32 more than Cale Makar. Makar has 37 points in 39 games, while Bouchard has 69 in 45.

The article describes Bouchard as productive in the second half of last season as well, making his current run more than a four-game burst. His defensive work is presented as the main change in the opening games. The source’s view is that he is playing the best hockey of his young career, while leaving the season’s final outcome open.

Several records and milestones are within reach. In the salary-cap era, only six defencemen have scored at least 25 goals: Mike Green, with 31 in 2009; Makar, with 30 in 2025 and 38 in 2022; Brent Burns, with 29 in 2017 and 28 in 2016; Sheldon Souray, with 26 in 2007; Jacob Chychrun, with 26 in 2026; and Karlsson, with 25 in 2023. Bouchard’s career high is 21 goals, set last season.

Only five defencemen have reached 90 points in the salary-cap era, and Makar is the only one to do it twice, with 92 in 2025 and 90 in 2024. Bouchard had 95 last season and could join him. Across NHL history, Paul Coffey reached 90 points seven times, Orr six times, Ray Bourque four times, Denis Potvin three times, and Al MacInnis and Makar twice. Bouchard could become the seventh defenceman to reach 100 points in a season.

The Edmonton record for best plus-minus is plus-61, shared by Coffey in 1986 and Charlie Huddy in 1983. Bouchard is currently plus-10 and has an 11-1 goals-for-goals-against record at five-on-five. The source argues that plus-minus remains a useful measure despite its limitations, including empty-net goals, and compares it with Nathan MacKinnon’s five-on-five record last season: 100 goals for, 42 against and plus-58, alongside an overall plus-57.

In the salary-cap era, three defencemen have finished at plus-50 or better: Gustav Forsling at plus-56 in 2024, Devon Toews at plus-52 in 2022 and Jeff Schultz at plus-50 in 2010 with Washington. Bouchard also needs 18 goals to reach 100 in his career, which would make him the second Oilers defenceman to reach that mark after Coffey. He needs 25 points to pass Huddy’s 368 and 40 to pass Kevin Lowe’s 383, which would put him second among Oilers defencemen in career points.

Bouchard already has six five-on-five goals. The salary-cap-era list of defencemen with at least 15 such goals includes Burns, with 19 in 2017 and 18 in 2014; Werenski, with 17 in 2026 and 15 in 2025; Karlsson, with 16 in 2012 and 2023; Chychrun, with 15 in 2026; MacKenzie Weegar, with 15 in 2024; and Morgan Rielly, with 15 in 2019. Bouchard scored 10 five-on-five goals in 2025. Reaching 20 in a season would make him the first defenceman in the salary-cap era to do so.

McDavid has also opened with 12 points in four games, the highest total of his career through the first four games of a season. He had 10 in 2020 and 2023 and 11 in 2022, followed by totals of six, four and five over the past three seasons. He has eight shots on goal so far and has outscored opponents 10-1 at five-on-five. The source describes him as refreshed, fast and good defensively, and suggests his scoring could remain high if he shoots more.

McDavid and Bouchard are the seventh pair of teammates to record at least 11 points each through their first four games of a season. The earlier pairs were Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton with the 2012-13 San Jose Sharks; Michel Goulet and Peter Stastny with the 1987-88 Nordiques; Marcel Dionne and Charlie Simmer with the 1979-80 Kings; Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge with the 1973-74 Bruins; and Joe Malone and Newsy Lalonde with the 1917-18 Canadiens. Three players did it for the 1988-89 Kings: Wayne Gretzky, Bernie Nicholls and Luc Robitaille.

McDavid recorded his 155th three-point game the previous night, tying Marcel Dionne for third on the all-time list. Mario Lemieux is second with 242, and Gretzky leads with 373. Leon Draisaitl recorded his 15th game with four assists, counting regular-season and playoff games, the seventh-most in NHL history. McDavid, Dale Hawerchuk and Bryan Trottier each had 16 such games; Coffey had 23, Lemieux 37 and Gretzky 87.

A TSN Stat Centre tally cited in the source lists the most even-strength goals through four games since 1984. Alex Ovechkin scored seven in 2017-18. Bouchard has six in 2026-27, matching the totals of Kucherov in 2024-25, Rick Nash in 2014-15, Phil Kessel in 2011-12, Martin Havlat in 2006-07 and Simon Gagne in 2005-06. Bouchard’s six goals are all at five-on-five, a start the source says may never be seen again.

The Oilers were expected to begin well because of their schedule, time to rest and the desire to impress their new head coach. The team’s opening has met that expectation, with the source saying October could be a strong month if McDavid, Bouchard and Draisaitl continue playing at this level.

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