Evan Bouchard gets benched, at risk of losing Team Canada spot after embarassing mistake

Bouchard was one of the notable emissions from Team Canada's 4 Nations Faceoff roster, and will be gunning to make the 2026 Canadian Olympic Team - but he made a critical mistake at a critical time tonight.

Late in the first period, Bouchard tried to get too cute with a deke as the last man back, and gave the puck away to Matt Barzal for the first goal of the game.

From then on, Bouchard's performance didn't get better later in the game. Giving away a few more ugly turnovers, Coach Knoblauch decided he had seen enough and parked the star defenceman on the bench.

Unfortunately for Bouchard, it happened to be a game where Team Canada GM Julien Brise Bois was watching. This game won't bode well for Bouchard's Olympic chances.

Tonight's game represented the worst of the Evan Bouchard experience. He's been prone to make some of these costly turnovers while trying to make offensive plays, and at times can look like a total defensive liability.

But when he's at his best, Bouchard has proven to be one of the most effective offensive defenceman in the NHL. In the last two playoffs Bouchard has the moment and elevated his game to another level too.

The Oilers need to find a way to minimize these glaring errors from Bouchard's game, but one ugly showing shouldn't deter Team Canada from selecting one of the premier defenceman in the NHL for the Olympics.