New Report has Oilers defenseman Rated at the top of NHL rankings

The ranking confirms what Edmonton fans have known for most of the six years that Evan Bouchard has been with the club, in particular the last two, when the skilled defenseman helped the team advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Ahead of Bouchard in the rankings are only, beginning with number-5, Miro Heiskanen, Jim Morrissey, Zach Werenski, Quin Hughes, and Quin Makar at 1st, all of them household names. Behind Evan at number-7 is Jacob Slavin.

Yet, it's not only The Bleacher Report that recognizes Bouchard's skill, but The Athletic and TSN also, whom have long rated the Oilers' top d-man as one of the league's best.

Analyst Jim Parsons calls Evan Bouchard a 'polarizing player,' which indeed he is. He provides stability on the blueline, as well drives the offense from his D-zone breakouts.

However, for some time, he's been considered as just a defensive specialist, a one trick pony, mainly because of how he compliments McDavid and Draisaitl. Of course, he does fir in well with the two top players.

In that capacity, his role is to advance the puck out of the zone and activate either McDavid, or Draisaitl; it's part of the Oilers' game plan and partly what makes the team difficult to play against.

To think of Bouchard as strictly an offensive player is a narrow-minded view of his abilities. As a D1 pairing, he sees the opposing team's best players and is required to shut them down regularly. On a perennial contending team, that would not be the case if Evan did not focus on defense first.

It's good to see that Evan Bouchard is receiving the recognition he deserves for his defensive play, which Oilers' fans have known for some time now.