NHL Analyst Paul Bissonnette Bashes Evan Bouchard Claiming His Success is Only Because of Connor McDavid

The Edmonton Oilers entered the 2025/26 regular season as Stanley Cup favourites in the Western Conference, and while they've got a solid record of 2-3-1, they've been underwhelming to this point in time.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment thus far has been defenseman Evan Bouchard, who is now getting paid over $10 million per season, with the offensive defenseman tallying his first assist on Tuesday night in the team's seventh game.

That assist came on a Connor McDavid goal, his first of the season, making the point of Paul Bissonnette, who earlier called out the talented defenseman for relying too much on McDavid for his success.

On paper, a 45-50 point defenseman in today's NHL is incredibly handy to have, but at $10.5 million per season, it's clear that Bissonette doesn't believe Bouchard is worth that type of money for a team that desperately needs him to drive play on his own.

Ultimately, Bouchard has never had to worry about playing without one of his top two stars, and thus he's continued to produce, but if he wants to take his game to the next level, being a more engaged defender and driving play without his star teammates would go a long way to achieving that and proving the doubters wrong.