{"id":263238,"date":"2026-09-18T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/18\/absolutely-ridiculous-5-captains-fans-react-as-oilers-expand-leadership-group-to-evan-bouchard-zach-hyman\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T10:50:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T10:50:00","slug":"absolutely-ridiculous-5-captains-fans-react-as-oilers-expand-leadership-group-to-evan-bouchard-zach-hyman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/18\/absolutely-ridiculous-5-captains-fans-react-as-oilers-expand-leadership-group-to-evan-bouchard-zach-hyman\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Absolutely ridiculous! 5 captains?&#8221;: Fans react as Oilers expand leadership group to Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5218712\" data-slug-id=\"2837998\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Edmonton Oilers have expanded their leadership group for the 2026-27 season, naming defenseman Evan Bouchard and forward Zach Hyman as alternate captains. <\/p>\n<p>They join captain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/connor-mcdavid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Connor McDavid<\/a> and existing alternates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/leon-draisaitl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Leon Draisaitl<\/a> and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Notably, the league allows only two players to wear the \u201cA\u201d in any given game, so the four alternates will rotate the letter throughout the season. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how Oilers fans on X reacted, with one tweeting:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;This is absolutely ridiculous! 5 captains? You might as well give out another C to Leon.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"sportskeeda-embed\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/twitter-embed\">\n<div class=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/twitter-embed\">\n<div class=\"profile-card\">\n<p><span><span>@EdmontonOilers This is absolutely ridiculous! 5 captains? You might as well give out another C to Leon.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Another <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/debzer01\/status\/2100849992437305461?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">chimed in<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;5 letters handed out? Jeez\u2026talk about watering down what should be a privilege and an honour. Everyone gets a participation medal on the mediocre Oilers.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here are some of the other top reactions on X:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Bouch over Ekholm is a surprise. I guess they&#8217;re thinking future and who the #1 guy is,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CentristRadial\/status\/2100743589584331124?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">a third fan wrote<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I can tell most of the commenters don&#8217;t watch hockey, this has been very common to have more than 2 A in the league for a long time. Even going back to the 70s pull your heads out,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MissionSelect_\/status\/2100749202083213476?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">one X user opined<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Just strip Bouch now. Babs ain\u2019t having it,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/dca20000\/status\/2100729431505662356?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">another chimed in<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;4 A\u2019s LMAO what is happening to the game I love,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/realqs_7\/status\/2100687895828791763?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">added another<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Oilers insider shares his thoughts on the team\u2019s first session under HC Mike Babcock<\/h2>\n<p>The Oilers are gearing up for the upcoming season and recently held their first training session under Mike Babcock on Thursday at Rogers Place. <\/p>\n<p>Sharing his thoughts on the session, Oilers insider Bob Stauffer noted that there\u2019s renewed energy among the players <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/news-leon-draisaitl-cheated-first-drill-insider-spills-details-oilers-first-practice-hc-mike-babcock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">that was largely missing last season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNo whiteboard used for the first 27 minutes of practice. You know, five-on-five stuff to begin \u2014 forecheck and transitional breakout. They want to play with tempo and pace, and then they left the ice for about 15 minutes, and then they started working on the penalty killing, which is a major place of emphasis for Edmonton,&#8221; said Stauffer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Stauffer added that there\u2019s renewed energy within the team that was not the case last season:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We\u2019re already seeing a very different feel, and I\u2019ve talked to a lot of the players, and there\u2019s a completely different energy around the team right now than maybe there was certainly last season.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The sessions focused on high tempo, speed, structure, and playing without the puck, and each lasted about two hours.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Abhishek Dilta<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/news-absolutely-ridiculous-5-captains-fans-react-oilers-expand-leadership-group-evan-bouchard-zach-hyman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Edmonton Oilers have expanded their leadership group for the 2026-27 season, naming defenseman Evan Bouchard and forward Zach Hyman as alternate captains. They join captain Connor McDavid and existing alternates Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Notably, the league allows only two players to wear the \u201cA\u201d in any given game, so the four alternates [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-263238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}