On the heels of Leon Draisaitl’s eight-year contract extension (with a $14 million average annual value), the Edmonton Oilers turned their attention to Evan Bouchard. Bouchard is entering the final season of his two-year, $3.9 million AAV bridge deal signed in August 2023.
The star blueliner is coming off a tremendous season, which saw him finish fourth among defensemen with 82 points. He also added 32 points during the Oilers’ deep playoff run. The 24-year-old also averaged 23 minutes a night last season while quarterbacking Edmonton’s lethal power play.
Bouchard will get paid as one of the premier offensive defensemen in the NHL. His next deal will undoubtedly exceed a $10 million AAV, making him among the highest-paid defensemen in the league. The only defensemen making over $10 million are Erik Karlsson, Rasmus Dahlin, and Drew Doughty. This puts the Oilers in a tricky situation with their 2018 first-round pick.
Oilers Salary Cap Complications
Even though a long-term extension would have been better than his current bridge deal, was it plausible? It would have been if the Oilers had managed the salary cap better. Bouchard was coming off his entry-level contract (ELC) and was eligible to sign an extension in the summer of 2022, the same summer the Oilers inked goaltender Jack Campbell to a five-year, $25 million contract.
That was a dreadful deal, and Campbell was bought out two years later. While the Oilers desperately needed goaltending at that time, they had Stuart Skinner waiting to break out, so Campbell’s term and salary made no sense, which is still the case. Campbell will be on the books for six more seasons after the buyout. Without that contract, the Oilers could have extended Bouchard long-term with ease. That was a major blunder by former general manager Ken Holland.
Another notoriously bad contact is Darnell Nurse, who inked an eight-year, $74 million extension on Aug. 6, 2021. This contract could hinder the organization for years if it hasn’t already. If he had signed long-term instead of agreeing to multiple bridge deals, he might actually have been paid what he was worth, which is approximately $6 million per year based on his production. He should be in the same pay range as his teammate, Mattias Ekholm, and other high-profile blueliners like Kris Letang, Travis Sanheim, Cam Fowler, Torey Krug and Jaccob Slavin. Instead, he’s being paid in the same range as elite blueliners like Adam Fox, Cale Makar and Roman Josi
This deal has hindered the Oilers’ ability to sign players and make trades. Management needs to make moves in order to dump salary while not making the team worse. That is an incredibly difficult position to be in while trying to compete for the Stanley Cup and the organization only has themselves to blame. The Oilers’ constant mismanagement of the salary cap is evident, and Bouchard’s current contract situation is a result of that.
While a short-term deal made sense due to salary cap restrictions, the Oilers would have been better off locking up Bouchard to an eight-year deal, similar to Draisaitl’s first major extension in 2017 when he received an eight-year deal with an $8.5 million AAV. Many fans thought he was overpaid at the time, but that contract aged beautifully. He is one of the best players in the league and on one of the best contracts in the league.
Oilers Made the Wrong Decision
However, the Oilers decided to go the Nurse route with Bouchard instead of the Draisaitl one. In 2018, the Oilers signed Nurse to a two-year bridge deal with an AAV of $3.2 million. When that expired, they signed him to another two-year deal with an AAV of $5.6 million. They finally locked him up on an eight-year monster contract extension with an AAV of $9.25 million that runs through the 2029-2030 season.
Like Bouchard, before signing that long-term extension, Nurse had a career year, recording 16 goals and 36 points in a shortened 56-game campaign due to the pandemic. Now, Nurse is arguably the most overpaid player in the league. Bouchard is looking at a similar situation. He is coming off a career-high 82 points in only his third full season in the NHL. However, he only registered a combined 83 points in his first two campaigns. While he is miles better than Nurse, he has only one good offensive season under his belt. Is he worth north of $10 million at this point in his career?
If managed had signed Bouchard long-term in 2022, the AAV would have been roughly $7-$8.5 million, which is much lower than the projected $10-plus million he will get now. This would have put him in the same salary category as Quinn Hughes, Miro Heiskanen, Victor Hedman, and Morgan Rielly. While it would have been an overpay in year one, it would have aged like Draisaitl’s first extension, if not better.
Bouchard is the cornerstone of the Oilers’ blue line and will get a massive pay day. However, one can’t help but look back on what could have been. If management had taken a proactive approach, he would have been on a team-friendly deal for many years instead of this two-year bridge deal followed by the monster deal he will soon receive. Ultimately, the Oilers better hope the salary cap continues to increase at a rapid pace, especially if they want to afford their star players while still trying to add to a championship lineup.
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