If The Edmonton Oilers Can’t Sign Bouchard They Need To Trade Him Now
The Edmonton Oilers are one of a couple of teams in the camp where they either win the Stanley Cup or their season is a disappointment. With that being the case these teams are separated by the smallest margins.
When it comes to the smallest margins most of that is decided by how they navigate the salary cap. The Vegas Golden Knights are likely going to win the Cup and they “managed” their cap the best. Going into LTIR and having one of their best players miraculously become healthy for game 1 of the playoffs.
Now I am not here to complain about the ways to sneak around the cap rules, I am using that as a point of the more “bang you can get for your money the better your team is”, whether or not it is within the rules or not.
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The Edmonton Oilers Need To Plan For Today As Well As Tomorrow
One of the biggest contracts that the Edmonton Oilers need to sign this offseason is that of RFA Evan Bouchard. Bouchard is a pivotal piece to the Edmonton Oilers powerplay. Even more so now that they have traded away Tyson Barrie in the Mattias Ekholm trade.
This may make you say pay Bouchard what he wants. The Edmonton Oilers powerplay was the best in NHL history last season, so why would you want to change anything? You do not want to change anything, but you may have to change something.
The number of points Bouchard put up this past season is going to make him an expensive signing. The good news for the Edmonton Oilers is he is an RFA, but is not arbitration eligible. This likely means there will be a short bridge deal made.
The bridge deal has already cost the Edmonton Oilers in the Nurse deal as they bridged him several times before this last deal. If it is possible to get Bouchard on a long-term deal I would do it. The money just has to be reasonable though.
Long-Term Or No-Term
If Bouchard isn’t willing to sign long-term with the Edmonton Oilers the Oilers should look at moving on from him now. Evan Bouchard’s value right now has never been higher. The Oilers were eliminated from the playoffs two rounds ago and Bouchard is still leading all defensemen in points.
He has 5 more points than any other playoff defenseman and he hasn’t played in just under a month. This is a double-edged sword for the Edmonton Oilers. If they want to trade Bouchard they will get a good return, but if they want to re-sign him this bumps up the price.
This will all come down to Ken Holland and Evan Bouchard on how this will all play out. I would love to see Bouchard on this team for many years to come if it is cost-effective. If he wants too much money though I would trade him sooner rather than later as his value is sky-high.