The Top 3 Underpaid Edmonton Oilers Right Now
As we wait for the Edmonton Oilers to officially start skating before the start of this season now is the perfect time to look at this upcoming season's roster and see where the issues may be. In the cap era of the NHL one of the main places that people look is the salary of a player. Every team has its players who are overpaid and underpaid. In this article, I am going to take a look at which three players I think are underpaid for the Edmonton Oilers.
Evan Bouchard- $3.9 Million AAV
Being on his first deal after his entry level deal Evan Bouchard to me is the player who is currently on the best deal for the Edmonton Oilers and should be getting paid more than what he is. The good news is he will not have to wait long as his current deal is expiring at the end of this season, and he is due for a big raise.
After finishing 4th in points by a defenseman this past season there is no way that you can argue that Bouchard should not be getting a new contract of less than $7 million on his next deal. Bouchard who put up 82 points last season, only trailing Hughes, Makar and Josi for points by a defenseman, is going to look around the league and see how much those players are making and ask for a well-deserved raise.
The one thing that scares me from an Edmonton Oilers point of view is the fact that they are already paying Darnell Nurse $9.25 million a year. While Nurse is better defensively than Bouchard, Bouchard puts up much more points than Nurse does. Bouchard should look at what Nurse is getting paid and simply tell the Oilers he wants to make more than him and the Oilers will not have a leg to stand on in that argument.
While he should be getting a decent raise next offseason the Edmonton Oilers' number one priority next offseason will be extending Connor McDavid. If the amount of money McDavid gets makes Bouchard too expensive for the Edmonton Oilers, then the Oilers are going to have to look at moving on from Bouchard. I hope that isn't the case because I love the way Bouchard handles the puck in the offensive end.