Evan Bouchard strikes $10.5 million contract with Edmonton Oilers

It’s usually Evan Bouchard who is responsible for the bombs around here, but this time it was the Edmonton Oilers making the big noise.

The team is re-signing the restricted free agent to a whopping contract worth $10.5 million a year for four years, a serious raise from the $3.9 million he was making before. The deal will be made official when the paperwork is complete and filed.

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It was just an average season for the 25-year-old defenceman, one that saw his point total dip to 53 from a career-high 64 last year and a return of the turnover yips that haunted him earlier in his career.

The giveaways and an approach to defending that seemed too casual on occasion looked like it was going to cost him a lot of money at contract time, but he sent his stock soaring this spring with another elite-level playoff run.

He finished with 23 points in 22 games. This, after 32 points in 25 playoff games the year before, to establish himself as one of the NHL’s all-time point-per-game producers in the playoffs.

They talk about Stuart Skinner being able to bounce back after a tough outing, but Bouchard’s recovery after a disastrous first two games against Los Angeles to open the playoffs showed a spine of steel

“It’s one of those things that you can’t think about it too much, but I knew that was unacceptable,” Bouchard said of his playoff start. “I had to snap out of it. I had to change it up, keep things simple to start and go from there, work back up to it. Now I’m happy with where I’m at and looking to keep going.”

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Bouchard’s teammates know his game has some bald spots here and there, but the overall package is something they would rather not be without. The Oilers need someone who can get the puck to their superstars on the fly and quarterback a world-class power play — Bouchard is the engine that helps drive all of it.

Nobody looks more comfortable and relaxed in Edmonton’s high-pressure offence than he does.

“Yeah, sometimes maybe a little too relaxed, that’s our joke within the room,” Leon Draisaitl said during the playoff run. “But he’s as elite as it gets. His composure is just incredible. He’s so calm with the puck, he instills a lot of calm in the room when the puck is on his stick. There is a lot of trust in him. He’s just a great player.”

This makes almost $20 million tied up in two defencemen, with Darnell Nurse checking in at $9.25 million for the next five years. And with Draisaitl making $14 million and Connor McDavid having just one year left on his contract, the Oilers are as top-heavy as it gets.

The four-year term is also interesting as it might mean the end of Edmonton’s Stanley Cup window. If McDavid also signs a shorter-term deal, as he is said to be considering, there will be a day of reckoning on the horizon.

It will be incumbent on management four years from now to show these players that Edmonton is still a viable contender. It might seem a long way off, but it’s not. And some of the decisions being made today regarding younger players in the pipeline could have a major impact on what happens.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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