‘Very concerned’: Hockey world reacts as Edmonton Oilers sign star defenceman

This in, news that the Edmonton Oilers have signed defenceman Evan Bouchard to a new four year deal at $10.5 million per year.

The reaction from the hockey world was fast and furious:

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Elite Hockey prospects writer Cam Robinson @Hockey_Robinson
Hearing Edmonton is finalizing an extension for Evan Bouchard 4 years x 10.5M per.

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn @domluszczyszyn
Oilers get a fantastic deal on Evan Bouchard, one of the game’s best offensive defensemen.

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Former Oilers player, coach and GM Craig MacTavish
Even Bouchard, what he does positively far and away outweighs anything negatively. I think his defensive game improved this year. And he did it when it mattered the most, in the playoffs. And that’s what the greats do… He’s such a talent and he can pass and with the horsepower we have upfront, they like to get the puck flat and on their stick and on the fly and he can do that maybe better than anybody else in the game… He’s a little bit like Sergei Zubov.

Spittin’ Chiclets commentator Ryan Whitney @ryanwhitney6
If your an Oilers fan and don’t like the Bouchard deal hand in your sweater.

Toronto sports radio producer Drew Livingstone @ProducerDrew_
The new core 4:
Draisaitl $14M
McDavid $12.5M
Bouchard $10.5M
Nurse $9.25M
$46.25M

TSN’s Travis Yost @travisyost
$20mm for Nurse and Bouchard is nasty. Very concerned about Edmonton’s trajectory even with two hockey gods. Front office inspires very little confidence… They didn’t have the foresight/recognition Bouchard was a quality player; chose not to extend until now, and now they’re in (again) a salary cap bind. Couple that with Frederic’s 100-year deal and it’s getting tight early… I think it’s a decent deal, he’s great, the issue is 48 pct of the cap to four players now. Speaking of sounding familiar 😭 (I swear this was unintentional until I typed the words)

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Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer @Bob_Stauffer
NHL Defenceman Scoring
(Last 3 Playoffs)
#1. Evan Bouchard:
17-54-72/59GP/+16
#2. Miro Heiskanen:
8-24-32/46GP/-10
#3. Aaron Ekblad:
7-20-27/63GP/+27

The Edmonton Oilers Evan Bouchard is the 3rd highest-scoring Defenceman in the NHL over the last 2 seasons (C. Makar, Q. Hughes) with 32-117-149/163GP/+48. Strong possession metrics as well. He’s a keeper!

Sporstnet play-by-play Jack Michaels @EdmontonJack
Evan Bouchard already ranks in the top 25 all-time in playoff scoring for defencemen, and only Bobby Orr has a higher points per game average.

Cult of Hockey contributor Kevin McCurdy @KevinMcCurdy
A reminder, it takes two parties to sign a contract, if either of of them wanted the shorter term, we just have to accept that.

Oilers fan GrizzAlberta @GrizzAlberta
After giving Bouchard way too much money on a 4 yr deal the Oilers are screwed. A very greedy deal from Bouchard’s camp and Bowman folded proving he’s not up to the job IMO.

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Florida Panthers podcaster David @David954FLA
Sam Bennett 8x8m
Aaron Ekblad 8×6.1m
Brad Marchand 6x5m
Bill Zito has done it again.

Oilers fan Den Polland @oilersgm2
Bouch for 10.5m x 4. I don’t like the term or the AVV…. But I am very glad the player is back!

Oilers fan Adhi @OilerAlert
I’m glad Bouchard is back, but if the rumors are true, it’s another contract that isn’t a discount in either term or AAV

Cult of Hockey contributor Ira Cooper OriginalPouzar @coopsie39
Bouchard is value for $10.5MM but, before the Dobson signing, that AAV may have been available for 8 years. Bouchard is certainly with more than $1MM more than Dobson.

Oilers fan Denny Sawchuk 🇨🇦 @Denny_Sawchuk
Oilers cannot carry both Nurse and Bouchard at 9+ Nurse has to go

Hockey stats analyst JFresh @JFreshHockey
Evan Bouchard, signed 4x$10.5M by EDM, is a high-end offensive defenceman who moves the puck very well, has a deadly shot, and tilts the ice no matter who he plays with despite his propensity for the odd bone-headed error… When things go badly for Bouchard they go really bad, but frankly they don’t go bad nearly as often as people pretend they do. There’s no reason he can’t continue to play the Letang/Carlson role for the Oilers extremely well.

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Oilers fan Rob Soria @Oil_Drop
Be it a 4 or 8-year deal, anything under $11M for Bouchard is a good bit of business for the Oilers.

Oilers fan Waddsy 🇨🇦 @waddsy19
I suspect Davo will follow Bouch with a short term contract. Oilers window to win is now and I like these studs putting pressure on management to make it happen. $10.5 is a bit higher than I hoped but Montreal set the price – Bowman had to follow.

Oilers fan Petroleros @YEGBurrito
I’m sure for many you will bitch. I recall history with this franchise to remember losing everyone and not being able to bring in anyone for 15-20 years (mid 90s to early cap era). Keeping Drai, now Bouch, and I know people will poop when its 97 for 5 years. but it’s a blessing!

Edmonton hockey writer Preston Hodgkinson @NHLHodgkinson
You’d have liked it to be an eight-year deal, but signing Bouchard to an extension was always the right play. Player held all the leverage with arb rights and some wacky numbers to back him up. Not the best outcome for Oilers, but certainly not the worst

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Oilers fan Jake @OilAcumen
Not a huge fan of four years for Bouchard and eight for Frederic. But happy to have both players signed

Oilers fan Morgan Laidler 🇨🇦 @MorganLaidler
Oilers: I don’t know how we can sign our players.
Vegas and Florida: Let’s go get even more expensive players.
I’m not even mad at Vegas or Florida either. Massive tip of the cap for exploiting every last thing they can to sign the best palyers for cheaper than everyone else.

The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman  @shaynagoldman_
There is a lot of risk vs. reward in Bouchard’s game, so he gets his bag AND the Oilers protect themselves a bit without the long-term commitment.

Detroit hockey writer George Malik @georgemalik
Bouchard done got paid.

Hockey busiuness analyst Mark Mazza @MarkMazzaHKY
Bouchard is absolutely worth this contract. I assume an eight-year deal would be more expensive, and with Nurse signed to $9.25M, this allows the Oilers to keep the AAV down to help build a winner during the years they have the best chance to do it.

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Oilers fan Brad Lauder @OILfanincowtown
That’s pretty damn steep imo… I’ve grown to like the player but not at that price

Hockey content creator Mike Bartner @MikeBartner
A very fair deal that some people will absolutely despise because he makes some really dumb plays here and there.

Oilers fan Raja Dhami @gretzkytokurri
It’s a disaster not getting him for 7-8yrs now. If you’re going to $10.5m, just add $500k more to make $4m more over 8yrs. Ahh well. Take that deal for 4yrs and hope you win 1 cup (at least).

Oilers fan Dennis King @DKingBH
Holland owns a lot of this number. You have to be sharp enough, or hire sharp people, to know which guys you lock in early. And you leave room for these possibilities. Holland miscalculated numerous times in both of these areas

Oilers Nation writer Sid 🇨🇦 @NHL_Sid
Great to see him signed, and he’s well worth this AAV, but the term is disappointing. Though, perhaps the bright side is that it puts more pressure on the organization to find some way to move Nurse…A reminder that a big reason why the Oilers had to sign Bouchard to a bridge deal in 2023 was because Campbell, Nurse and Ceci made a combined $17.5M. Cannot be understated how much Holland hurt this team’s cap situation.

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PuckPedia @PuckPedia
With Bouchard signed for 4* $10.5M, Oilers have $550K Projected Cap Space remaining with 22 active players (13F/7D/2G)

Edmonton Journal writer Jim Matheson @jimmathesonnhl
Agents are telling star players not to sign 8 year deals with cap going up and up

The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun @PierreVLeBrun
CBJ and pending UFA Ivan Provorov are finalizing a 7-year contract at $8.5M AAV per season

Oilers fan Karman Gill @Kgill39
People will hate the Bouchard deal… but WELCOME BACK EVAN!!… $8.5 mill per year for Provorov. Wow too expensive… I’m glad we got Bouchard at 10.5 million. The numbers being thrown around are crazy

Oilers fan Paul Almeida @AzorcanGlobal
I like Bouchard’s deal with the Oilers quite a bit now.

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn @domluszczyszyn
I think Ivan Provorov is a true top four defensemen and much better than his underlying numbers suggest… but this is unfathomably bad value.

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Dallas hockey commentator Gavin Spittle @gjspittle
First Dobson, now Bouchard. That Harley number is going to be big.

My take

1. First off, this is better than one nightmare alternative that would see Bouchard get an offer sheet from some team at $12 million. That was a real possibility, given how much cap space other teams have and how desperate many an NHL GM is to win. In that sense, Bouchard is taking a hometown discount to stay in Edmonton.

2. Two things can be true at once.

Evan Bouchard can be Edmonton’s best d-man by far, an ice-cold killer in the playoffs, and one of the NHL’s Top 5 d-men but this contract is only OK in terms of value.

It’s a fair deal, a good deal for both parties, but if you were hoping the Oilers franchise would get a huge win, like Florida did with the Ekblad deal, you’ll be disappointed.

It’s deal that presses Edmonton right up against the cap, and makes it challenging for the Oilers to compete for the Stanley Cup, mainly due to the overpay on Darnell Nurse, a strong regular season player but perennial post-season bust, and the buy-out of Jack Campbell’s deal.

Simply put, unless Darnell Nurse starts to perform like a true top-pairing d-man in the playoffs, Edmonton’s going to struggle to win hockey’s highest team honour.

At the Cult of Hockey

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LEAVINS: 9 Things, where Bowman might heads this summer

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