Four-year term a possibility for Oilers RFA Evan Bouchard as team hopes to ‘avoid any drama’

There are many big items on the Edmonton Oilers’ to-do list this summer, and one of them got checked off — at least partially — on Wednesday morning as the team sent winger Evander Kane to the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth-round pick.

Of course, there’s the Connor McDavid contract extension, too, but another big-ticket item for the team will be getting restricted free agent defenceman Evan Bouchard. The expectation is that it will be an eight-figure number for the blue liner, and while many have assumed that would be the case on a long-term deal, a report Wednesday suggests the two sides could do a shorter-term deal.

According to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, the two sides have a “genuine mutual desire to get something done and avoid any drama,” and that they could come to an agreement on a four-year deal.

For my money, it’s one of the most interesting offseason negotiations in the league. The Edmonton Oilers are tight against the cap but hope to sign Bouchard before next week, when other teams can reach out to the restricted free agent. I think all options are on the table as far as different types of contracts, but I believe what may end up making the most sense is something around the four-year range. Think Auston Matthews in Toronto — same agency firm at play here (Wasserman Hockey).

A four-year deal would give Bouchard, 25, a healthy raise and allow him to have his next negotiation at 29, when he’s still at the peak of his career and the salary cap will have skyrocketed. A four-year deal also would not cripple Edmonton on the cap compared to what the AAV would look on an eight-year deal.

The Oilers will have to balance the fact that such a deal would walk Bouchard to free agency, with the possibility that a shorter-term deal could keep his cap hit a bit lower, as LeBrun noted. But how much money could the Oilers realistically save?

Bouchard has stepped up in a big way in terms of his ability to play on both sides of the puck, with his defensive game taking a big step forward in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. He’s cemented himself as a premier offensive defenceman with 52 goals and 232 points across his last 326 regular season games and is already considered one of the best point-producing defencemen in NHL history with 20 goals and 81 points in 75 playoff games — a 1.08 point per game rate. The list of defencemen who have played at least 75 playoff games scoring over a point per game are Paul Coffey (1.01 points per game, 194 games), Brian Leetch (1.02 points per game, 95 games played) and Cale Makar (1.08 points per game, 79 games).

According to Evolving Hockey’s free agent contract projections, Bouchard would carry a $10.61-million cap hit across an eight-year deal, while a four-year deal would give him a $9.599-million cap hit. Is $1-million in savings really worth it? I wouldn’t think so — and for that matter, even a four-year, $8-million cap hit deal might not be worth it to the team.

There’s no denying the Oilers are working to clear up more cap space, currently sitting with $16.2-million, according to PuckPedia, The team is expected to trade Viktor Arvidsson in a salary dump in the coming days, and eliminating his full $4-million cap hit would push the Oilers to $20.2-million in space before the Bouchard contract is signed.

But with a salary cap set to rise more and more in the coming years, expected to climb to $113.5-million by the 2027-28 season, Bouchard taking a four-year deal could allow him to cash in even more when it expires and he’s 29 years old.

Either way, Oilers captain Connor McDavid made it clear he wants the team to get a deal done for Bouchard.