Threat of an offer sheet from Hurricanes reportedly drove up Evan Bouchard’s contract price with Oilers

In the lead-up to Evan Bouchard signing his four-year, $10.5-million AAV extension with the Edmonton Oilers, reports surfaced that his deal was going to come in a million dollars short of where it actually landed.

And while many had thought the Oilers and Bouchard would sign a long-term extension — something general manager Stan Bowman later revealed was “never in the cards” — a team was reportedly lurking in the weeds, preparing to make an offer sheet for the 25-year-old.

This, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who said on the 32 Thoughts podcast that team was the Carolina Hurricanes.

“The Hurricanes made it very clear that they had a lot of cap room, as everybody knew, and they were going to use it. Mitch Marner obviously didn’t end up there, but going into free agency, if they got to a point that they could offer him a contract, there were a lot of people who believed the biggest number was going to come out of Raleigh.

“Carolina did a lot of things that are now coming to the surface to show that they were willing to be aggressive. The reason Evan Bouchard’s extension got done in Edmonton so quickly was because they threatened the Oilers with an offer sheet.”

With Bouchard signed before free agency opened up, the Hurricanes pivoted to trading for Rangers defenceman K’Andre Miller — once again threatening an offer sheet — sending a conditional first-round pick, a second-round pick and young defenceman Scott Morrow.

Bouchard, meanwhile, will remain in Edmonton for at least four more years, keeping him through his 29-year-old season in 2028-29. The extension will walk him right to unrestricted free agency.

Over the last four years, Bouchard has emerged as one of the NHL’s premier offensive defenceman. He’s scored 52 goals and 232 points in 326 games over that stretch, adding another 20 goals and 81 points in 75 playoff games.

Last week, Bouchard said he wants to become a more consistent defensive player over the length of his deal.

“I think definitely that’s a big thing,” Bouchard said. ” I think over the past season or two, I’ve really focused on the defensive side of things, especially later on in the season, come playoff time. That’s the most important thing is to keep the puck out of the net. So, I think my game is just going to keep getting better, keep growing on both sides.”