NHL Analyst Warns Oilers Could Repeat the Darnell Nurse Contract Mistake with Evan Bouchard

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Liam McCormick
October 31, 2024 (3:20 PM)

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The Edmonton Oilers are going to be in for a major cap crunch in the next few seasons when re-signing star players, but one analyst is warning they could repeat the mistake of Darnell Nurse's contract.

Evan Bouchard will be a restricted free agent at the end of this season, and unrestricted the year after. Right now, reports are indicating that Bouchard will be seeking $10-11M in salary. Oilers analyst Jonathan Willis claims that would be a major overpayment, just like they did with Nurse.

Bouchard had an incredible breakout season last year with 18 goals and 82 points. He has clear offensive talent, but Willis claims his point totals can't be trusted because of how much time he plays with Connor McDavid. The Oilers played Darnell Nurse the most with McDavid on the ice in his contract year too, and it resulted in a major overpay to Nurse of $9.25M. Willis' graph evidence of the Oilers goal differential with and without Nurse is damning proof of the effective McDavid had on his career.

To reduce Bouchard's upcoming contract value and to get more out of Darnell Nurse, Jonathan Willis proposes that the Oilers totally change their defensive game plan. Playing Nurse on the ice with McDavid more could vastly improve the defenceman's results, and won't put Bouchard in the best possible position to demand one of the highest defenceman salaries in the NHL.

Willis also expanded that Nurse had the best results of his career with defenceman Adam Larsson as his partner, and that's should influence what defender the Oilers acquire in trade this year.

The Edmonton Oilers have enough cap space trouble paying Darnell Nurse $9.25M to pay another defenceman a double digit salary, while also giving raises to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Hopefully the salary cap takes a major spike, because the Oilers are going to need every dollar of room.