Evan Bouchard hits new low and Oilers fans get frustrated with contract asking price

Bouchard's expected contract value on a long term deal currently projects between $10-11M at least, which is definitely irking some Oilers fans based on his defensive play.

Evan Bouchard is an elite young defender for the Edmonton Oilers, and the team should prioritize locking him up to a long-term deal. However, nothing about his play last night was excusable.

Bouchard got absolutely walked by Cutter Gauthier, directly leading to the Ducks second goal. Gauthier started the play boxed out to the boards, but got inside position on Bouchard far too easily to drive the net and score.

The weak read from Bouchard and stick check is an inexcusable defensive error that directly cost the team. He simply needs to be much better than this.

Multiple Oilers analysts, who are even fans of Bouchard's game, have raised last night's game as a concern for the 25 year old defenceman.

If the Oilers are going to commit 8 years and double digits in salary to Bouchard, he needs to clean up simple defensive errors like this. It's more comparable to Josh Brown than an elite, $11M defenceman.

Bouchard's offensive impacts and play driving impacts are still elite this season, even as the Oilers have seen a down year in scoring across the board. He still is an elite player, that desperately needs to clean up simple defensive mistakes, and he'll be providing the Oilers great value at $10M.