Insider suggests Carolina Hurricanes may have tampered with Oilers' Evan Bouchard
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NHL jnsider Elliotte Friedman has suggested the Carolina Hurricanes may have directly threatened the Oilers with an offer sheet on Evan Bouchard.
Reports had surfaced earlier that Carolina would've been interested in offer sheeting Bouchard, but now it's been taken a step further to actually forcing the Oilers to pay more.
NHL insider reports Hurricanes forced Oilers into paying more for Evan Bouchard contract
According to Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, the Hurricanes threat made the Oilers offer to Bouchard jump by 500K a year, and more information is expected to come out soon.
The reason Evan Bouchard's extension got done in Edmonton so quickly was because they threatened the Oilers with an offer sheet. And we'll find out someday what the truth is there. I think a lot of people kind of believe that Bouchard was going to come in around four times nine and a half.
But if you look at his arbitration case, he could have gotten ten. And I think the fact that the Hurricanes were lurking around there got that deal to four times ten and a half.
- Elliotte Friedman
But if you look at his arbitration case, he could have gotten ten. And I think the fact that the Hurricanes were lurking around there got that deal to four times ten and a half.
- Elliotte Friedman
Considering the Oilers signed Bouchard to his contract extension on June 30th, if the Hurricanes were at all sending numbers to Bouchard, they clearly interfered with the negotiations enough to influence the Oilers offer.
The situation could be walking the line of tampering, which the NHL has vowed to crack down on recently. Teams are not permitted to speak to any free agents until noon on July 1st, and the punishments for breaking the rules are severe.
Friedman hinted the truth about the situation will one day come to light, so eventually more information could arise about the potential offer sheet between Bouchard and Carolina. For the next four years at least, Bouchard will be an Oiler.
