Report: Oilers may be on the verge of losing Evan Bouchard

The Edmonton Oilers obviously have a lot of talent with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. However, they also have a lot of underrated depth in their lineup, including players like Evander Kane, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, Zach Hyman, and Evan Bouchard.

Bouchard is probably the most underestimated player on the Oilers. He's a 23-year-old defenseman with both offensive and defensive capabilities.

He has scored 89 points in 184 games with the Oilers. While playing with McDavid and Draisaitl on the powerplay helps a little, he still does a great job on his own.

Bouchard still hasn't signed a contract for next season. He's an RFA and potentially looking for a significant raise.

The Oilers must make a move soon or risk losing him to an offer sheet. The fact that all the teams are constrained by the salary cap will help them, but they should still try to act quickly.

If a team makes an interesting offer sheet to Bouchard, it could put the Oilers in a lot of trouble.

We don't know what it will take to keep Bouchard, but the Oilers currently have $5.6M in cap space, and they need to divide it among Bouchard, McLeod, and a potential backup goalie.

A writer for The Athletic predicted that it will take $5.9M to keep Bouchard and McLeod on the short run, putting them over the salary cap limit.

Ken Holland will need to juggle those numbers and hope one of them accepts less money. If it doesn't work out that way, a trade will need to be considered.

As seen on Hockey Feed - Report: Oilers must make a move or risk losing Bouchard