He won't be getting less than Dahlin
Lol. As an EDM fan, if he’s going to use that as a benchmark, and he wants to play hardball, he can kick rocks.
Bouchard is a good player, but he isn’t the type of D that Dahlin is and will be, and as much as some may not want to admit it, he benefits greatly in terms of the stat sheet from playing with McDrai.
I’d offer him $10M AAV, and I think that’s generous and putting a lot of faith in him. I’m not quite sure about the term with that kind of AAV because I feel like the max term should be used on franchise level players because it makes them nearly untradeable. Bouchard is not a franchise level player, imo.
I’d offer $10M AAV @ 4, maybe 5 years. I’d give him a 10 team no-trade list if he wanted it, but wouldn’t budge anymore on the NTC/NMC.
If he didn’t accept that, then I think it’d be time to start looking at trade options.
That’s just me though; I’ve got this sickening feeling that the Oilers are just going to cave and give max term or $11M, or both. That would be disastrous.