If theres trouble incoming

Sharks aren’t taking on $6.5 mil for free

Contract is too much for Bouch at that term. 3 years would walk him to free agency. I think the team wants a 5 year deal. If term >5 AAV >5.5. If term <4 AAV <5 imo.

We're going into one of the strongest UFA markets for RHD in modern memory: it's going to be hard to sell most management groups on parting with three high-end picks to try and pry Bouchard out of Edmonton. If a team like Buffalo or Seattle want someone with name recognition, Dumba or Klingberg can be had for a signature. Defensive woes? Take your pick on Mayfield or Severson. End-of-the-roster pieces? Gudas is the kind of guy all 200 Hockey Men (TM) want. Clifton doesn't have enough noise around his name. Braun satisfies the want for an old man in the room, Holl probably comes dirt cheap as a reclamation project out of Toronto. Stetcher continues to find NHL employment.

It would make more sense for a team like Buffalo or Seattle - two clubs that could meet the offer sheet compensation - to try and trade for Bouchard directly using their large sums of futures to entice a deal, but with Edmonton so staunchly in win-now mode, they can't move Bouchard for anything south of Karlsson. Maybe it makes sense for a Nashville to pull the trigger on an offer sheet, but Edmonton is so far and away better off matching it and burning assets elsewhere to keep him rostered.

Don't think so. Bouchard after 3 year deal would still be RFA after accruing only 6 full seasons and being under 27 year old by the point of expiration.

They lose nothing, and can turn that contract into picks later down the line. As we've seen, depth D-man have value at deadline.