The NHL is undergoing a historic salary cap boom, and with that come consequences. Not only has it sent player salaries skyrocketing, but it’s also shifted how front offices do business.

In the flat-cap era, teams didn’t always have the cap space to sign their restricted free agents long-term, which forced them into cheap bridge deals. While there were exceptions, most players didn’t earn massive dollar figures until they had proven themselves for a few years. That’s not the case anymore.

More teams have cap space, and offer sheets have come into vogue, giving young players far more leverage than they used to have. If front offices weren’t wary of this changing power dynamic before, they certainly were after Leo Carlsson signed his massive offer sheet earlier this summer. It served as a cautionary tale for anyone still nickel-and-diming cornerstone players.

The message has been heard loud and clear: Lock up your talent. Get your best young players signed long-term before their leverage grows and their contract demands balloon. Even if they haven’t proven themselves in the NHL.

Over the weekend, the Vancouver Canucks signed Zeev Buium to an eight-year extension, with a $9.38 million AAV, locking in a high-profile RFA for his prime years. It’s a pricey deal for a defenceman with 76 games of NHL experience, especially given how little he’s accomplished so far.

Buium, 20, registered 26 points in his rookie campaign, but struggled defensively, finishing the season a minus-33. So far, he hasn’t driven play or outscored the opposition, even in relatively sheltered minutes. And yet, he’s going to be paid like a core piece.

Now, to be fair, locking up players with high long-term potential before they’ve hit their prime isn’t a new concept. For example, Edmonton Oilers fans will remember when Oscar Klefbom signed a seven-year contract worth $4 million AAV in 2015 after playing just 77 NHL games. Paying for potential has always been a necessary part of doing business with high-upside players. Banking on long-term growth can yield huge savings if the player develops as expected, but the price of potential has gone up. It’s risen so sharply that several unproven players who signed this summer are earning nearly as much as Evan Bouchard.

Last summer, the Oilers signed their top defenceman to a four-year contract with an AAV of $10.5 million. At a time when restricted free agents with 26 NHL points can get nearly $9.5 million annually, it’s quietly become one of the best contracts in the NHL.

When he signed his extension, Bouchard had led all defencemen in playoff scoring for three consecutive years. He had an 82-point regular season under his belt. He broke Paul Coffey’s record for most assists by a defenceman in a single playoff. And now, his AAV is closer to that of an unproven prospect than other Norris Trophy candidates like Cale Makar, who just cashed in for $20.4 million per year on his long-term deal.

Buium has flashed enough high-end skill to be worth the gamble for the Canucks, who won’t be competitive for the first half of the contract anyway. But I’m not sure the same can be said for Pavel Mintyukov, who signed his $7.2 million extension with the Anaheim Ducks earlier this summer. He’s about to turn 23 and hasn’t even played consistently in the top four, yet he’s about to make nearly 70% of Bouchard’s AAV.

And then, there’s Bowen Byram. At 25 years old, he’s only one year younger than Bouchard, and he’s never been a top-pairing defenceman before. Still, the Chicago Blackhawks spent big to acquire him, and then locked him up for $12.5 million per season — $2 million more than Bouchard.

While it’s true that most of these deals are longer than Bouchard’s, which runs for only four years, Edmonton undoubtedly got a bargain. Given how much the market shifted recently, a defenceman with his resume would’ve cost significantly more than $10.5 million this summer.

We are in a new era of cap growth, and the Oilers have locked up their franchise defenceman for the rest of their contention window at a similar annual cost to players who haven’t established themselves. In retrospect, that’s a tidy piece of business by Stan Bowman.