*Photo from TheScore*
Don't worry, Oilers fans, because one of the best players on the team isn't going anywhere. The Edmonton Oilers have signed F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to an 8 year, $41 million deal, according to Ryan Rishaug of TSN. The deal has a $5.125 million average annual value(AAV). The Oilers have confirmed the signing.
Nugent-Hopkins said "It's a huge deal to me. It's always been my goal to be able to stay in Edmonton. That's just what I've wanted. I've loved my time in Edmonton so far. The team is progressing the way we want it to, and I want to be a part of that, and obviously the biggest reason I want to say is that I want to win in Edmonton. We have lots of connections there. Fans have treated me so well. The organization has been great, so it was the easy decision to want to say and I'm just happy to be able to make it work."
Nugent-Hopkins also has a full no trade clause in his deal with the Oilers. Nugent-Hopkins was a pending UFA, set to hit the open market. But he wanted to stay an Oiler, and, when the deal expires, will have 18 years with Edmonton under his belt.
Asked about his pending UFA status before signing the deal, Nugent-Hopkins said "Obviously I knew I was unrestricted, but if we were able to work something out with Edmonton before that even came, then that's what I wanted to do. Obviously you think about it because you have some freedom at this point to kind of explore things, but I didn't think of it with a stance that that's what I wanted to do. I just knew it was an option, but like I said, my whole mindset about it was trying to find a way to stay in Edmonton."
In his 10th season in the NHL, Nugent-Hopkins was his normal productive, points producing self on the ice, scoring a total of 35 points, split between 16 goals and 19 assists. He also had a -4 plus/minus rating in 1080 time on ice(TOI).
Oilers GM Ken Holland said ""The time to try to win is now. These players are in the prime of their career, the cap is $81.5 million. Hopefully the back half of the contract, the cap starts to go up at least a little bit, so cap number was important to me. Term was important to Ryan and Rick Valette, and ultimately I got a cap number that I was pleased with and they got a term they were pleased with."
The re-signing of Nugent-Hopkins will keep Edmonton's contending window open for longer, but they have team depth issues to address this offseason.
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