Nuge is BACK! Plus the Latest Oilers Rumors and Speculation

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

From Lowetide.ca

Ryan Rishaug is reporting the Edmonton Oilers and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are closing in on a massive eight-year, $41 million deal. The term is long and Nuge isn’t a speed demon, but he’s a smart player and has crazy edges so that part of his game shouldn’t be an issue for most of this contract.

The five on five offensive side of Nuge went for a walkabout last season and his pts-60 in the discipline fell from 2.23 (a career high) in 2019-20 to just 1.15 (close to a career low) this past season. His five on five goals per 60 fell from 0.98 to 0.57, and that’s a concern.

As a fan of player, I’m here for it. As an observer of Ken Holland’s team building, I think he’s lucky Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was on the other end of the negotiation. This is a minor fall, and a major lift.

BLH’s Thoughts: Well, so much for the $30M envelope that was sitting on Ken Holland’s desk Kurt Leavins was reporting about. Nuge found a way stuff $10M more in it but as Bob Stauffer had been saying for a few weeks now, a deal was there to get done but it might’ve be a painful one for both parties, and it was. Nuge gave up cash and Edmonton gave up term. That said, the Oilers won this deal hands down in my opinion.

From Oilersnation

Thoughts on RNH’s Eight-Year Contract

Overall this is a very good deal for the next four seasons for Edmonton. They hope it will be longer, but the latter years could be a concern. The good news is his yearly salary makes the contract less of an issue. Here is the annual salary structure starting next season.

$5m base salary.
$5.25m salary.
$6.25m salary
$6.25m salary
$4m salary and $2m signing bonus.
$2.25m salary plus $2.5m signing bonus.
$2.5m salary and $1.25m signing bonus.
$3.75m salary.

NEXT MOVE…

Ken Holland needs to sign another top-six left winger and with RNH in the fold there are options available: Brandon Saad, Zack Hyman, Tomas Tatar and Jaden Schwartz. Edmonton needs to sign one so they have legitimate top-six depth.

If we assume Larsson’s AAV is $4m that leaves $17,718,027 to spend. They will need a second pair left D-man, as well as two left wingers, a third-line centre, and re-signing Mike Smith or another goalie.

With over $17.7m in cap space it seems very realistic that Holland can sign, or trade for those five pieces. He won’t get his first choice in all five spots, but the Oilers cap space does give him some flexibility not to have to be desperate and overpay.

BLH’s Thoughts: I like the construction of Nuge’s new deal, it fluctuates but not wildly and he’ll still have some gas in the tank if he really wants to own the record for most games played with the Oilers.

As for “The Next Move”, I really think it should be Oscar Klefbom’s replacement. My feeling is that Tomas Tatar already has a foot in Edmonton already and if the interest is mutual, a deal could be done up rather quickly. So get that defender Kenny!

Does anybody else find it intriguing that in his latest 31 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman threw out two right-shot defenders (Mark Giordano and Matt Dumba) as potential names the Oilers could get in on with Seattle being the middle man? Expect the unexpected, right? Are the Oilers going to trade one of Evan Bouchard or Ethan Bear OR add another righty on defense and move one of Bear or Bouchard to the left side?

From The Cult of Hockey

Among other things, this signing virtually ensures that the Oilers will follow the 7-3-1 model when submitting their protected list of forwards-defencemen-goaltenders for the upcoming Seattle expansion draft. While there was some talk that the Oilers might wait until after that process to re-sign Nugent-Hopkins, the organization chose to get it done now. All of McDavid, Draisaitl, Yamamoto, and Jesse Puljujarvi slam dunks to be protected; Nugent-Hopkins and his no-move clause makes five, leaving two more forward spots to be determined. That creates headaches on the back end, especially if the club also agrees to terms on an extension with Adam Larsson and has been widely rumoured. It might open the door for a defenceman-for-forward type trade with another NHL club with an excess of quality forwards.

BLH’s Thoughts: I don’t think the team is all that worried about the expansion draft list, to be honest. They’ve got some room to wiggle here and some pundits are expecting Holland to make a pre-expansion draft trade. Now, the question is how pre-expansion draft are we talking here because the lists have to be in by the 17th of July if I’m not mistaken.

From NHLRumors.com

Will the Penguins target Fleury again?

Mark Madden of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t going to be starting a rebuild this offseason. They likely won’t get much bigger and tougher as not a lot of those types of players are going to be available.

Potential free agents that might interest the Penguins include Wayne Simmonds, Zdeno Chara, Corey Perry, Eric Staal, Ryan Getzlaf and Nick Foligno. Getzlaf and Foligno will likely be too expensive.

BLH’s Thoughts: Man, I’d like the Oilers to grab a Corey Perry, Zdeno Chara, or Eric Staal… They could use an ex-superstar in his late 30s to play a bit role until the playoffs.

Islanders need to find a right winger for Barzal

Larry Brooks of the NY Post: The New York Islanders were without Anders Lee since March, and Jordan Eberle wasn’t really noticeable during their series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Islanders could leave Jordan Eberle (two years left at $5 million) exposed for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft but they may not be interested in him.

BLH’s Thoughts: What?! Eberle disappearing in the playoffs. I’ve never heard that story before…

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