Cons
The NMC
It always makes me nervous when teams give a player a no-movement clause in their contract, because it makes it that much harder to move it if they need to. If Nuge starts his decline earlier than expected, that would be a huge impediment to moving it as a gamble on the player didn’t pay off. But, in proper negotiation, you have to give a little if you want to get a little. Nuge mentioned in his press conference after the contract that this was something they insisted on. If he was, say, Juhjar Khaira then Holland would’ve laughed in the face of his agent, but with an important player like Nuge, you have to compromise in new contracts sometimes.
He’ll be 36 by the time the contract ends
It always makes me nervous anytime an NHL club signs a player past the age of 35. Again, Nuge expressed that he wanted term in the contract, which was important to him and his agent.
He probably could’ve made more on the open market, but he wanted to stay an Oiler, so the club has to take on some risk too, not just the player in this regard.
Still, though, by year 7 this contract could go bad if history has anything to say about it. Maybe not, but you just never know. That’s a risk.
His contract year season
This past season Nuge’s even-strength scoring went down, so some people are concerned that this is a new normal for him. Considering the history of Nuge, I tend to think he’s young enough that last season’s even-strength scoring numbers are just an aberration. But, I get it. If Nuge downgrades himself to a PP specialist just like James Neal, then we just signed that guy for 8 years. IMO this concern is melodramatic, but I get it.