Gene J. Puskar/Associated PressRyan Nugent-Hopkins, forward for the Edmonton Oilers, agreed Tuesday to a eight-year contract worth $41 million.Ryan Rishaug, TSN's reporter, reported the news. He noted that Nugent-Hopkins wanted Edmonton to remain.Nugent-Hopkins was the No. Nugent-Hopkins was the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft of 2011. He spent his first ten years of his career in Edmonton. Although he hasn't lived up to his No. Nugent-Hopkins is not quite living up to the No. 1 hype. However, he showed a talent when asked to switch from the center to the left wing.Nugent-Hopkins was a little underwhelmed in 2020-21. He scored only 35 points in 52 regular season games. After two consecutive stellar seasons, Nugent-Hopkins was lost in the shuffle of an Oilers team that had underperformed overall.An extension of the contract seemed to be in the making before the 2020-21 campaign, but it fell apart. This led to uncertainty as the next step was free agency. Nugent-Hopkins insisted that he would like to remain in Edmonton.Nugent-Hopkins stated that he had said this from the beginning. He also told reporters in May that he loves being an Oiler. "My goal is to always be an Oiler. (Free agency) at the moment is not in my head. There is a lot more going on in my head right now than that. It's difficult to think about it and keep my thoughts focused around that. It's something I have said since Day 1. I love being an oiler. I take a lot pride in it over the past 10 years.Nugent-Hopkins wanted to be an Oiler, so he had to give up money. But he will be playing in a city and with a team he is familiar. Nugent-Hopkins, who has already signed a huge long-term contract during his career, favored stability over the open market.
