That's a big gamble. Oof.

Much much much better contract than Keller's

Keller, IMO has been pretty good at times. In his rookie year he won rookie of the month a bunch of times. I think he could turn it up.

If I were a fan of the Devils...I'd prefer this contract extension to have come after this year. They're not a good team right now and it's hard to imagine Nico's going to improve enough this year to warrant that extension. I'm not saying a bridge is the correct approach, I'm just saying this contract appears to be the ceiling and if they waited it likely would have been a lower amount. I can see the comparisons to Keller. Can Nico live up to it...oh for sure! he's still so young. We'll see.

Good signing. NH has gotten better every year and this will be no exception. He's added weight & muscle (so theres hope for Hughes!), is very good defensively and his game all around is good. I honestly think after this year goes by that number would have been worse.

Nico was also a year younger during his rookie season than Keller was. At that age, a year makes a big difference. He also played w/o Hall for most of last season.