Let’s pretend for a minute that the Darnell Nurse extension is reasonable and not insane at all.

Yes, that means ignoring a below-average output over pretty much his entire career, including his “breakout” year last season when he got more minutes than ever before with Connor McDavid. It ignores that much of that “breakout” was more like “he posted a shooting percentage last season that was about triple his career average.” 

It ignores that as of the start of 2022-23, his cap hit will be fifth-highest among defensemen when even the most out-on-a-limb defenders would likely have to concede he’s not the fifth-best defenseman in the league or probably even all that close. 

It ignores the fact that he has a no-move clause throughout the entire deal. It ignores that the deal is effectively buyout-proof due to all the bonus money in the back half of the eight years.