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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
DALLAS — Leon Draisaitl is a fan of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
“He’s so valuable, right? In every aspect of the game. He touches every part,” the Edmonton Oilers star said of his longtime friend. “Have you ever seen him make a mistake? I really haven’t.”
Nugent-Hopkins has pleaded not guilty to the allegations.
“I made a mistake. I made a mistake, of course,” he said, laughing. “But you try to limit people. I try to play as smart as I can.”
Kris Knoblauch is also a fan of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
After Draisaitl joked that Nugent-Hopkins was “the coach’s favorite hockey player in the world,” the current Oilers coach agreed that there was a time when the Edmonton forward was his favorite player in the world. Like after Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, when Nugent-Hopkins scored two power-play goals to reenergize the struggling unit, handed over all the momentum to the Oilers and pulled them to victory over the Dallas Stars that put them ahead 3-2 in the series.
“I actually saw Ryan after the game and I told him that, tonight, he is the favorite,” said the coach. “Two goals, played a huge role in killing penalties as well.”
Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner has always been a fan of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – in “collecting hockey cards, posters on his bedroom wall”.
“Nuge” was a fan favorite growing up, before becoming an Oilers teammate in 2021.
“It’s a little embarrassing (to admit) with him sitting next to me,” Skinner, 25, joked as he and Nugent-Hopkins, 31, talked to the media after Game 5.
“I really believe it’s one of the best two-way players in the league. It’s pretty amazing what this guy does, his work ethic day in and day out,” said Skinner. “But I’m more impressed with the type of person he is when he’s not on the ice. He was my favorite player growing up, and being able to play with him, I’ve learned a lot. than just hockey, and that’s one of the best things: being a friend who good with this guy.”
Nugent-Hopkins has a lot of fans rooting for him. He’s the longest-tenured Oilers player — 881 career games over 13 seasons — on a team that’s now one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006. He’s a linchpin from an Oilers era of unfulfilled potential. for the reign of Connor McDavid and Draisaitl, who are determined to fulfill their potential as champions.
If they do, Nugent-Hopkins should be one of the first teammates to be presented with the Stanley Cup in celebration. He has meant a lot to the Oilers.
“I think he is the heartbeat of our team. He represents the culture,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “And he’s been here a long time.”
MUSTACHE are trying.
Sitting on the upper lip of Nugent-Hopkins, trying to age up the face that still resembles the one at the stage in the 2011 draft, when he was selected with the first pick. 13 challenging seasons in the NHL have never been experienced in body or spirit.
Nugent-Hopkins’ first time in an Edmonton Oilers jersey was at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Devils won the lottery that year, but the Oilers, still mired in a multiyear rebuild, retained the first pick with the worst record in the league (62 points).
Nugent-Hopkins is a playmaking center with the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League. He is the consensus top pick, but scouts also like the prospects of fellow defenseman Adam Larsson and forward Gabriel Landeskog projected as NHL players.
On draft day, the Oilers called his name, and the young center was happy that he did.
“It’s a great honor. I know all the great players who have come through Edmonton,” he said. “Just getting to join a franchise like that is a great feeling.”
Before the draft, Nugent-Hopkins visited Edmonton and looked at photos documenting all of the Oilers’ previous championship teams, his eyes scanning the faces of more than half a dozen Hall of Famers. He was drafted to join a collection of young players that many thought had the potential to lead Edmonton to its first championship since the end of that dynasty.
When Nugent-Hopkins was drafted, the Oilers hadn’t made the playoffs since 2006. That lack of success made Edmonton a top-10 pick: When the Oilers drafted defenseman Phillip Broberg at No. 8 in 2019, they had selected 11 players in the first 10 picks of the draft in 13 seasons .
Nugent-Hopkins is the second straight pick for Edmonton, which selected winger Taylor Hall No. ) and Hall already exists; the next two drafts will produce Nail Yakupov, the Oilers’ third straight No. 1 pick, and Darnell Nurse (No. 7, 2013).
Then the game changed. Draisaitl was drafted third overall in 2014, followed by McDavid at No. 1 in 2015. His arrival marks a shift in strategy: The Oilers won’t marry their previous high draft picks if they don’t develop into NHL stars or if they can bring back players to build around. generational talent, McDavid, through trade.
Hall was traded to New Jersey in a one-for-one deal for defenseman Adam Larsson in 2016. Yakupov, considered a significant draft disappointment, was dealt to the Blues in 2016. Eberle was sent to the New York Islanders in 2017 in a deal. for Ryan Strome. Paajarvi was dealt well before in a trade for David Perron in 2013, while Gagner was traded to the Lightning in 2014.
Nugent-Hopkins is also feeling the winds of change. Sportsnet reported in 2016 that the Oilers offered to the Nashville Predators in a deal to land defenseman Seth Jones, who was eventually traded to Columbus. A search for “Ryan Nugent-Hopkins” and “trade bait” reveals that speculation is an annual rite of passage.
Sportsnet called it “expendable” in light of the Oilers’ depth at center. His contract — an average annual value of $6 million, locked in for his prime years — is cap-friendly, but his offensive production hasn’t been as good as expected after a few seasons in the league. From 2011 to ’18, there were 70 players who accumulated more points than Nugent-Hopkins.
In the first eight seasons of his career, the Oilers made the playoffs just once. It was not a pleasant time for him.
“Your early days, especially when you’re coming from junior high where you had success, it can be frustrating, of course, missing the playoffs year after year,” Nugent-Hopkins said.
True to form, he pulls some positives from the negatives.
“At the same time, you get extra time to work on your game in the summer. As a young kid, you can grow a lot physically and mentally,” he said. “Just enough maturity. To find out how you’re going to be a good player in this league.
“But it also makes you hungry to make the most of those opportunities. You know it’s not easy to make the playoffs. Then when you get the opportunity, you have to be hungry.”
Nugent-Hopkins wants to succeed. More importantly, they want it in Edmonton. He followed up his seven-year contract with an eight-year contract signed in June 2021. He is committed.
The Oilers were soon rewarded for their faith in Nugent-Hopkins.
IN THE NHL, there is a star offensive player who helps open the power play and a strong defensive player who is the key to kill the penalty. Rarer are players who “touch every part of the game” and do it well, as Draisaitl said Nugent-Hopkins.
This is what Zach Hyman saw firsthand when he joined the Oilers in 2021.
“He touches all aspects of the game. Power play, penalty kill, plays a ton in even strength. He comes out in the last minute of the game, whether you are up or down,” he said. “On the ice, he just did everything for us.”
This is a point of pride for Nugent-Hopkins. Intangibles that used to be throwaways for less successful teams now seem priceless to Cup contenders: their two-way game and all the little things they do for the Oilers.
“It’s something that I’ve always taken a lot of pride in over the years. Working on both sides of the puck. I want to trust in that situation. You have to call at all times,” Nugent – said Hopkins. “Sometimes the power play can make the difference. Sometimes the PK can make the difference. And sometimes it’s 5-on-5. I want to continue to improve on both sides and see where we can get.”
His offense started to show up as McDavid and Draisaitl became more dominant. But the 2022-23 season wasn’t what Nugent-Hopkins expected: 104 points, fueled by 53 points on the Oilers’ incredible power play. He scored 37 goals that season, breaking his previous career high.
“He’s a big part of the power play,” Knoblauch said. “He’s not a driver, but he’s a great facilitator. He’s got a lot of good things that can help on the power play.”
It worked in Game 5 of the conference finals. The Oilers power play is 0-for-6 in the series entering Friday night. But Nugent-Hopkins scored late in the first period, backhanding the puck past Jake Oettinger after Evan Bouchard’s point blast, and then scored again on the power play 1:06 into the second period on a snap shot from the slot.
“If you’re going to draw a road game, that’s really what you want to do, right?” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “They wanted to come out, get two goals early in the game, get the lead and then defend well all night. So it was tough to beat.”
The Stars were 0-for-2 on the power play, and 0-for-11 in the series. Nugent-Hopkins has played a major role in, leading all Oilers forward in short-handed ice time (9:46) against Dallas.
The way Nugent-Hopkins plays epitomizes how the Oilers have been able to keep the Stars in check: smart hockey, not too flashy and with minimal mistakes.
“It started with going through the neutral zone, not turning pucks over and not giving anything easy back to us,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Sometimes you have to live to fight another day. You don’t need to be so aggressive.”
Nugent-Hopkins has seen more days as an Edmonton Oiler than his teammates. Most of them were disappointing.
But it’s finally getting better — and the Oilers are now five wins from the Nugent-Hopkins days and many fans have been waiting for.
“That’s why we play. Why we work so hard at work to get in these situations and be a part of a group like this,” Nugent-Hopkins said.
“When you are in, there is not a lot of time to sit and reflect too much. But this is all you can ask. It will take a lot of work, but we have an opportunity here.”
