Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers celebrates scoring against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena in L.A. on May 6.Harry How/Getty Images
A casual viewer tuning in to watch the Edmonton Oilers for the very first time could be forgiven for being distracted by the two-headed monster that is Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the middle of the ice.
Both are former top-three picks in the NHL draft, both have Hart, Art Ross and Ted Lindsay trophies residing proudly on their mantles, and both are regularly in the conversation for best player in the NHL. The pair of all-star centres have shown little sign of slowing down this season either, with McDavid wrapping up another scoring title and Draisaitl second in goals with 55, and heading into Friday night’s playoff games, sitting one-two in the playoff scoring race as well.
But further down the team’s centre depth chart, another former all-star and first overall pick is quietly plugging away, continuing to show that 11 years after he was taken first overall, he’s still important to the Oilers.
“Ryan touches every area of the game,” Edmonton head coach Jay Woodcroft said in the buildup to the series against Calgary, with Game 2 being played Friday night.
“[He’s] somebody who is a real threat shorthanded, he’s a threat on the power play. He plays big minutes five on five. I think, and I’ve said this before, he’s someone who makes people around him better so he’s going to have a big impact for us on this series.”
With Draisaitl clearly limited in his mobility – despite protestations to the contrary – since he was the subject of a controversial takedown by the Los Angeles Kings’ Mikey Anderson in Game 6 of their first-round series, Woodcroft has had to lean on Nugent-Hopkins even more.
In Game 1 against Calgary, Draisaitl mostly played left wing on McDavid’s line, and Woodcroft rotated the centre role between his captain, Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan McLeod as he played 11 forwards and seven defencemen. Nugent-Hopkins ended up playing 20 minutes 24 seconds, third-most on the team behind the aforementioned two-headed monster, and picked up two assists to make it seven points in eight games this spring.
It seems a lifetime ago that Nugent-Hopkins scored a hat trick in his third career NHL game, continuing to raise expectations that a core built around Jordan Eberle and fellow first-overall-pick Taylor Hall – to be joined the following year by another in Nail Yakupov – would help bring the good times back to Edmonton.
But 11 years later, in the first year of an eight-year, US$41-million contract that could make him the longest-tenured Oiler in history, he’s finally found his fit, while those other first-round saviours have gone on to have more peripatetic pro hockey existences.
Another long wait finally came to an end this past week with the Oilers and Flames locking horns in the playoff for the first time since 1991. For fans of firewagon hockey, if not the purists, the wait was worth it as the two teams combined for 15 goals in the highest-scoring postseason Battle of Alberta in history, with the Flames crossing the finish line first in a 9-6 barnburner.
As someone who has played in Alberta since he was drafted first overall by the Red Deer Rebels in the 2008 Western Hockey League draft, Nugent-Hopkins is fully aware of the importance of the rivalry, and in particular about Edmonton’s tradition of success in it. The Oilers are 4-1 against their provincial rivals in the postseason.
“I know fans around Alberta have waited a long time for this,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Myself I knew at some point, you figure you’d face them in the playoffs. So definitely excited but at the same time it’s another round and we need to come out on top obviously.”
For long-time observers of Nugent-Hopkins, his continued ability to thrive is a testament to his personality, as well as his ability to fit into the situation around him.
“One of Ryan’s great attributes is he keeps it pretty steady, doesn’t have the real high highs or low lows, he’s pretty even keeled all the way through and that’s served him well,” said Cam Moon, who was the play-by-play voice of the Red Deer Rebels for 22 seasons before becoming the Oilers’ radio play-by-play guy in 2020.
While McDavid wows fans with his speed and stickhandling ability, and Draisaitl leans heavily on his passing and shooting ability, Moon said that Nugent-Hopkins’s high hockey IQ and overall intelligence are what sets him apart.
It’s those traits that have allowed him to continue to play an important role as his teammates have continued to chop and change over the years.
“Just getting in the right lanes, making smart plays,” Moon said. “And that hasn’t changed either. It was the same in the WHL. You could see that he thought the game at an incredibly high level.”
That intelligence and ability to do whatever was needed carried over off the ice too, even as a teenager. Moon tells a story of the Rebels driving from Seattle to Vancouver one night after a game, and after crossing the border into Canada, the bus driver got lost trying to find Pacific Coliseum, where the Vancouver Giants played at that point.
Step forward Vancouver native Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
“This is pre everybody having Google Maps on their phone, if you know what I’m saying,” Moon said. “And we get slightly turned around, let’s say, in Vancouver, and, Ryan, who had the best insider knowledge of anybody on the bus, had to come to the front of the bus and get us to the rink. So he was our Google Maps that evening.”
If the Edmonton Oilers are going to find their way out of the hole they find themselves in after the opener against the Flames, suffice to say players such as Nugent-Hopkins will have to play their part in leading the way.