Ryan Nugent-Hopkins quietly holds the Edmonton Oilers together

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is quietly putting together one of the best seasons of his career. Though having missed nine games to injury, he still sits fourth on the Edmonton Oilers with 25 points in 25 games. At a point per game pace, Nugent-Hopkins would finish the season with 75 points, his most productive season yet, other than that insane 104-point 2022–23 season.

The truth is that Nugent-Hopkins’ more in-depth stats, while very solid the last four years or so, are not all that consistent—there are periods where they take a dip below what you might hope for from a top-six forward. His plus-minus for example, has never been higher than +12, even in that 104-point season, though that is largely due to the fact that a lot of those points came on the power play, which doesn’t factor in to plus-minus.

Despite that he is the longest tenured Oiler for a reason and continues to pass the eye test, time and again. Think about how often and quickly Oilers fans get angry with their team, and how little you hear Nugent-Hopkins being singled out. He is consistently a solid player, plays power play and penalty kill, and you almost always know what you are going to get from him.

The impact on this season

It’s no secret that the Oilers rise and fall with Connor McDavid, as is evidenced by the Oilers recent success. The Oilers were essentially a .500 points percentage team until the game against the Kraken on December 4—the game McDavid scored a hat trick. Since then McDavid has 20 points and the Oilers are 5–2.

The same is true for the individual performances on the Oilers, none more so than for Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman, who regularly share the ice with McDavid in 5v5 and power play. This surge in McDavid’s dominance has already seen Hyman put up six goals and nine points in these last seven games after only having put up four points in his first eight games.

RNH hasn’t been as explosive in that time, but has been very consistent, even before McDavid’s streak he was averaging a point per game. For that reason I believe Nugent-Hopkins will start to surge as well. The area where he usually succeeds but isn’t so much recently is the power play. The Oilers have skyrocketed to the top of the league in power play% at 32.6% and Nugent-Hopkins point total will very soon follow suit. Even though he is currently on pace for 75 points on the season, I could very easily see him putting up 90. Might be time to pick him up in your fantasy league.

Nugent-Hopkins’ strengths and intangibles

And yet, despite the fact that McDavid and Leon Draisaitl drive the Oilers offence, Nugent-Hopkins has a profound effect on the power play, even when he isn’t always putting power play points on the board.