Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been one of the Edmonton Oilers more prominent players over the last couple of seasons. Nugent-Hopkins has been placed up and down the Oilers lineup this year, but has typically played left wing on the first line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman.
There have been stretches of games this year, where Nugent-Hopkins has centred the second and third lines, instead of being placed on the wing. But one thing for sure, is that he has thrived when called upon and moved up the lineup.
With the Oilers top two stars out of the lineup for at least a week with injuries, Nugent-Hopkins has been nothing short of excellent since he got the bump to centre the Oilers first line on March 22. There were also two games beforehand where he lit the score sheet on fire, scoring six points in two games. Nugent-Hopkins put up a hat trick of assists on March 16 against the New York Rangers, and then put up a goal and two assists two days later against the Utah Hockey Club. To top it all off, he would end up finding the back of the net three times against Seattle, to give himself a total of four goals and five assists in his last four games of play. He was only held pointless against the Winnipeg Jets on March 20.
What is behind the forward’s big jump in production?
A question that I’m sure many Oilers fans have been asking, and I’m going to look to try and answer that. What stands out the most to me, is that Nugent-Hopkins has thrived when he has played on the first or second line. This tells me that he typically plays better when partnered up with some of the Oilers top players.
Getting the chance to play with McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Hyman, is sure to be fun for any player. It gives them a big confidence boost and sets them up to try and show the team what they can do with top caliber players and athletes.
What makes these players as good as they are, is their ability to process the game at such a high speed and play the puck with the skills that they have. Being able to shoot the puck with such accuracy and pass the puck on a string like it’s nothing, Nugent-Hopkins has been able to set himself up to be successful in these situations. Having played with McDavid and Draisaitl most of his career (11 and 10 years respectively) he knows the way that these two play, and has been able to build chemistry with them, which has drastically improved his play on the ice.
A boost in his time on ice
With an average of 18:55 of time on ice this year, Nugent-Hopkins has been getting his fair share of shifts per game. After playing on the first line just a few days ago, his ice time spiked up to 23:02 in just a single game. That is a huge jump from his season average, and biggest since he played 23:09 on January 30. That was also just the third time this year that he has played 23 minutes or more in one game.
Nugent-Hopkins crushed it with that much ice time, and was able to score three times on just five shots, was a +2 and also won 10 of 19 face-offs – good enough for a win percentage of 52.6.
Nugent-Hopkins has stepped up in a big way
There’s been a saying going around lately that, “the Nuge is huge.” Like I had mentioned, Nugent-Hopkins has really stepped up for the Oilers lately, and to be honest, there isn’t a better time for this to happen. With just 12 games left in the regular season, the Oilers will be looking for more of their players to step up and put their names on the score sheet. Nugent-Hopkins is one name that has definitely been added to the score sheet recently. Proving that he can play just about anywhere in the Oilers lineup is actually a big positive for the team. This means that he can be relied on in different areas of the play, which would most likely impact the team’s production positively.
A big question to ask as well, is how long can Nugent-Hopkins keep up this offensive boost? If he can keep this going until the end of the season and into the playoffs, the Oilers would be in a prime position to see success in the post season. When McDavid and Draisaitl return, he will be placed back on the third line, and his minutes will go back to normal. Nugent-Hopkins showing this first and second line success, on the third line, would give the Oilers three lines with a key centreman that could produce points or goals at any moment throughout their games played.
Will Nugent-Hopkins stay in the Oilers top-six, or will he return to the third line? With his play as of late, the Oilers may consider placing him on the first line left wing, or on the second line—maybe even as a centreman.
In these upcoming games without McDavid and Draisaitl, let’s see what Nugent-Hopkins can do before the two return to the lineup.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
