In the face of criticism, some praise of Edmonton Oilers' elder ...

When things are going well in Oil Country, sometimes there is not enough spotlight to go around. Certainly that was the case on Tuesday, when Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid put on a show of such luminance that he earned the top player grade here at the Cult of Hockey: 10 out of 10, our code for a “transcendent” performance. Sharing the spotlight at least to a degree was the brilliant Leon Draisaitl, who solved Ilya Sorokin not once but twice, the latter being Drai’s third overtime goal of the young season.

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Lost in the shadows was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had a strong game in his own right back at home on the first line, as well as in his usual spots on the first powerplay and the first penalty kill. Once the centre of attention himself as the first overall pick in the 2011 Draft, RNH has proven over the years to do his best work as a support player riding shotgun with even higher-end talent like #97 and #29.

Early in 2024-25, though, he’s been off his game, especially offensively with just 1-6-7 through 16 games. Traditionally among the most popular Oilers, Nuge has been the recipient of criticism from a variety of sources around the fan base and punditry whose motto remains, what have you done for us lately?

Four Oilers goals, four contributions

Tuesday night may have marked the start of a turnaround. He provided plenty of his trademark support against the Isles, and at the end of the night was recognized by his coach.

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What did the Nuge do in this particular outing to win Kris Knoblauch’s heart?  We noted a couple of things in his player grade:

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 7. Returned to the first line with McDavid and Hyman and had a good showing. Terrific shot shares. Somewhat culpable on the 1-1 when he was a split second late to affect Tsyplakov’s pass to the Palmieri. Made up for that and then some with a beautiful behind-the-back pass to McDavid for the 3-1. Keyed the overtime winner by recognizing the situation, feeding the puck to Bouchard and making the smart line change that within seconds resulted in the game winner.

But even the “sharp-eyed” amongst us couch-dwellers don’t see everything that goes on out there. Knoblauch on the other hand was quick to credit RNH’s play on Draisaitl’s powerplay goal that opened the scoring, stating in the post game scrum: “the first goal, nice seam pass but that seam was made available by Nuggy who opens that lane up, lifts his [opponent’s] stick up, and that opens that play up. You see the nice pass, you see the nice shot, but it’s all the other little things to set up that.”

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Let’s give it another look, this time keeping a close eye on #93 stationed directly between the circles, seemingly in the passing lane McDavid is trying to create with his in-zone speed. But as the puck comes towards him around the 0:09 mark of the clip, Nugent-Hopkins ignores it entirely and instead nullifies the stick of #10 white (Simon Holmstrom) to unlock that lane.

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Subtle, but deadly effective. No point for Nuge on that play, but that goal almost certainly doesn’t get scored without his involvement.

RNH was involved early on in the sequence resulting in the second goal, recovering a loose puck behind the Islanders cage and restarting the cycle before this clip even begins.

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No denying his contribution on the third Edmonton goal, a well-deserved primary assist for this behind-the-back pass right on McDavid’s tape in the slot.

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The same no-look drop pass Oilers fans have seen hundreds if not thousands of times over the years on the Oilers PP, typically along the left-wing boards and back to the point man, be it Oscar Klefbom, Tyson Barrie, or nowadays Evan Bouchard. This time, closer to the net to a streaking teammate, but with the same unerring touch and accuracy. Boom! Goal.

Finally, the Draisaitl snipe that ended things, the only one of the four scored when RNH was on the bench. He made a valuable contribution nonetheless.

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The clip captures just the last moments of Nuge’s shift in which he holds the puck in the corner while Mattias Ekholm sprints to the bench, then feeds it to Ek’s replacement Bouchard before himself heading for a change along with Hyman. Over the boards come Draisaitl and McDavid, and the end is nigh.

What the clip doesn’t show is the full shift that 93-18-14 delivered, starting in New York territory due to an icing. They won possession after a scrambled draw and maintained it on NYI’s side of centre. For an entire minute, the trio literally skated circles around their opponents, cycling the puck sharply with both RNH and Ekholm getting good scoring chances. Only once did the disc come loose, and Nuge won it back in a strong battle in front of the Edmonton bench, leaving the tiring Islanders no possibility of reaching their own refuge a further thirty feet away. For the fourth time on four Edmonton goals, Nugent-Hopkins made a key contribution.

Some curious and interesting facts about RNH

Haven’t heard any fanfare at all about this, so let the trumpets sound: in the current season Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has established an all-time mark for continuous service as an Oiler. It’s his fourteenth consecutive campaign in Good Old Ourtown.

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Here’s the full list of players who have worn the Oil drop for at least 9 NHL seasons.

Two dozen players shown here listed in order of seasons played, then games played; a veritable who’s who of franchise icons. RNH has worked his way up to third place in both categories. What isn’t obvious at first glance is that the two men above him, Kevin Lowe and Ryan Smyth, both had two different stints in Oil Country, at the beginning and end of their respective careers but with a lengthy sabbatical in their early 30s. Lowe left Edmonton in 1992 after thirteen seasons, then returned in 1996 for a two-year swan song. His record stands aprt in that Edmonton made the playoffs in all fifteen of his seasons.

Smyth famously left Edmonton in a pool of tears (both his and ours) at the trade deadline of 2007 after thirteen years of service, though just twelve actual seasons due to the 2004-05 lockout. He too would return “home” after a four-years absence to play out the string, three more seasons in his case.

Then there was Kelly Buchberger whose continuous service tied Lowe’s old mark of thirteen seasons if one includes his debut in the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals as a season in its own right.

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For his part Nuge is on the vanguard of a modern wave of four players who are now in the double digits in terms of seasons. Collectively he, Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse and McDavid represent the leadership group of the Oil. The first round draft picks from 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 have for some years now been the four cornerstones of the franchise.

Now comes the scary part. Once considered the youth movement of the future, these same now-grizzled players remain among the youngest players on the current team! Check out this list of the dozen forwards on today’s roster, listed from youngest to oldest:

Despite being the franchise all-timer for consecutive years of service, fourteen-year veteran Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is the fifth youngest attacker on the current squad. Draisaitl? Third-youngest at 29 years of age. Connor McDavid, in his tenth NHL season, is somehow the second most youthful forward on the Oilers.

Has anyone mentioned that this team is OLD? Maybe someone should.

News from practice

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No Viktor Arvidsson on the ice Wednesday, and he’s considered questionable for Thursday’s home game vs. Nashville. If he’s unable to go, the squad could call someone up from Bakersfield, but Knoblauch’s comments to the media suggested he is tending towards going with the 11F / 7D line-up once favoured by his predecssor Jay Woodcroft. In an interview with Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now, Knoblauch revealed that the coaching staff wants to pursue that option at times this season, even as they haven’t done so as yet. A minor injury to a forward might be just the trigger needed, especially given management’s focus on cap accrual.

Travis Dermott took a regular turn with Nurse on Wednesday, though if they wind up going with seven D there are many possible alternatives on the back end. The staff has already done some masterful juggling that has allowed Nurse and Brett Kulak to spend considerable time together on a part-time second pair, even as both have maintained regular partners further down the line-up. The Oilers were 2-4-1 when the juggling started, are 6-3-0 since.

Knoblauch also spoke of how the absence of a forward might open up additional opportunities for fourth-liners like (currently) Jeff Skinner to move up, or to have a top player like McDavid or Draisaitl double-shift down the line-up, a strategy Woodcroft used to employ regularly.

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Calvin Pickard took the starter’s net, no surprise given his 2-0-0 record against the Preds. Thursday’s affair will be their first meeting in Edmonton even as it brings the 3-game season series to an early close.

Recently at the Cult of Hockey

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Follow me on X-Twitter @BruceMcCurdy 

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