Lowetide: Going into Game 7, Oilers veteran Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has seen it all

Among the storylines Edmonton Oilers fans are discussing in the hours leading up to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final is the receiving order for the trophy itself.

Should the Oilers win Monday night, captain Connor McDavid will receive the Stanley Cup from commissioner Gary Bettman.

Who should McDavid pass it to?

Among the most popular choices for second in line is veteran Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. No one on the roster has played more games in an Oilers uniform than Nugent-Hopkins.

Nugent-Hopkins is a fan favourite, partly because of his quiet and unassuming way, and partly due to his utility.

During the 2023-24 season, Nugent-Hopkins ranked No. 5 in five-on-five ice time, No. 3 on the power play and No. 1 on the PK among Oilers forwards.

He plays in all situations because he’s effective across 200 feet. His passing and playmaking skills remain a key component of the team’s power play. His anticipation and exceptional stops and starts (he’s never out of a play because he wastes no energy on superfluous skating) mean he’s never far from the puck at five-on-five and on the penalty kill.

Nuge’s ability to slide between centre and left wing seamlessly is another major plus for coach Kris Knoblauch.

Utility and perception 

It’s difficult to imagine an assignment Nugent-Hopkins would refuse. From the moment he was drafted, he presented himself in a classy way on and off the ice, and that has always resonated with Oilers fans.

It’s also noticeable that RNH is all about the team. When the organization wanted to move him to the wing earlier in his career, he handled it without fanfare and adjusted quickly.

When Peter Chiarelli arrived as Oilers general manager and began trading everything not nailed down, fans worried about the club sending Nugent-Hopkins away with Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle.

Making things even more difficult was Nugent-Hopkins’ annual fall-off in performance due to illness (often flu) during each Edmonton fall. When Nuge missed two games due to flu during the fall of 2015 (Chiarelli’s first season as GM) blogs and social media were filled with fans who openly worried that Chiarelli hadn’t seen enough of his play to make a proper judgement.

In an era when the Oilers traded many of their best young players, Nugent-Hopkins survived. Why? Utility. He was the only No. 1 selection before McDavid who played centre, and he was money in all three game states.

Complementary player

Another reason Nugent-Hopkins has always been a fan favourite is the collection of slights (real and imagined) toward the player.

Shortly after he was drafted first at the 2011 draft, TSN’s James Duthie interviewed Hall, Edmonton’s No. 1 selection the year before. During the conversation, Hall referred to Nuge as “a kid” and that perception of the player hung around for a long time.

Not gifted with the natural offensive talent of Hall (or McDavid and Leon Draisaitl later), Nugent-Hopkins became a valuable complementary player who provided sound defensive play and did much of the hard work of checking and penalty kill.

He did have offensive ability, too.

As a rookie, he was on his way to the Calder Trophy when he was injured and missed a major portion of the season. Typically for Nugent-Hopkins throughout his career, he lost the award to Colorado Avalanche winger Gabriel Landeskog despite scoring the same number of points in 20 fewer games.

When McDavid and Draisaitl arrived in the middle of the decade, the two men would often team up on a superstar line with Nugent-Hopkins left to cover against elites on the second line.

He’s long been a foundational player on the team, even if his minutes sometimes wane. Nugent-Hopkins doesn’t always play with the elite offensive talent because he can still be trusted to outscore.

Signing a contract that kept him in Edmonton

Nugent-Hopkins has a chance to be the first top-drawer Oilers player to spend his entire career with the team.

The 1980s super team would have been impossible to retain with the exploding salaries during those years, and those who came after were often dealt before signing a contract that involved unrestricted free-agent seasons.

In the summer of 2021, Nugent-Hopkins signed an eight-year deal that takes him to the end of the 2028-29 season. He will be 35 at that time, and likely hold many Oilers records. At this point in his career, he’s played 881 regular-season games, which ranks third in franchise history behind Ryan Smyth and Kevin Lowe.

For a city like Edmonton, Nugent-Hopkins committing to playing his entire career with the Oilers (if he wants another deal, one suspects the organization would oblige in the summer of 2029), didn’t go unnoticed by fans.

He was a favourite before the signing, but the connection has grown stronger in the years after it was signed.

McDavid spoke about RNH in the hours leading up to Game 7: “He’s been an Oiler for a long time, and he’s gone through some dark days as an Oiler and kind of come out the other side. Now he’s a big reason why we have an opportunity to be in this position. He means a lot to our group. He means a lot to the people of the city of Edmonton. Obviously took a massive kind of pay cut to stay there and be a part of the group, and he’s a big part of it.”

After Game 7

NHL teams can’t keep everyone, and there will come a time when most of the men who populate this edition of the Oilers will play in other NHL cities.

No matter what happens in Game 7 against the Florida Panthers, Nugent-Hopkins has established himself as an all-time Oilers player.

Ultimately, fans won’t care too much what order the Stanley Cup is passed, but there’s a large contingent who would love to see the captain hand it off to the man who arrived 13 summers ago determined to bring Stanley back to Edmonton.

No one could possibly have guessed the serpentine route from his rookie season to Monday night’s Game 7.

The fact Nugent-Hopkins will be an important part of the Oilers’ effort is testimony to his extreme focus on a singular goal since his first NHL game.

— Daniel Nugent-Bowman contributed to this report.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)