I wrote earlier<\/a> in the summer, Nugent-Hopkins fell from 2.26 points per 60 at five-on-five in 2023-24 to 1.50 this past season. That\u2019s a major drop in scoring, and contributed to the top line\u2019s outscoring malaise a year ago.<\/p>\nCoach\u2019s decision<\/p>\n
Going back to the 2022-23 season, Nugent-Hopkins outscored on several lines up and down the depth chart. When placed with McDavid and Zach Hyman, his line scored 16 and allowed 10 goals in 207 even-strength minutes. Nugent-Hopkins also centred a line with Klim Kostin and Mattias Janmark that season; in 141 even-strength minutes, Edmonton enjoyed a 10-6 edge in goals.<\/p>\n
When a player moves down the depth chart, the quality of competition is also lowered. For a player like Nugent-Hopkins, running on a depth line with Kostin and Janmark allowed him room to wheel in a season he was healthy and everything was breaking in a good direction.<\/p>\n
Last season, Nugent-Hopkins was far less successful when playing with McDavid and Hyman. The unit owned a small outscoring edge (13-12) in 317 minutes at even strength, meaning a far larger number of minutes played with poorer results. That included a steep drop in goals per 60 for the trio.<\/p>\n
These numbers may have informed the coaching staff\u2019s summer evaluation and led to a preseason alignment that moved Nugent-Hopkins off the top line.<\/p>\n
Also contributing to the current line tweak? The 2024-25 line that featured Nugent-Hopkins with Viktor Arvidsson and Vasily Podkolzin. Facing lesser opposition, the line scored six and allowed the same number. Nugent-Hopkins was 3-0 in under 100 minutes with Janmark and Connor Brown. There\u2019s a road to success for Nugent-Hopkins on a No. 3 line.<\/p>\n
Utility<\/p>\n
Nugent-Hopkins doesn\u2019t receive many votes for NHL awards (he gets some Selke votes in some seasons), and his 100-point campaign in 2022-23 was celebrated by Oilers fans but didn\u2019t move the needle much in regard to recognition in the hockey industry.<\/p>\n
One of Nugent-Hopkins\u2019 great strengths, and a reason he is a fan favourite, is his willingness to adapt in order to elevate the team. He\u2019s reaching the point in his career when a depth role (at centre, possibly wing) during even-strength minutes may become the norm.<\/p>\n
Bottom line<\/p>\n
Nugent-Hopkins is reaching a point in his career when the minutes with McDavid at five-on-five are fleeting. Failing a comeback season, all indicators available suggest the veteran is no longer the offensive contributor of a few short seasons ago. His shy scoring last year may or may not have been impacted by injury (it isn\u2019t known when he broke his hand), and an uptick in scoring could extend his career trajectory on a skill line for another season.<\/p>\n
The main positive for the player, and fans, is that Nugent-Hopkins should be able to help a third line outscore and will continue to be an integral part of the penalty kill. The power-play time will eventually be surrendered, but there do not appear to be any strong threats on the horizon.<\/p>\n
His utility has always been a strength, and now that he is entering a new phase of his career, the range of skills should enable Nugent-Hopkins to remain an important player for the team. If he can continue to post strong boxcar numbers (20-29-49 in 78 games last season), the chances will be there.<\/p>\n
Nugent-Hopkins has been to hell and back with the Oilers. It\u2019s unfathomable to imagine the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup without Nugent-Hopkins playing a prominent role. As he ages (he\u2019ll be 33 in April) and his scoring fades, some grim options may have to be contemplated.<\/p>\n
A strong rebound season would be ideal for all involved. My summer \u201creasonable expectations\u201d<\/a> prediction suggests a small rebound (22 goals and 54 points) and another productive season in a role that sees fewer minutes on the top line but a bounce-back in power-play output. No more 100-point seasons are coming in Nugent-Hopkins\u2019 career, but he could be an important contributor to a Stanley Cup winner in 2026.<\/p>\n(Photo: Leila Devlin \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Edmonton Oilers veteran Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a career high 104 points in 2022-23, all agreed it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,3275,575,85],"class_list":["post-161232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}