May 27, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had 49 points in 78 games during this past regular season. That’s an enormous dropoff for Nugent-Hopkins compared to his 67-point campaign in 2023-24, and an unmitigated disaster compared to the 104-point season he had two years ago.

The current longest serving Oiler is in his fourteenth NHL season at the age of 32. The surface level evidence suggests that perhaps Father Time has begun to rear his ugly head at Nugent-Hopkins. 

Rumours of Nugent-Hopkins’s demise have been greatly exaggerated based on his performance in these playoffs. Nugent-Hopkins has sixteen points in the Oilers’ fourteen playoff games thus far. He already has seven points through three games of the Western Conference Final. That ties him for the third most points through the first three games of a Conference Final series in the last 30 years according to Sportsnet Stats (@SNStats).

https://twitter.com/SNstats/status/1926770527756001487

You know you’re doing something right when you’re associated with names like the ones on that list.

When asked about Nugent-Hopkins after Game 3, Oilers captain Connor McDavid said that “he’s asked to do everything every single night. He plays big minutes five-on-five, obviously on the powerplay, he’s the leader on the penalty kill as well; so, you know, kind of our Swiss army knife. He’s playing really really well. He has three assists, but you know, he’s just solid all over, making plays, doing his thing. He’s playing great.”

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Nugent-Hopkins has been excellent at five-on-five this spring. The chart below outlines his goals for percentages and expected goals for percentages on his own, with his most consistent linemates in these playoffs, and without McDavid or Leon Draisaitl:

Nugent-Hopkins has been great at five-on-five regardless of who he has played with, and he hasn’t been reliant on the superstars to have success. He’s got nine five-on-five points in fourteen games in the playoffs, which is tremendous. The fact that he has only been on the ice for three five-on-five goals against in these playoffs says that he has also done a great job of shutting other teams down when he has been on the ice.

The other great thing about Nugent-Hopkins is his ability to play centre and the wing. He has spent the majority of his career playing centre, but he has played a lot more wing in the last handful of years, most often with McDavid. Nugent-Hopkins is the go-to second line centre when the coach opts to play McDavid and Draisaitl together he did during the first round against the Los Angeles Kings. We know how good those two are together, but that strategy works best when Nugent-Hopkins is playing well. His line with Evander Kane and Zach Hyman has been really effective when deployed in these playoffs, as noted in the chart above.

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Nugent-Hopkins consistently helps the first powerplay unit gain control in the offensive zone by being a reliable outlet for McDavid at the offensive blue line, and he seemingly always makes the right decision to either keep the play flowing or to take a shot. It’s an added bonus when he’s contributing with powerplay goals, as he did in the first two games of the Western Conference Final. Those were the first two road powerplay goals that the Oilers had scored in the playoffs, and they helped revive a powerplay that went 1/11 in the second round.

He’s always a fixture on the penalty kill as well. Nugent-Hopkins led Oilers forwards in shorthanded time on ice during the regular season, and he’s second in that category in the playoffs behind Connor Brown, who will miss Game 4 of the Western Conference Final and possibly more time beyond that.

Nugent-Hopkins has been a fan favourite in Edmonton since he was taken first overall in the 2011 NHL draft. The Nuge endured many lean years with the Oilers, and not only did he not complain about it, he wanted to be here long-term. It’s so great to see him getting the chance to experience long playoff runs in Edmonton, and it’s even better to see him playing so well and producing offence this late in the season. The Oilers will need Nugent-Hopkins to keep doing what he’s doing if they want to win it all in June. They’re a great team, but they’re even better when Nugent-Hopkins is playing as well as he is right now.