Yesterday morning, the Edmonton Oilers opened the practice portion of training camp with the first go around of the 2016-17 season. While Peter Chiarelli, Todd McLellan and Jay Woodcroft were all back from the World Cup of Hockey, Edmonton’s four players in the tournament were not.
After being eliminated on Thursday, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were granted a few days off. Both of those players, according to Peter Chiarelli, will return to the ice Tuesday. Andrej Sekera and Leon Draisaitl, whose Team Europe is still alive, don’t have a set date just yet. Europe plays Sweden is a semifinal game on Sunday afternoon.
All four Oilers have played extremely well in this best-on-best tournament, and that’s a great sign. Each of these four players will play a massive role in Edmonton in 2016-17, and they’ll all be instrumental in any potential push to the postseason for the Oil.
We know the importance of Connor McDavid, but it’s the other youngster from Team North America that I’m going to focus in on this season. If the Edmonton Oilers are going to push for the postseason, they’ll need Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to return to his 2014-15 form.
Safe to say that the Nuge is Edmonton’s X-factor for the upcoming season.
Why RNH?:
It would be awfully easy to name McDavid the x-factor for this team. Ditto new additions Milan Lucic and Adam Larsson. Oscar Klefbom, who missed a large chunk of last season, would also be a good selection, but for me this distinction goes to RNH.
Last year was a strange one for Nugent-Hopkins. He started the season playing effective two-way hockey and had an impact offensively for the team. Shortly after his hot start, however, RNH got sick and didn’t look right for a few months. Shortly after that, a broken hand put him on the shelf for almost two months.
Nugent-Hopkins never got into a rhythm last season and that impacted his play. He struggled to put up offense and defensively wasn’t the same player he had been for the prior few seasons. That created a major hole in Edmonton’s lineup, one that the Oilers simply couldn’t fill.
Mark Letestu was Edmonton’s top defensive center, but his limited production at five-on-five kept him as nothing more than a role player. The Oilers simply didn’t have a pivot who could handle the tough assignments.
What Does RNH Bring?:
When at his best, Nugent-Hopkins is an extremely strong defensive center with legit offensive potential. In 2014-15, Nuge made the All-Star game and was the best player in Edmonton. How quickly we forget that during 2014-15, many Oiler fans labeled RNH as untouchable and were on-board with trading Taylor Hall. How much things change in a year….
Offensively, Nuge posted 24-32-56 in 76 games during his finest NHL campaign. 2013-14 was just as impressive as he posted 19-37-56 in 80 contests. In three of his five NHL seasons, Nugent-Hopkins has hit the 50 point mark (52 in 2011-12). If it weren’t for his injury and health issues last year, he likely would have made it four seasons out of five.
A center who can score 50 points per season and provide strong defensive play is an extremely valuable player. Not only is that what RNH brings, but he also is more than capable of handling the rigorous and hard matchups in the Western Conference. This is a player that has went to war against guys like Kopitar, Toews, Thornton, Getzlaf and Sedin and won his fair share of battles.
As of this writing, he’s the only player on Edmonton’s roster that can claim that.
What A Return To Form Means:
I think you can make a case that, if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins plays at his 2014-15 level, Edmonton will have one of the top three one-two center combinations in the west. We know what Connor McDavid is, a franchise level talent that might hit 90 points this season. He’s an elite player.
Having a 50 point, two-way center who is capable of handling the tough matchups just behind him on the depth chart is something that not many teams can boast. Off the top of my head, I’d rank San Jose’s and maybe Chicago’s top-two centers ahead of a healthy Edmonton duo.
Those two, on their own, could keep Edmonton afloat in the playoff race for an extended period if they are both playing their game, they can be THAT good.
Final Thoughts:
I think a return to form is more than realistic for Nugent-Hopkins. If he can stay healthy this season, I’d be stunned if he didn’t eclipse the 50 point mark. Even when he was battling the illnesses and injuries last season, he was still an effective defensive center, so I think it’s fair to expect that aspect of his game to be running just fine.
It’s also worth noting that Nugent-Hopkins was exceptional for Team North America during the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto. To my eye, he was the best two-way player on the hockey team and he produced offensively for the club, scoring 1-2-3 in three contests.
A return to form from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would give Edmonton their best one-two punch down the middle in a long, long time. Without a doubt in my mind, he’s the Oilers’ X-Factor for the 2016-17 season.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
