Tonight, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will return to the Edmonton Oilers lineup. That means, for the first time since late October, the Oilers will have all three of their top centers in the lineup. It’s remarkable the string of injuries that this team has undergone, but as of tonight it is over. The Oilers can run Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl down the middle in an NHL game.
You wanna talk options? This trio of centers gives Edmonton quite a few.
Impact Veteran:
Yes, he’s still young, but for all intents and purposes the Nuge is an NHL veteran. He’s been around this league since he was 18 years old and he’s been battling guys like Anze Kopitar, Ryan Getzlaf, Jonathan Toews, Tyler Seguin and Joe Thornton for the better part of five years. That kind of experience will force any young player to grow up quite fast.
The Nuge doesn’t have the offensive pop that Taylor Hall or McDavid have, but he’s still an extremely valuable player. Very few players in this league are good for consistently 50 points, but RNH is one of them. Last season, he registered 24-32-56 in 76 games, while this season he has 8-22-30 in 46 games, another 50 point pace. He also hit 50 points in 2011-12 and 2013-14. He’s not an elite producer, but he’s a consistently good one, and that’s a fact.
The biggest value with this player? He’s a good two-way center. He’s not a defensive liability, in fact he’s far from it. Without a doubt he is Edmonton’s best defensive center and the only guy on the team who has successfully battled the top pivots in the west and come out on top before. Impact two-way center, that’s RNH.
He’s got the maturity, thanks to joining the NHL at 18, to play big minutes and, more importantly, play tough minutes at this level. As good as McDavid and Draisaitl are, they aren’t ready to consistently play those minutes. Need proof? Take a look at Draisaitl’s drop in production after the RNH injury.
Three-Pronged Attack:
With RNH back into the mix, the Oilers have options that will make other teams nervous. Seriously, the Oilers can work three dangerous lines into the lineup now. A constant offensive barrage is now possible, with McDavid, Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins each anchoring a line. Add wingers like Eberle, Yakupov and Hall to the mix and you can see the makings of a potent unit.
Having these three also allows the Oilers to stack up two lines and create a killer one-two punch. We know the chemistry that Draisaitl had earlier this year with RNH and Taylor Hall, it was something to behold. What this does is give Todd McLellan legit options, something he really hasn’t had since Halloween night against Calgary.
Possible Lines:
Tonight, as per Jack Michaels on Twitter, the Oilers will role with the following lines (At least to start):
EDM lines: Hall-McDavid-Kassian, Maroon-Draisaitl-Eberle, Korpikoski-RNH-Yakupov, Cracknell-Letestu-Pakarinen.
— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) March 12, 2016
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At first glance, this appears to give Edmonton an offensive duo on each line. The combinations of Hall-McDavid, Draisaitl-Eberle and RNH-Yakupov could certainly give teams fits, especially one as weak defensively as Arizona is. Like I mentioned above, what the Oilers now have are options, which they couldn’t say for most of this season.
With Nugent-Hopkins back in the lineup, I think it’s fair to suggest that we see an uptick in power play production and in offensive production. It’ll be interesting to see how Todd McLellan deploys his offensive options the rest of the way.
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