‘He’s the heartbeat of our team’: Why everybody loves Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, long-suffering Edmonton Oiler
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
DALLAS — Leon Draisaitl is a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fan.
“He’s so valuable, right? In every facet of the game. He touches every part of it,” the Edmonton Oilers star said of his longtime teammate. “Have you guys ever seen him make a mistake? I really haven’t.”
Nugent-Hopkins rejected his alleged infallibility.
“I make mistakes. I make mistakes, for sure,” he said, laughing. “But you try to limit them. I try to play as smart as I can.”
Kris Knoblauch is also a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fan.
After Draisaitl joked that Nugent-Hopkins was “a coach’s favorite hockey player in the world,” the Oilers’ current coach agreed that there are times when the Edmonton forward is in fact his favorite player in the world. Like after Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, when Nugent-Hopkins scored two power-play goals to reenergize that struggling unit, hand all the momentum to the Oilers and spark them to a victory over the Dallas Stars that put them ahead 3-2 in the series.
“I actually saw Ryan after the game and I told him that, tonight, he’s my favorite,” the coach said. “Two goals. Played a really big part on the penalty kill, too.”
Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner has always been a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fan — in the “collecting his hockey cards, poster on the bedroom wall” sense.
The “Nuge” was his favorite player growing up as a fan, before they became Oilers teammates in 2021.
“That is a little bit embarrassing [to admit] with him sitting right beside me,” Skinner, 25, joked as he and the 31-year-old Nugent-Hopkins chatted with the media after Game 5.
“I truly believe he’s one of the best two-way players in the league. It’s pretty remarkable what this guy does, his work ethic day in and day out,” Skinner said. “But I’m more impressed with the type of person that he is when he is off the ice. He was my favorite player growing up, and being able to play with him, I’ve learned a lot. There’s a lot more to him than just hockey, and that’s been one of the coolest things: to just become great friends with this guy.”
Nugent-Hopkins has a lot of fans rooting for him. He’s the longest-serving Oilers player — 881 career games over 13 seasons — on a team that’s now one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006. He’s the connective tissue from the Oilers’ era of unfulfilled potential to the reign of Connor McDavid and Draisaitl, who are determined to fulfill their potential as champions.
If they do, Nugent-Hopkins should be one of the first teammates who is handed the Stanley Cup in celebration. He has meant that much to the Oilers.
“I think he’s the heartbeat of our team. He’s the one that shows the culture,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “And he’s been here for long time.”
THE MUSTACHE is trying.
It sits on the upper lip of Nugent-Hopkins, attempting to age up a face that still resembles the one on stage at the 2011 draft, when he was selected with the first pick. His 13 challenging seasons in the NHL haven’t weathered him in body or in spirit.
The first time Nugent-Hopkins put on an Edmonton Oilers jersey was at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Devils won the lottery that year, but the Oilers, still mired in a multiyear rebuild, retained the first pick with the league’s worst record (62 points).
Nugent-Hopkins was a playmaking center with the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League. He was the consensus top pick, but scouts also liked how fellow prospects like defenseman Adam Larsson and forward Gabriel Landeskog projected as NHL players.
On draft day, the Oilers called his name, and the young center was happy that they did.
“It’s a big honor. I know all the great players who have come through Edmonton,” he said. “Just getting to join a franchise like that is a really good feeling.”
Before he was drafted, Nugent-Hopkins visited Edmonton and saw photographs that chronicled all of the Oilers’ previous championship teams, his eyes scanning the faces of over a half-dozen Hall of Famers. He was drafted to join a collection of young players that many felt had the potential to bring Edmonton its first championship since the end of that dynasty.
When Nugent-Hopkins was drafted, the Oilers hadn’t made the playoffs since 2006. That lack of success gave Edmonton an unprecedented run of top-10 picks: By the time the Oilers drafted defenseman Phillip Broberg at No. 8 in 2019, they had selected 11 players in the first 10 picks of the draft over a span of 13 seasons.
Nugent-Hopkins was the second consecutive top pick for Edmonton, which picked winger Taylor Hall No. 1 in 2010. He arrived in Edmonton with Sam Gagner (6th, 2007), Jordan Eberle (22nd, 2008), Magnus Paajarvi (10th, 2009) and Hall already in place; the next two drafts would yield Nail Yakupov, the Oilers’ third straight No. 1 pick, and Darnell Nurse (No. 7, 2013).
Then the game changed. Draisaitl was drafted third in 2014, followed by McDavid at No. 1 in 2015. Their arrival signaled a shift in strategy: The Oilers were not going to be married to their previous high draft choices if they weren’t developing into NHL stars or if they could bring back players to build around their generational talent, McDavid, through trades.
Hall was traded to New Jersey in a one-for-one deal for defenseman Adam Larsson in 2016. Yakupov, considered a significant draft disappointment, was dealt to the Blues in 2016. Eberle was shipped to the New York Islanders in 2017 in a deal for Ryan Strome. Paajarvi was dealt well before that in a trade for David Perron in 2013, while Gagner was traded to the Lightning in 2014.
Nugent-Hopkins felt those winds of change, too. Sportsnet reported in 2016 that the Oilers offered him to the Nashville Predators in a deal to land defenseman Seth Jones, who was eventually traded to Columbus. A search for “Ryan Nugent-Hopkins” and “trade bait” reveals the speculation was an annual rite.
Sportsnet referred to him as “expendable” in light of the Oilers’ depth at center. His contract — $6 million average annual value, locked up for his prime years — was cap-friendly, but his offensive production wasn’t quite where many expected it could be after several seasons in the league. From 2011 to ’18, there were 70 players who amassed more points than Nugent-Hopkins.
In the first eight seasons of his career, the Oilers made the playoffs just once. Those weren’t fun times for him.
“Your early years, especially when you’re coming from junior where you had some success, it can be frustrating, for sure, to be missing the playoffs year in and year out,” Nugent-Hopkins said.
True to form, he pulled some positives out of the negative.
“At the same time, you get extra time to work on your game in the summer. As a young kid, there’s lots to grow into physically and mentally,” he noted. “Just kind of mature. To figure out how you’re going to be a good player in this league.
“But it also makes you hungry to make the most of these opportunities. You understand that it’s not that easy to make the playoffs. Then when you get a chance, you’ve got to be hungry for it.”
Nugent-Hopkins wanted success. More to the point, he wanted it in Edmonton. He followed a seven-year contract with an eight-year deal that he signed in June 2021. He was committed.
The Oilers were soon rewarded for their trust in Nugent-Hopkins.
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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins slaps home his 2nd goal for Oilers
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scores his second goal to pad the Oilers’ lead.
IN THE NHL, there are star offensive players who help run a power play and strong defensive players who are keys to a penalty kill. Rarer are the players who “touch every part of the game” and do it well, as Draisaitl said of Nugent-Hopkins.
It’s something Zach Hyman saw immediately when he joined the Oilers in 2021.
“He touches all aspects of the game. Power play, penalty kill, plays tons at even strength. He’s out in the last minute of the game, whether you’re up or down,” he said. “On the ice, he just does it all for us.”
That’s a point of pride for Nugent-Hopkins. Intangibles that used to seem expendable on less successful teams are now seen as invaluable on a Cup contender: his two-way game and all the little things he does for the Oilers.
“It’s something that I’ve definitely taken a lot of pride in over the years. Worked on both sides of the puck. I want to be relied upon in those situations. You’ve got to be dialed in at all times,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Sometimes the power play can make the difference. Sometimes the PK can make the difference. And sometimes it’s 5-on-5. I want to keep improving on both sides of it and see where we can get.”
His offense started to tick up as McDavid and Draisaitl became more dominant. But the 2022-23 season was like nothing anyone expected from Nugent-Hopkins: 104 points, fueled by 53 points on the Oilers’ incredible power play. He scored 37 goals that season, obliterating his previous career high.
“He’s a big part of the power play,” Knoblauch said. “He’s not the driver, but he’s a great facilitator. He has a lot of good things that help that power play work.”
It worked in Game 5 of the conference finals. The Oilers’ power play was 0-for-6 in the series heading into Friday night. But Nugent-Hopkins scored late in the first period, backhanding the puck past Jake Oettinger after an Evan Bouchard point blast, and then scored again on the power play 1:06 into the second period on a snap shot from the slot.
“If you’re going to draw a road game, that’s pretty much what you want to do, right?” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “They want to come out, get two power-play goals early in the game, get the lead and then defend well all night. So it’s tough to crack through.”
The Stars were 0-for-2 on their power plays, and 0-for-11 in the series. Nugent-Hopkins has played a major role in that, leading all Oilers forwards in short-handed ice time (9:46) against Dallas.
The way Nugent-Hopkins plays epitomizes how the Oilers have been able to keep the Stars in check: smart hockey, nothing too flashy and with minimal mistakes.
“It starts with getting through the neutral zone, not turning pucks over and not giving them anything easy coming back at us,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Sometimes you got to live to fight another day. You don’t need to be too aggressive.”
Nugent-Hopkins has seen more days as an Edmonton Oiler than any of his teammates. Most of them were disappointing.
But they’re finally getting better — and the Oilers are now five wins away from the day Nugent-Hopkins and his many fans have been waiting to experience.
“This is why we play. Why we work so hard at our craft to get ourselves in these situations and to be a part of a group like this,” Nugent-Hopkins said.
“When you’re in it, there not a lot of time to sit back and reflect too much. But this is all you can ask for. It’s going to take a lot of work, but we have an opportunity here.”
One team is a win away from advancing to a third straight Stanley Cup Final. The other is about to once again come up short in a conference final. As drastic as that sounds, that is the reality facing the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes following the Panthers’ 6-2 win Saturday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers opened the series by scoring five goals in each of the first two games and exposing the Hurricanes in a way that hadn’t been done by another team this postseason. On Saturday, it appeared that the Canes may have found a solution as they entered the third period tied at 1-1 … before the Panthers exploded for five straight goals to close out Game 3 in emphatic fashion.
How did both teams perform? Who is worth watching in Game 4? And given that there’s a sweep in play, what could Monday mean for both teams, knowing that one of them could see their season come to an end? Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton answer those questions while reviewing what has been a lopsided Eastern Conference finals.
The Panthers withstood an expected early push from Carolina and settled swiftly into their own game. They failed to capitalize on their first-period power-play chance but made up for it by opening the scoring with a goal credited to Niko Mikkola (that actually went off Carolina’s Dmitry Orlov) midway through the first. It was a deflating marker for Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov to cede right after a solid Hurricanes penalty kill and appeared to diminish Carolina’s confidence.
There was potential to shift Carolina’s momentum, though. Before the first period ended, Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen finished a check sending Jackson Blake awkwardly into the boards. That earned Luostarinen a five-minute penalty and game misconduct, putting the Panthers down two of their top forwards in Luostarinen and an injured Sam Reinhart. But Florida didn’t let the lengthy man advantage hurt its momentum. The Panthers killed it off and matched Carolina’s shot total while shorthanded.
While the score was tied at 1-1 going into the third, Florida regained its lead with Jesper Boqvist undressing (to put it mildly) Orlov in shocking fashion. Boqvist entered the lineup to replace Reinhart, and it was the type of contribution Florida could only hope to see from its depth skater.
It was all Panthers from there, with goals from Mikkola, Aleksander Barkov (capitalizing on a turnover by Orlov), Evan Rodrigues and Brad Marchand giving Florida a 6-1 lead halfway through the third and putting Carolina against the ropes going into an elimination Game 4. Florida will wonder about Mikkola’s status ahead of that tilt. (He left in the third period Saturday after slamming into the end boards.) But the Cats can’t be too frustrated given their win. — Kristen Shilton
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Jesper Boqvist puts Panthers back ahead
Jesper Boqvist goes through the goaltender’s legs to restore the Panthers’ lead vs. the Hurricanes.
Unofficial Canadian poet laureate Avril Lavigne once posed one of more philosophical questions of her generation: Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?
Everything the Hurricanes did through the first two periods of Game 3 created the belief that they could potentially stick with the Panthers. Only to then fall apart in the third period. Again.
There are numerous reasons why losing Game 3 is so damning for the Hurricanes. What might be the most prominent and prevalent is there might not be anything else they can do at this stage. We have seen the Panthers take a 3-0 series lead only to be pushed to a Game 7 in a playoff series. That was the case in last year’s Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers.
But through three games of this series? The Hurricanes have switched goaltenders, adjusted their lineups and sought out other alterations within their structure — and still lost by a large margin while once again falling prey to being on the other end of a big period. — Ryan S. Clark
Three Stars of Game 3
Mikkola has had quite a series. The defensemen has broken up plays, taken command off the rush and created quality scoring chances. He had two goals in Game 3 for his first career multigoal playoff game and the fourth multigoal playoff game in Panthers franchise history.
It was two goals and a helper for the Cats’ captain. This was Barkov’s 20th career multipoint playoff game, the most in Panthers franchise history.
3. The Panthers’ third period
The Panthers unloaded in the final frame, scoring five goals to run away with Game 3 by a final score of 6-2. Five tucks is the most in any period in a playoff game in franchise history. The Hurricanes have now lost 15 straight conference final games since they won the Stanley Cup in 2006. — Arda Öcal
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Panthers pour it on with 2 more quick goals
The Panthers net two more goals in just over a minute to pad their lead vs. the Hurricanes.
Players to watch in Game 4
There’s no question Florida’s netminder has been building a Conn Smythe case with his excellent play in this postseason. However, Bobrovsky hasn’t been at his most dominant in (initial) closeout games during the playoffs. He made 26 saves for an .897 save percentage in Florida’s Game 5 win over Tampa Bay to send the Lightning home, and made just 15 stops (.882 SV%) in Florida’s Game 6 loss to Toronto in the second round, when the Panthers had a chance to advance.
Bobrovsky was practically impenetrable in Game 7 of that series as the Leafs imploded, but it’s fair to wonder what version of Bobrovsky the Panthers will get in Game 4.
When Florida had an opportunity to close out Edmonton in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final last spring, Bobrovsky turned in his worst showing of the playoffs, with five goals allowed on 11 shots that saw him chased from the net in an 8-1 thumping. Florida has put itself in a good position to send Carolina home, but wouldn’t it be nice to do it sooner than later? Bobrovsky at his best will help Florida do just that. — Shilton
Benching Frederik Andersen was done with the belief that Kochetkov could give the Hurricanes a stronger chance to win. Through two periods, it appeared that that could be the case, as Kochetkov received the necessary support from the Hurricanes’ defensive structure, something that had been an issue in the first two games.
But the Panthers’ five consecutive goals in the third period derailed things. The Hurricanes have now allowed 16 goals over three games. It’s a stark contrast to the first two rounds, when Carolina allowed 18 total in 10 games against the Devils and Capitals.
Kochetkov’s first two periods of Game 3 provided a level of consistency the Hurricanes have struggled to find at times. Is it possible they take something from the opening two-thirds of Game 3 and parlay it into a different outcome in Game 4? Or will it be game and season over instead? — Clark
Big questions for Game 4
Is Florida ready to end this series?
The cliché that the fourth win of a playoff series is the hardest to get exists for a reason. The Panthers experienced that firsthand last season when they took a 3-0 lead over Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final, then crisscrossed the continent over the next week as the Oilers clawed back to force a Game 7.
Did the Panthers learn their lesson on how to close an opponent out quickly? Florida did it to these very Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals two years ago with a tidy four-game sweep featuring many of the same elements we’ve seen from the Panthers in this round. But Florida appeared to have Edmonton well in hand 11 months ago, too.
Game 3 was arguably the Hurricanes’ best of the series. If they can channel some significant desperation into their game Monday, how will Florida handle the pressure of an urgent club trying not to be embarrassed with a 16th consecutive loss in a conference final situation? The Panthers can’t afford to look past what will be a dramatic Game 4. — Shilton
Is this it for the Hurricanes — and what comes next if it is?
That in and of itself is a rather loaded question for several reasons, with the obvious being: Will Monday be Carolina’s last game of the 2025 playoffs? If it is, what could that mean for the franchise going forward?
The way the Hurricanes have been constructed has allowed them to become a perennial playoff team with a legitimate chance of reaching the conference finals. But that comes with the caveat that the Canes might not go any further than that.
It was a dilemma the Panthers faced before making the changes that saw them not only win a Stanley Cup, but also be one win away from a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final. Maybe it doesn’t come to that point for the Hurricanes. But if they allow five or more goals for a fourth straight game while also struggling to score? It could lead to some difficult questions this offseason in Raleigh. — Clark
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Greg Wyshynski
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers are one win away from an Eastern Conference finals sweep. They’ve outscored the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that’s lost 15 straight conference final games, by a count of 16-4. Yet Panthers forward Brad Marchand is still ready for this series to go the distance.
“We’re prepared to go seven here,” he said after their 6-2 victory in Game 3 on Saturday night. “I mean, you can’t start looking ahead. That’s such a dangerous game to play.”
Contextually, that mindset might seem preposterous. The Panthers are trying to match the Tampa Bay Lightning as the only teams since the Edmonton Oilers’ 1980s dynasty to advance to the Stanley Cup Final in three straight seasons, having won the Cup last season. They’ve dominated the Hurricanes with their physicality, scoring depth and the goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky, who now has a .947 save percentage and a 1.33 goals-against average in the conference finals.
It seems like a matter of when, not if, Florida will eliminate Carolina — and the “when” is trending to be Monday night at home in Game 4. Yet the Panthers are the last team to take a 3-0 lead for granted.
Coach Paul Maurice recalled their semifinals series against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023, when they went up 3-0 and dropped a Game 4 on home ice. “We wanted it so bad that we tried to win the game on every play,” he said.
Then came the ultimate lesson on how not to close out a series: The 2024 Stanley Cup Final, which saw the Panthers squander a 3-0 series lead to the Edmonton Oilers before finally winning Game 7 to hoist the Cup for the first time.
Maurice hopes his players understand the dynamics at play in Game 4.
“They have the desperation advantage. You have, potentially, the desire advantage. Both teams will fight that. Can we control the desire emotion and play the game? Can they control the desperation emotion and play the game? The common denominator is just playing the game,” he said.
Game 3 saw the Hurricanes play with more desperation than they’ve exhibited in this series. The game was tied 1-1 entering the third period after Carolina’s Logan Stankoven — who Bobrovsky robbed earlier in the second period with a lunging blocker save — managed to knock the puck past him for a power-play goal at 14:51 to even the score.
The Hurricanes were finally looking like the stingy, tight-checking team they’re known for being. Maurice wasn’t expecting a windfall of offense from the Panthers after the first 40 minutes of Game 3.
“We’re not going out to the third period saying, ‘Well, we can tell this is going to work out [for us]. I’ve got an extra piece of gum in my pocket for the second overtime. That’s how our experience with Carolina has been,” the coach said.
The gum stayed in his pocket. Florida scored five goals in the first 10:37 of the third period to put the game — and potentially the series — away.
“We knew we needed to be a little better than what we were in the second period, so we tried to keep things simple and I think we got rewarded for that,” said captain Aleksander Barkov, who had two of the goals in the onslaught.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour was left dumbfounded.
“We’re playing better and then we just turn pucks over. It’s not what we do. I think everyone’s just pretty surprised, you know what I mean?” he said. “Just you can’t do that. In a preseason game it’s going to cost you. But against that team, and you turn it over for odd man rushes? Forget it.”
The key to the rally was a goal by forward Jesper Boqvist, who was put on Barkov’s line as an injury replacement for Sam Reinhart, the Panthers’ leading scorer in the regular season. He took a short pass from linemate Evan Rodrigues and then turned Carolina defenseman Dmitry Orlov (minus-4) inside out before scoring on the backhand against Pyotr Kochetkov (22 saves), who got the start over Frederik Andersen in Game 3 for Carolina.
Boqvist had just one goal and one assist in 9 playoff games this postseason, averaging 8:53 in ice time. In Game 3, he had three points (1 goal, 2 assists) and skated 15:08 for the Panthers.
“He’s an extremely gifted player. I love playing with him. He can kind of play anywhere in the lineup and he’s such an incredible skater. So strong with the puck, so smart. And that was a massive goal,” Marchand said.
The Panthers won Game 3 without Reinhart and without having forward Eetu Luostarinen for most of the game, after he was ejected for boarding Carolina forward Jackson Blake in the first period. Luostarinen was tied for the team lead with 13 points entering Game 3, with 4 goals and 9 assists.
The Panthers would kill off that 5-minute major in what Maurice called “a real inflection point in the game,” considering that Florida was missing key penalty killers in Luostarinen and Reinhart, who is day-to-day with a lower body injury. When they needed him, Bobrovsky (23 saves) was a great last line of defense.
Thanks to their third-period deluge, the Panthers are now poised to sweep the Hurricanes in the conference final for the second time in three postseasons. Yet even with Florida’s domination of the series, Marchand said his team is anything but overconfident.
“I don’t think the way the games have been played is really an indication of what the outcome’s been, score wise. They’ve been pretty tight. It just seems like we’ve gotten a couple bounces, a couple lucky breaks here and there that have given us a pretty good lead,” he said.
“But it doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything about next game. We’ve got to come in and prepare the same way. It’s always the toughest one to get, so we got to make sure we bring our best.”
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Greg Wyshynski
SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen was ejected from Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals after a boarding major against forward Jackson Blake of the Carolina Hurricanes.
With 3:01 left in the first period, Blake was chasing the puck back in his own zone with Luostarinen behind him. As Luostarinen reached out with his stick, Blake stopped short of the boards and Luostarinen hit through him. Luostarinen drove Blake’s head into the boards, bloodying the Carolina forward.
The on-ice officials gave Luostarinen a five-minute major and then reviewed the hit. They confirmed the call on the ice. Per NHL Rule 41.5, when a major penalty for boarding is called, a game misconduct is automatic. A major penalty for boarding is determined by “the degree of violence of the impact with the boards.”
Luostarinen was tied for the team lead with 13 points entering Game 3, with 4 goals and 9 assists. He scored 12 of those points on the road. Blake returned to action in the second period.
The Panthers lead the series 2-0 and had a 1-0 lead in Game 3 when the major penalty was called.
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