‘He’s the heartbeat of our team’: Why everybody loves Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, long-suffering Edmonton Oiler
-
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.
0:37
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.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge has denied NASCAR’s motions to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed against the stock car series.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina also denied NASCAR’s request that two teams — 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports — be ordered to post a bond to cover fees they would not be legally owed if they lose the case.
23XI Racing, a team co-owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, and Front Row Motorsports, which is owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, are suing NASCAR to compete with charter recognition throughout the 2025 season.
NASCAR and the teams that compete in the top Cup Series operate with a franchise system that was implemented in 2016 in which 36 cars have “charters” that guarantee them a spot in the field at every race and financial incentives. There are four “open” spots earmarked for the field each week.
The teams banded together in negotiations on an improved charter system in an often-contentious battle with NASCAR for nearly two years. In September, NASCAR finally had enough and presented the teams with a take-it-or-leave-it offer that had to be signed the same day – just 48 hours before the start of the playoffs.
23XI and Front Row were the only two teams out of 15 who refused to sign the new charter agreement. They then teamed together to sue NASCAR and chairman Jim France, arguing as the only stock car entity in the United States, NASCAR has a monopoly and the teams are not getting their fair share of the pie.
Both organizations maintained they would still compete as open cars, but convinced Bell last month to give them chartered status by arguing they would suffer irreparable harm as open cars. Among the claims was that 23XI driver Tyler Reddick, last year’s regular-season champion, would contractually become an immediate free agent if the team did not have him in a guaranteed chartered car.
NASCAR argued Wednesday that it needs that money earmarked because it would be redistributed to the chartered teams if 23XI and Front Row lose.
Jeffrey Kessler, considered the top antitrust lawyer in the country, argued that NASCAR has made no such promise to redistribute the funds to other teams. Kessler said NASCAR told teams it was up to NASCAR’s discretion how it would use the money and didn’t rule out spending some on its own legal fees.
-
Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
For years, teammates have asked Devin Williams to teach them his changeup, a pitch so unusual and dominant it has its own nickname. Williams always helps. They just never get “The Airbender” right.
“I haven’t seen anyone replicate it,” Williams said.
Powered by The Airbender, Williams has established himself as one of the premier relievers in baseball since breaking into the majors in 2019. He has been so good that the Milwaukee Brewers, keeping with their frugal roster-building tactics, traded Williams to the New York Yankees last month for left-hander Nestor Cortes and prospect Caleb Durbin before he inevitably would become too expensive in free agency next winter.
So, for one season, at least, Williams will follow in the footsteps of another Yankees closer who perplexed hitters with one pitch: Mariano Rivera.
“Those are big shoes to fill,” Williams said of Rivera, whose signature cutter helped him become the first player voted unanimously to the Hall of Fame. “I feel he kind of ruined it for everybody else. I mean, after him, it’s hard to live up to those expectations. But at the end of the day, I can only be me.”
Being himself has been more than good enough for the 30-year-old Williams. The right-hander won the 2020 National League Rookie of the Year Award with a 0.33 ERA in 22 games as the Brewers’ primary setup man during the COVID-shortened campaign. He was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023, his first full season as a closer.
Last season, after missing the first four months with stress fractures in his back, he posted a 1.25 ERA with 14 saves in 15 opportunities across 22 appearances. His 40.8% strikeout rate since 2020 ranks second in the majors among relievers. His 1.70 ERA is also second. His .144 batting average against ranks first.
“Obviously, he’s one of the best in the league, if not the best,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said.
For Williams, it all starts with The Airbender. Williams grips it like a changeup and its 84-mph average velocity plays off his fastball like a changeup. But it’s a changeup with an exceptionally high spin rate that breaks to his arm side — opposite from the typical changeup — making it resemble a screwball or a left-hander’s sweeping slider. It is without precedent.
“It’s not anything to do with the grip,” Williams said. “The grip is nothing special. That’s why I think it’s funny when people are like, ‘Oh, don’t give it away.’ This is the most basic changeup grip they teach you when you’re 8 years old.”
Williams said his changeup is so different for two reasons: His elite extension, which ranked in the 98th percentile in 2024, and a singular ability to pronate his wrist.
“It’s the way my wrist works, the way I’m able to manipulate the ball is something unique, uniquely me,” Williams said. “It allows me to throw my changeup the way I throw it. I’m a really good pronator, not supinator. That’s why my slider sucked. You need to get on the other side of the ball. I’m not good at that. I’m good at turning it over.”
Williams did, however, modify his changeup grip to unearth the weapon. Entering 2019, Williams was a struggling minor league starter with a solid changeup, two years removed from Tommy John surgery. He was one year from reaching free agency, from perhaps seeing his career come to an end and going to college to play soccer.
That spring, seeking more movement, he altered his changeup grip from a two-seam to a four-seam, circle change grip. He first threw it during a live batting practice session to Trent Grisham, then a Brewers prospect. Grisham, now with the Yankees, told Williams the spin difference was noticeable. Williams stuck with it.
A starter through spring training, Williams was sent to Double-A as a reliever to begin the season. The demotion sparked desperation, and Williams decided to throw harder than ever, reaching back to lift his fastball into the high 90s. He was in the majors by August. But it wasn’t until the COVID shutdown in 2020 — when he realized spinning the ball more and dropping the velocity from high-80s to mid-80s created more movement — that his changeup reached another level.
“I took that into the season and at summer camp I’m facing my own teammates,” Williams said. “And Jedd Gyorko, I threw him one, and he swung and missed and he was just like, What is that? I’ve never seen [anything] like that. That gave me confidence and we just ran with it. And I literally started throwing it all the time.”
Coincidentally, Williams said the closest changeup he’s seen to his belongs to Luke Weaver, whose emergence as a shutdown reliever in 2024 was crucial in the Yankees reaching the World Series. Williams happened to be in New York when the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers played in the Fall Classic. He was on his annual autumn vacation after the Brewers were eliminated from the postseason. Past trips have taken him all over Europe: London, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Munich, Dortmund, with a soccer game invariably on his itinerary.
This time, he was in New York. He explored the city for 10 days. Instead of soccer, he watched the World Series from a bar. He shopped. He ate good food. He absorbed the city’s energy.
“I’m a city guy,” Williams said. “I love to explore cities. I like to immerse myself in the culture. I want to be like a normal, everyday person. You guys like bacon, egg and cheese? All right, I’m getting a bacon, egg and cheese.”
Less than two months later, as part of a series of moves executed in their pivot from Juan Soto‘s decision to sign with the crosstown Mets, the Yankees added Williams. On Thursday, Williams settled for $8.6 million to avoid arbitration.
He’ll partner with Weaver to create one of the best bullpen back ends in baseball — in hopes of helping the Yankees win their first championship since Rivera was dominating hitters with his cutter.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway