Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is about to add another line to an already sturdy Oilers legacy.
When Edmonton faces the New Jersey Devils tonight, Nov. 3, the veteran forward is set to skate in his 1,038th game and pass Kevin Lowe for the franchise’s all-time games-played record. Lowe’s mark of 1,037 came in two separate stints, while Nugent-Hopkins has reached his total with one team, which makes the milestone stand out even more. The only catch: it won’t happen in front of the home crowd.
Edmonton marked the occasion with T-shirts, a fitting touch for a player who has become one of the most familiar faces in the organization. Nugent-Hopkins has handled just about everything the Oilers have asked of him.
He’s a fixture on the top power-play unit, a dependable penalty killer and a player who can slide anywhere in the lineup. He can live in the top six or drop to the third line when the team needs it.
That kind of flexibility has made him invaluable.
The numbers back up the reputation. Nugent-Hopkins has 294 goals and 811 points across 16 NHL seasons.
He has posted seven 20-goal seasons and one 30-goal campaign, and his game has stayed remarkably steady year after year. At 33, he’s carved out a place as one of the most respected and well-liked Oilers ever.
His path to this point has been anything but smooth. Edmonton took him first overall in 2011, right in the middle of the decade of darkness, and his early years were defined by change.
He played under four head coaches in his first four seasons and has had 10 coaches overall during his career. The team kept shifting around him, but he remained.
He also had to wait a long time for his first playoff game. That didn’t come until 2017, after he had already played 395 regular-season games. Through all of it, he kept going, moving from a long rebuild to a team that now sits among the league’s perennial Stanley Cup contenders.
“You see around the league guys jumping ship and changing organizations a lot, and he’s stuck with this organization through some of the darkest times. You think early in his career, they missed the playoffs for however many years, and not a lot of guys get to see a rebuild all the way through and see the other side of it. He’s done that, and it’s a big credit to him for his commitment to the city, to the organization and to the fanbase,” Connor McDavid stated ahead of their game against the Devils.
Nugent-Hopkins still has two seasons left on his eight-year deal with a $5,125 million cap hit, so this record should keep climbing. Leon Draisaitl is the closest active Oiler behind him at 870 games, which gives a sense of just how far ahead Nugent-Hopkins has already pulled away. It looks like this one will stand for a while.
In Other News...
Oilers Escape With A Point In A Performance Fans Wont Love
The Oilers left New Jersey with a point after a 4-3 shootout loss, but it was the kind of night that probably did not sit well with anyone watching closely. Edmonton opened the scoring, then spent much of the game chasing the Devils after a rough second period, before clawing back into it in the third and forcing overtime. Connor McDavid kept his run going with another point, and Evan Bouchard continued to pace NHL defensemen in scoring, but the overall performance was uneven enough to make the result feel more like a survival act than a clean escape.
Special teams helped keep Edmonton in the game, with the power play doing important work after the Oilers were outplayed at five-on-five. Tristan Jarry turned in a .912 save percentage to give them a chance to hang around, and the point at least prevented the night from becoming a full collapse after three straight wins. Still, the bigger concern is how often this group had to lean on individual skill and special-teams execution just to get to a shootout. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Trade Buzz Is Suddenly Focusing On One Missing Element
The Oilers trade chatter is starting to circle around a very specific need: a heavier forward who can bring size and edge to the bottom six. Sportsnets Frank Seravalli and analyst Bob Stauffer have both pointed to that type of addition as a possible priority, with Matt Rempe of the New York Rangers emerging as one name to watch among a broader list that also includes Kirby Dach, Zack Ostapchuk, Mathieu Olivier and Evander Kane.
Edmonton has plenty of skill up front, but the conversation now is about balance and whether the roster has enough physical presence for the stretch run. Nothing has been confirmed yet, which leaves the Oilers in the familiar spot of being linked to multiple options while the front office sorts out which fit makes the most sense. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Suddenly Have A Wing Problem At The Worst Time
Isaac Howards latest setback comes at an awkward time for Edmonton, which is already trying to keep its forward group steady through the grind of the schedule. The winger was hurt early in the game against the New York Islanders and, according to head coach Mike Babcock, will be out for approximately two weeks after the knee injury.
Howard had appeared in 12 games this season before the injury, and the Oilers have already had to adjust without him by turning to Filip Hallander in the lineup. For a team that can ill afford more uncertainty on the wing, the timing only adds to the challenge of holding things together while Howard works his way back. [Read more 🡒]