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Edmonton Oilers: Ranking Players Trending Up So Far This Season

By Phil Gretzky

EDMONTON, AB - DECEMBER 18: Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers skates during the game against the St. Louis Blues on December 18, 2018 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
EDMONTON, AB - DECEMBER 18: Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers skates during the game against the St. Louis Blues on December 18, 2018 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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EDMONTON, AB – DECEMBER 27: Edmonton Oilers Left Wing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) celebrates a power play goal in the first period during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Vancouver Canucks on December 27, 2018 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB. (Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Third Player Trending Up

3.  Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Nuge is another player who is having a stellar year for us.  Until Leon and Connor came along, he was our 1st line center, which means the Oilers have a pretty sick trio of guys they can play at both center spots in the top 6.

Currently, with 11 goals and 31 points in 35 games, Nuge is flirting with the PPG mark, a good omen as the 25-year-old just started his PPY.  At 0.89 PPG, that projects to 73 points, which would be a career high by a country mile.  Oh, and also 25 goals which are also a career high.

Like Draisaitl, it doesn’t matter whether Nuge is riding shotgun on the wing or driving the bus on his own line at center, he produces.  With an 11.1 (compared to an 11.4) shooting %, those numbers are sustainable all season.

One thing that’s a bit of an aberration is Nuge is -9 at this point in the season.  That’s not great, but nothing to be concerned about.  I’m willing to overlook that if he gets back to the 20 goal mark for the 3rd time in his career and starts putting multiple seasons of that together.  For the record, he was much better at this last season when he was +10.

In terms of ice time, Nuge’s is a bit more interesting than either Connor’s or Leons in that he’s a top 10 player on the team at evens and on both special teams – 14:57 at evens (8th on the team), 1:51 on the PK (5th on the team), and 3:41 on the PP (4th on the team).  Perhaps this has to do with the fact that he’s the most experienced of the big 3, so he plays in all three disciplines and a bit less than Connor and Leon at evens.

The one blemish to be concerned about for Nuge is his faceoffs.  If he wants to play more time at center, he has to get better at faceoffs.  This is his 8th season in the league, and he still hasn’t had a FO% over 50% – although he came close last year with 48.76%.  This year he’s regressed a bit to 43.3%.

Once Nuge gets those faceoffs worked on, he’ll be an even more valuable player.  I think he can get to 50% – if he can get to 48 he can get to 50, IMO.

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