ROSTER REDUX: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Ahead of the 2023-24 season, EdmontonOilers.com is taking a look back at the '22-23 individual performances of the Oilers in our series 'Roster Redux'

EDMONTON, AB - In his 12 seasons wearing the Blue & Orange, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has always been a reliable player. Last year, he was a dominant one.

The 30-year-old entered the '22-23 season extra motivated off the longest playoff run of his National Hockey League career after reaching the Western Conference Final against the eventual cup winning Colorado Avalanche. Nugent-Hopkins would channel that energy into one of the best offensive seasons in recent Oilers history, smashing career-best after career-best on his way to a 104-point season.

"It's the shortest summer I've had so far and that's a good thing," Nugent-Hopkins said entering Oilers training camp. "I know the buzz around the room is excitement and we're eager to get going."

"At this point I'm always trying to round out my game every year. I think the thing you can work on a lot is your shot," Nugent-Hopkins said about his offseason goals. "Last year, I wasn't too happy with the way I was producing with my shooting percentage, so I worked on it and got it back to where I'm confident in it. That's the main thing I focused on."

Safe to say the offseason labour bore fruit for Nuge. The versatile forward blew his previous career-high out of the water, notching 37 goals on the season with an 18.4% shooting percentage - scoring nine more goals than his previous best of 28 set back in 2018-19.

The Burnaby, BC product initially wasn't expected to be the high-end offensive contributor that he ended up being, starting the first game of the season as the Oilers third-line centre. Nugent-Hopkins penchant for being a reliable two-way forward made him Head Coach Jay Woodcroft's Swiss-army knife. However, an early season flurry of production - 11 points in the first eight games - saw Nugent-Hopkins saddled on the wing next to Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid for much of the season.

"He's the longest-serving Oiler for a reason. He's a high-end player," Woodcroft said. "He's somebody takes pride in his competition level and I think that's what we're seeing this year, is how competitive Nuge is being in all situations. I'm moving him all over the lineup. He's left wing, he's centre, he's playing on first-unit penalty kill, and first-unit power play."

In a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 23, Nugent-Hopkins fired a laser of a wrist shot at his favoured low-blocker spot that beat Tristan Jarry for his 600th NHL point. The goal was his 28th of the season, tying his old career-high, and came one game after setting a new career best in points with 70.

The points kept coming for the longest-serving Oiler. On March 28, Nugent-Hopkins recorded the second five-point game of his career, and first since 2011, in a 7-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. The sensational performance put Nugent-Hopkins just four-points shy of breaking the 100-point barrier for the first time since his junior hockey days with the WHL's Red Deer Rebels.

"He's just such a good hockey player," Draisaitl said after game. "It's crazy he doesn't get nearly enough recognition that he deserves. The things he does are so subtle, and most people don't realize what he does out there, but he's just a phenomenal hockey player."

Eight days later, with the Anaheim Ducks net empty, McDavid would be sure to pick out Nugent-Hopkins with a simple pass before Zach Hyman tucked the puck into the empty cage to nudge the Oilers assistant captain to the century mark on the season. Nuge became the third Oilers player to hit that triple-digit threshold making the Oilers the first team to have three 100-point scorers since the 1995-96 Penguins.

After the game, cheers were loudly heard in the Oilers dressing room and after the game he was presented a giant, oil derrick shaped cake from the other two members of the 100-point club in Draisaitl and McDavid.

Nugent-Hopkins would finish the regular season with 37 goals, 67 assists, and 104 points - adding another 11 points in 12 Oilers postseason games. The veteran playmaker also found his groove on the Oilers PP1. Nugent-Hopkins established his role on the Oilers historic special teams unit which ended up breaking the all-time NHL record for efficiency at 32.4 per cent, with Nuge playing a huge part in the group's success. He would finish the year with a career-best 53 power-play points, finishing third in the league in that category behind his teammates McDavid and Draisaitl.

The final milestone hit by the long-time Oiler was his 800th NHL game, which he suited up for in game 81 of the regular season in Colorado. Evander Kane is the only player to have more NHL experience in the Oilers dressing room, and his years of servitude for a single club has not gone unnoticed by his teammates.

There may be no greater example of what makes Nuge a well regarded teammate than what happened in the March 1 game between the Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs. Midway through the third period, Leafs defenceman Justin Holl caught Kailer Yamamoto with a blindside hit behind the net. Nugent-Hopkins sprung immediately into action, dropping the gloves with the rugged defenceman, eventually coming out on top -- sparking an outburst of stick taps from the Oilers bench.

"I would say for me, I really enjoy seeing somebody get into that type of situation on behalf of a teammate that he felt was cheap shot," Woodcroft said after the game. "I thought he acquitted himself really well versus a man who is bigger than him, and it fired up the fan base, it fired up the bench, it fired up the coaching staff. You can see why he's such a beloved teammate."