Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Center
The Nuge, as he’s affectionately known in Edmonton, is wildly popular with the Oilers faithful, and with good reason. Despite being on the small side (6-foot, 189 pounds), Nugent-Hopkins has developed into a solid two-way centerman.
Puck Prose
None of his numbers are spectacular, but none are bad either. His stats paint him as a below average NHL #1 center, which is not exactly a bad thing.
But “wait”, you might be saying, “I thought Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was an offensive star like Hall or Eberle”. Wellllll, no, not really. His offensive production has actually been pretty steady his whole career, and that production is about 50-55 points per season.
For comparison, his offensive production this season was on par with Carl Soderberg.
The one place The Nuge excels is on the power play. On the man advantage he is one of the better players in the league, which may account for his reputation as an offensive dynamo.
So do the Avs need such a player? No, not really. We already have a Carl Soderberg, and we’re already in a situation where one of our top centers probably needs to play wing.
On top of that, the Oilers would very likely want a huge return for him. He is a #1 center after all. I say let the Oilers keep him. He’ll make a great #2 behind McDavid for years to come.
Next: So is there a trade to be made here?