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This in from former NHL goalie Jamie McLennan, now an NHL analyst, talking to Darren Dreger on the Ray & Dregs podcast, his negative assessment of the play of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins so far this 2024-25 season: “You look at Edmonton, their special teams stink right now. Their penalty kill can’t… You look at Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on that penalty kill goal. I don’t know who he was guarding. Like he might as well, he actually should have just taken his gear off at that point.”
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McLennan continued: “I look at Edmonton and people always say, ‘You worried about Edmonton?’ I’m not. I think they’re just their best players have to start playing better. And it’s been Draisaitl who’s been great. But to me, you know, RNH, Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, they have not gotten to the level that they need to be really competitive.”
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My take
1. If this was just McLennan ripping on RNH it wouldn’t be a big deal, but the fact is the player is taking plenty of heat in Edmonton for his mediocre play so far in the 2024-25 season. At the Cult of Hockey, for example, RNH had the lowest overall grade for a forward in the first 10-game segment, just 4.3 out of 10, with my Cult colleague Bruce McCurdy noting, “What’s the Nuge doing way down here? He’s been way off his game.”
Since then, RNH has graded out at 5, 6 and 4 in his last three games, so a small improvement, but not up to his usual standard.
Last season he averaged one of the best marks on the team, 5.8 per game.
2. RNH plays in all three situations for the Oilers, even strength, power play and penalty kill, so with Edmonton’s special teams off, that’s not going to look good on any special teams player. Nuge has been OK on the PK, playing at about the same level as last season when it comes to making mistakes on goal against. As we saw at the Cult of Hockey, three players, Derek Ryan, Mattias Ekholm and RNH were to blame on the power play goal against mentioned by McLennan. It wasn’t jus to on RNH, though he well may have been the primary culprit, allowing the pass into the slot.
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RNH is not at the high level of efficiency on the PK that he was in the 2024 playoffs, but not one Oilers PKer is. As a group they’re making about twice as many mistakes per two minute penalty kill as they did in the playoffs. As I see it, they mastered an extremely aggressive style in the playoffs, one that counted on almost surreal execution and intensity. It’s hard to ramp that up again, and the Oilers PKers have yet to do so. The loss of penalty kill aces Cody Ceci and Ryan McLeod has also hurt.
3. On the power play RNH has been a shadow of his 2023-24 self. He’s contributing to just one third of the Grade A shots he did last year in the playoffs. Ever single major Edmonton power play is off his pace at setting up Grade A shots from last year, but RNH is down the most.
4. Finally we get to the main state of the game, even strength. RNH is struggling here as well compared to last season. He’s contributing to a good number of Grade A shots but he’s leaking too many Grade A shots against in his own zone, making too many individual mistakes. It hasn’t helped that he’s been put at centre where he struggles with slot and corner battles.
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5. On the attack, in all situations, he contributed to 3.5 Grade A shots per game last year, but just 2.5 per game so far this year. That is a significant drop, exactly what he achieved in the playoffs last year, but he got pushed out of some playoff games by bigger, more aggressive players.
6. RNH is just 31. Some players fade at that age. Remember Kyle Turris, a similar player to RNH? His game fell apart at age 30.
But RNH might well have plenty of good hockey ahead of him. He had a short summer after a long season. He’s not the only Oilers player who hasn’t been at his best. Connor McDavid himself had just 10 points in nine games when he got injured.
RNH has been mediocre so far this year, especially by his standards. More is needed from him. My bet? He’ll find a way. He’s too smart, too tenacious and he’s been good too long to let this slump define his season.
How do you see it?
7. One player McLennan mentioned, Darnell Nurse, is trending up just. He had a rough playoff, and his poor reads now and then drive us all crazy, but he’s moving the puck well.
P.S. Best of luck to Dylan Holloway, who left his game with the St. Louis Blues on a stretcher after taking a puck to the neck.
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At the Cult of Hockey
STAPLES: Did the Oilers send down the right player to the AHL?
STAPLES: Player grades in loss to New Jersey
STAPLES: Game grades in win over Flames
STAPLES: Former Canuck Podkolzin fitting in well with Oilers
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