Nugent-Hopkins Quietly Making Case for Oilers Hall of Fame

Saturday will be the 837^th time Nugent-Hopkins suits up for the Oilers in a regular season game, leaving him eight away from tying Anderson for fourth most games in Edmonton’s NHL history and 14 back from equalling Messier for third. Likely by mid-February, Kevin Lowe and Ryan Smyth will be the only players to have worn an Oilers jersey in more games than Nugent-Hopkins.

There’s a common thread linking all these names: every single one of them is in the Oilers Hall of Fame except for Nugent-Hopkins’ current Edmonton teammates Draisaitl and McDavid, who are both slam-dunks once their careers conclude.

Nugent-Hopkins (who is also No. 8 all-time for goals by an Oiler, with 244), on the other hand, is far from a sure thing for the Oilers Hall of Fame. But judging by the company he keeps, should he be?

Reframing the Career of Nugent-Hopkins

For a time, some may have considered Nugent-Hopkins’ NHL career to be slightly disappointing. Drafted first overall by Edmonton in 2011, he has never quite reached the high expectations that come with being the No. 1 pick. But as the seasons go by and Nugent-Hopkins keeps achieving milestones, perceptions are starting to shift.

Before he even suited up for an NHL game, Nugent-Hopkins was drawing comparisons to Pavel Datsyuk and Joe Sakic. Those two are among the 100 Greatest NHL Players of All Time. Nugent-Hopkins is most definitely not in that class.

He’s been selected to the All-Star Game just once, and had never notched even 70 points in a single season until 2022-23 when he scored 37 goals and had 67 assists to finish third on the Oilers with 104 points.

But while he’s only had that one great offensive season, Nugent-Hopkins has been remarkably consistent right from his rookie season, 2011-12, when he was a finalist for the Calder Trophy. And now at a stage when most players are slowing down, the 31-year-old is continuing to put up the best offensive numbers of his career.

Over his first 11 seasons, Nugent-Hopkins averaged between 0.60 and 0.84 points per game nine times. He’s never averaged below 0.52 points per game, and before last season had never averaged more than 0.94. Through the first 32 games of 2023-24, he’s got 32 points from nine goals and 23 assists.

Nugent-Hopkins Impacts Oilers in Many Ways

It also doesn’t do justice to Nugent-Hopkins’ impact by focusing solely on scoring stats. For years, he’s been one of the Oilers’ best two-way forwards, hard on the forecheck and adept at killing penalties.

Last season Nugent-Hopkins became the first Oilers forward since the NHL began tracking ice time stats in 1997-98 to log at least 1,000 minutes of even strength, 300 minutes of power-play, and 150 minutes of short-handed ice time in the same season.

Since 2014-15, Nugent-Hopkins has served as one of Edmonton’s alternate captains. He sets an example to follow, both in terms of work ethic and personal conduct.

The Case for Nugent-Hopkins

Over his 12 and a half seasons in Edmonton, Nugent-Hopkins has never been ‘The Man’, per se. He never finished higher than second on the Oilers in points. He never was promoted to the rank of team captain.

There’s also never been an ill word spoken of him. Not by a coach, not by a teammate. He’s even largely escaped the wrath of chronically critical fans.

Not everyone can be the alpha. Not everyone wants to be the alpha. There’s a great need for a supporting cast, and in that role, Nugent-Hopkins stacks up with anyone to ever suit up for the Oilers.

After this season, Nugent-Hopkins has five years remaining on the eight-year, $41 million contract extension he signed with the Oilers in 2021. He could be in Edmonton for quite a while yet, continuing to climb the all-time leaderboards of the only NHL franchise he’s ever played for.

In 45 years, there hasn’t been a player that’s lasted more than a couple seasons who has spent their entire NHL career in Edmonton. Nugent-Hopkins might become the first.

Already, Nugent-Hopkins has a compelling case to be inducted into the Oilers Hall of Fame. By the time he’s retired and actually eligible for that honour, that case will be as rock solid as his play every time he steps on the ice wearing orange and blue.