Ryan Nugent-Hopkins says mood in Oilers locker room has changed for 2025-26
Photo credit: Imagn Images
In a recent interview with The Athletic's Daniel Nugent-Bowman, long-time Oiler's fan-favourite Ryan Nugent-Hopkins spoke about his legacy with the team, and how he's overcome difficult times.
Of course, Nuge knows something about the team's most difficult days, having experienced them since the 'Decade of Darkness', a period between the 2005-06 and 2016-17 NHL seasons, during which the Edmonton Oilers missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons.
Yet, that period may not be the most heartbreaking of his career: Losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals is its own kind of disappointment.
The first year, especially getting to where we did and coming back from three (losses) down, there was a feeling that we should have got it done. It was our first experience. It was definitely heartbreaking. It was tough to get over that and tough to start the next year. That's in the back of your mind. After last year (2025 final), there's just more urgency. We're angry about it. It's not that we weren't hungry going into last year (2024), but it just adds to that hunger to go and put ourselves in that position again.
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Hunger and anger, properly channeled, can translate into success in the post-season, which happens to be the Oilers' first and foremost goal when the season opens on Wednesday.
However, Nuge is also focussed on some personal milestones; he is 41 games away from reaching the rarified-heights of 1000 NHL games.
And from a franchise standpoint, Ryan is 78 games away from surpassing Kevin Lowe's record of 1037 games played with the Oilers.
In his fourteen years with Edmonton, beginning with his 1st-overall draft selection in 2011, Nuge has filled a number of roles, from being an offensive go-to guy when he recorded 104 points, to a defensive-center, as is likely the case this year.
"I don't really look at an individual point total. I do want to bear down and score more," Nuge said during the interview. "But taking care of the puck on the other side of things is just as important for me. It's a little different mindset. But I'm always wanting to help out offensively and bear down. PK and PP are huge. Six-on-five at the end of the game is huge. There are a lot of ways to affect it. You've got to be able to do it every shift."
Q to Nuge in interview: The first one was heartbreaking [Cup loss]. It seems like the last one has made you guys pissed off.
A: Yeah!
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