Ryan Nugent-Hopkins set to hit legendary milestone with Oilers early next season

A fair evaluation, I think, for a player who's made a career of playing alongside Oiler superstars, and excelling in that role. One analyst, in fact, said of RNH: 'He's an elite complimentary NHL player.' He makes others better, and thrives playing with skilled teammates.

The legacy to which the radio-show host refers is Ryan's soon-to-be-played 1000th NHL career game. When he does reach this coveted milestone (he's currently at 959 games), it will be a feat of which he can be very proud, a landmark achievement that only the best reach. For Nuge, tall 1000 will have been with the same team.

In his 14-year career with the Oilers, RNH has scored 271G and 477A, for 748 points, playing an average of 19:25 of ice-time per game. The numbers are solid, and consistent.

In fact, he's only gotten better over the years, as he's matured into a complete and versatile hockey player. In his 12th season, 2022-23, RNH recorded 104 points, something only few players accomplish. Incidentally, He, McDavid and Draisaitl were the first to each score 100+ points in the same year since 1995-96, when Lemieux, Jagr and Francis did it with Pittsburgh.

Given Nuge's ability to compliment and play with the NHL's best players, he was invited to attend Team Canada's orientation camp for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, a testament of his value to a team. And he can fill various roles.

The versatile, former 1st-overall pick plays forward, powerplay, penalty-kill, up the line-up, and down it as a checker, when needed. He is valuable precisely because of his mobility, which is why his average total ice-time is just under 20:00 minutes per game.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is highly intelligent and exhibits a high hockey-IQ. A coach knows exactly what to expect from him when he hits the ice. And 31 games into next season, we will expect that he'll be celebrating his legacy, as he reaches 1000 games played, all of them with the Edmonton Oilers.