from Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal,

“Just wait until Nuge gets his ‘old-man strength’!”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard variations of that statement over the time Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been in Edmonton, but forgive me for feeling the expression itself is getting old faster than RNH himself seems to be.

Nugent-Hopkins is now 24 years old, six years removed from being the first overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft and suddenly the senior member of the Edmonton Oilers. He’s nearly halfway into a seven-year contract that pays him at an elite level, and I think it’s fair to say that to this point the expectations have exceeded the results.

This season just past saw RNH return to full health after an injury-riddled 2015-16 campaign in which he missed a third of the campaign due to illness, a broken hand, and a concussion that limited him to 34 points in 55 games. Alas, his production remained middling at best, as he produced just 18 goals and 47 points over 95 regular-season and playoff games. Basically, 0.5 points per game in all situations....

All of which leaves the player at a crossroads entering the 2017-18 season. He appears destined to line up somewhere in the middle six, and as McLellan alluded he desperately needs to recover some of the attacking acumen he displayed earlier in his career. Both of his former sidekicks, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, have been dispatched stateside in significant one-for-one trades the past two summers, and Nuge might be next.

With Draisaitl likely to be paid next season and McDavid already signed to big money the following campaign, the cap budget at centre is tight. Whether Nugent-Hopkins stays or goes in the longer term, he needs a major bounceback next season to prove his worth.

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