Oilers 2025-26 Report Cards: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

As the offseason rolls on, we’ll continue to roll out the Edmonton Oilers’ player grades. The last report card graded Vasily Podkolzin, and now we turn our attention to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers drafted Nugent-Hopkins first overall in 2011, and he just completed his 15th season with the organization.

The longest-tenured Oiler is a versatile player. He can play center or on the wing, plays on the top power-play unit and is an important penalty killer. At this point in his career, he’s more successful as a winger, but he can move up and down the lineup.

This season, he spent most of the time on the top line, playing left wing alongside Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman. That trio played 388:57 together at 5-on-5, by far the most used trio. Jack Roslovic, Vasily Podkolzin, and Leon Draisaitl played the second most at 184:57, which was significantly less.

Nugent-Hopkins was moved to the third line down the stretch, playing with Roslovic and Jason Dickinson, taking on a larger defensive role. He can play with anyone and anywhere, making him a valuable asset.

2025-26 Performance

Nugent-Hopkins had an average offensive season, recording 20 goals and 56 points in 72 games, with a minus-9 rating, and averaging 19:04 per game. He scored 11 goals and 29 points on the power play, his second-most power-play goals and points in a season (his high was a 104-point outlier season in 2022-23). He scored only eight goals at 5-on-5 this season, and only nine last season.

The 33-year-old added two goals and five points in six playoff games, with a minus-1 rating, averaging 17:46 per game. When he was on the ice at 5-on-5 in the playoffs, he had just 37.10 percent of the shots, but 71.43 percent of the goals. He also had 49.06 percent of the scoring chances and 57.89 percent of the high-danger scoring chances.

Nugent-Hopkins Accomplished Major Milestones

Nugent-Hopkins hit two big milestones this season. First, he played his 1,000th NHL game, all with the Oilers. He became the first player in franchise history to play his first 1,000 games with the organization. He ranks second in franchise history in games played with 1,031, behind Kevin Lowe’s 1,037, but Lowe accomplished that in two separate stints.

Nugent-Hopkins played this milestone game on Jan. 18 against the St. Louis Blues, a 5-0 win. He opened the scoring in that game, giving him the game-winning goal. He became just the 63rd player in history to record a goal in his milestone contest.

He also registered his 800th career point on March 24 against the Utah Mammoth. He earned an assist on Edmonton’s first goal in a 5-2 win on the road. He now has 804 career points. He still has three years left on his contract with a $5.125 million cap hit. Hopefully, he has a few more good years remaining in a very successful career.

Overall Grade

Nugent-Hopkins continues to be a leader for the Oilers. He has regressed a bit with age, but he’s consistent and plays in all situations. He received a B last season, but his productive postseason drastically improved his grade. He had 49 points in 78 games last season, but had seven more points in six fewer games this season.

He was adequate, but didn’t do anything spectacular to stand out. He had his impactful moments, but also went unnoticed for large stretches. Therefore, he gets a C+ for this season. He spent most of his time on the top line, but didn’t contribute as much as he should have. At points, he didn’t deserve to remain on that line, but there was familiarity there, which kept him up.

It might be time to move him down to the third line permanently, where he can play a more defensive role with less ice time and responsibility. It might be time to shelter his minutes a bit more as he’s no longer a top-line player.

Do you agree with his grade? Keep following The Hockey Writers as we continue the Oilers’ player report cards throughout the offseason.

Advanced stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.