Jason Gregor of Oilers Nation conducted an interview with Steve Tambellini earlier in the week, and they briefly touched upon the disappointing season so far for the Edmonton Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Nugent-Hopkins is seventh in scoring for the Edmonton Oilers with eight points in 23 games.
He has struggled after going over a point per game in the AHL and lighting up the 2013 World Junior Championships with 15 points in just six games.
Despite underwhelming offensive numbers at the NHL level this season, Tambellini still raved in the interview about Nugent-Hopkins’ defensive game, which often draws comparisons to that of Detroit Red Wing Pavel Datsyuk.
Nugent-Hopkins’ minus-five rating is 18th on a team that has only two players with positive plus/minus ratings. That said, according to Behind the Net, he has faced the third-toughest relative quality of competition on the Oilers, behind only Mark Fistric (relied upon to kill penalties) and the currently injured Shawn Horcoff.
Furthermore, Nugent-Hopkins' Corsi relative (also available at Behind the Net) is a strong 20.5 at even strength, meaning that, i ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Curtis LeBlanc
Edmonton Oilers: Should Fans Be Worried About Ryan Nugent-Hopkins?
March 9th, 2013 by Curtis LeBlanc Leave a reply »
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