EDMONTON — Only four men have played more games for the Edmonton Oilers than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 822. If he plays just half of the games remaining on his current contract, which has five years to run after this one, Nugent-Hopkins will retire as the all-time leader in games played here in Edmonton.
Sam Gagner, meanwhile, has played just 551 of his 1,024 carer NHL games in the blue and orange. But he may well start and finish here, drafted as a 2007 first-rounder by the Oilers and having left and returned twice over the years, to a town where he found his wife, family and (perhaps) the Gagners’ forever home.
At age 18, each was a saviour in their own right. Another teenager picked in Round 1 who would help to bring a Stanley Cup to Edmonton one day, the answer to a puzzle that is still being pieced together in Northern Alberta.
Today, at 30 and 34 respectively, Nugent-Hopkins and Gagner have found roles on the first and fourth lines in Edmonton, different looking answers today to the same questions that were being asked oh so many years ago.
“I remember calling him on (his) draft night,” Gagner recalled, looking back at the night the Oilers chose the cherubic Nugent-Hopkins at No. 1 overall ahead of (supposed) lesser guarantees like Nikita Kucherov, Mark Scheifele, J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad.
“He looks the same now (facially) as he did back then, but he’s come a long ways, matured a lot,” Gagner said. “Getting to be his teammate — three different times now — he keeps getting better, keeps adding elements to his game.”
In his latest return, Gagner has been dubbed “Papa Oiler” by fans on social media. There is some grey in his beard now, and he’s coming off of double hip surgery.
Still, he has three goals in nine games spent bouncing from the press box into whatever spot is currently open on the Oilers forward lines.
Nugent-Hopkins smiles when he thinks of how their careers have intertwined. Of what it was like when the two were first- and second-line centres for those old Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle Oilers clubs.
“It was the Rexall days, the team was team was struggling a little bit and then we started to figure it out,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We've played a lot of years together — we were roomies back in my second year (with Justin Schultz). I remember his eight-point night pretty clearly too. I was up in the stands (injured), watching him.”
Nugent-Hopkins has found his place as a utility top-six forward, a go-through cog on the best power play on the planet and winger to whichever superstar the Oilers’ coach of the day would have him flank. He had career highs in goals (37) and points (104) at age 29 last year, and has forged a career scoring rate of 0.79 points per game — a tad higher than Gagner’s 0.51.
“He came in as an 18-year-old and was really effective right away,” Gagner recalled. “You know, going through some of those losing seasons — I've been through a few myself — it's tough to keep your confidence.
“There's been a lot of change around him, and he just keeps going about his business.”
It’s funny how two career paths can intersect, as one player flirts with a career spent in the same uniform — Nugent-Hopkins has a no move clause through the length of his deal — while Gagner has made stops in Arizona, Philly, Columbus, Vancouver, Detroit, Winnipeg, and for the third time, Edmonton.
One guy learned the game from a myriad of coaches and GMs while travelling across the National Hockey League, while the other built a house in the prestigious neighbourhood of Laurier Heights near the Edmonton Valley Zoo and experienced the same variety of tutelage without ever leaving town.
“He's had a lot of different head coaches, a lot of different assistant coaches, different GMs. He’s seen a lot as well,” Gagner said. “I know firsthand how difficult that can be, to gain traction and keep trying to improve different areas of your game when you’ve got different people giving you different messages all the time. He’s just gone about his business.
“It's a real testament to him, the player has become with all he's been through,” Gagner said. “It's not easy to go through some of those seasons and just continue to forge ahead, continue to try and work on your game and stay confident.
“It's a huge credit to him that he is the player he is now.”
On Thursday night they’ll lace ‘em up in the same dressing once again, this time in Winnipeg, where Gagner played his 1,000th NHL game as a Jet.
Or, if Hyman gets better, perhaps only one will get tapped to play, as Gagner closes out a lengthy productive career like so many before him.
Watching the next hot young kid take his spot.
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