For the first time in his 12-year career as an Edmonton Oiler, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has reached the 100-point plateau with an assist in the third period as he continues to work through what can only be described as a fantastic season.

Listen, if you’ve been around this website for any length of time, you know all too well about my love and support for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but even I would have a hard time suggesting that I ever expected a 100-point season to be in the cards. But as the season wore on and RNH kept racking up the points, reaching the century felt like an achievement that was within reach and that’s exactly what happened here on night 79 of the 2022-23 NHL season. Yet, even though our beloved prince hit such an impressive milestone, it’s almost weird how little attention he’s drawing based mostly — at least, from what I can tell — on the fact that he plays with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

What I don’t understand, however, is why some people are trying to discount what Nugent-Hopkins has done this year because 52 of his 100 points have come on the power play. I mean, sure, you can call the guy a power play merchant all you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that those goals and points are contributing directly to Edmonton’s ability to win hockey games. It’s not like we’re talking about shootout goals counting or some other stat that doesn’t even get counted. Also, it’s not the Oilers’ fault that their power play is so drastically better than what everyone else can do on the man advantage, leading me to the conclusion that they “hate us ’cause they ain’t us.” Either way, these dummies that don’t understand how hockey works aren’t going to ruin this moment for me or anyone else that realizes how cool this milestone is for RNH.

Now that my king has made it to 100 I can’t help but wonder how high this number will creep over the final few games. I mean, there’s a handful of games left on the season, and when you consider how hot Nuge has been down the stretch, would it really be unreasonable to see him get to 105 or beyond? I wouldn’t bet against him. Either way, I feel like a proud parent today.