There’s few players on the Edmonton Oilers roster that can do the things Ryan Nugent-Hopkins can.

For the last decade, he’s been consistently relied upon to play big minutes against the league’s top competition and he’s held his own admirably, despite not being a true NHL superstar.

Over the last few seasons, Nugent-Hopkins’ game has developed even more as he’s transitioned to playing on Connor McDavid’s wing. There, his offensive potential has truly been tapped.

Over the last 180 games dating back to the start of the 2018 campaign, Nugent-Hopkins has scored 61 goals and 155 points. With the pair on the ice at 5×5, the Oilers have controlled 52 percent of the shot attempts on the ice and 51.25 percent of the goals scored.

And last night, Nugent-Hopkins was once again a big piece of the Oilers offence that saw McDavid score two goals, despite not getting on the scoresheet.

“Both those goals he has a huge impact on. If he’s not there, they don’t go in,” said McDavid of Nugent-Hopkins’ impact. “Nuge does just about everything out there. He kills penalties, he’s a big part of the powerplay. He’s a great 5 on 5 player.”

One thing is clear to me, and it’s that not only McDavid really values Nugent-Hopkins, but so does Dave Tippett.

“He’s just a real, good smart player,” said Tippett of Nugent-Hopkins. “Nuge does a lot of things that go unnoticed by a lot of people, but end up really helping our team be successful. You need good players to win, and both those guys are real good players.”

The Oilers obviously have a huge decision coming when it comes to getting Nugent-Hopkins re-signed. He’s coming off his only non-entry level deal — a seven-year, $42-million deal signed in Sept. 2013 — and this new deal will be interesting to see.

Hearing both the Oilers captain and head coach speak so highly of Nugent-Hopkins makes it hard to see the latter’s time in Edmonton coming to an end. Those are two major votes of confidence in what 93 brings to the Oilers roster. Discussions will likely pick up soon on a new deal for Nugent-Hopkins, with reports surfacing earlier this month that the two sides having previously talked of a deal in the $6-6.5-million range per year.

I think this is the absolute sweet spot when it comes to a new deal for Nugent-Hopkins. While it would be a deal considered team friendly, it’s also a deal that would continue to see him paid considerably well.

Nonetheless, Nugent-Hopkins is a player that the Oilers need to keep around in order to be a successful team.