Friday, September 23, 2011

Nugent-Hopkins impressing early

Yes I know its early and yes I know the Canucks dressed a shameful roster last night but RNH has shown that he deserves to be an Oiler. The little things that he does on the ice will eventually turn into big things. RNH has shown that he has great vision on the ice with great passes to Smyth and Eberle, the way he strips opposing players of the puck and his defensive play.

RNH has done so much early on that even Ryan Smyth is impressed.
“Not only is he a humble kid away from the rink, but he sees the ice very well” said Smyth. “He has great speed and the puck doesn’t die with him, he makes a lot of great plays. Those are the type of things you just can’t teach".

The Edmonton Suns Robert Tychkowski put an article up today (and I quote) "Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, making his pre-season home ice debut, had a relatively quiet night, assisting on Eberle's goal for his only point of the game". Really? what game was he watching? Or maybe it is all about putting up points for Mr. Tychkowski. Did he not see the 3 or 4 great passes RNH made to Eberle or how RNH stripped opposing players of the puck? I just don't get how someone payed to watch the game missed that.

The only knock I see on RNH is his faceoff ability but that will come. How often do you see a young kid that is great on face-offs? Its something you get better at with experience and age.If RNH wants to remain an Oiler for the season all he needs to do is exactly what he has been doing the first 2 pre-season games.

@friesennhl on twitter

3 comments:

  1. The Nuge had a decent game but he showed how there are things to work on such as faceoffs, getting pushed off the puck easily at times and so on. Considering they were playing the dregs, Nuge and the team should have clobbered them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Completely agree, but I think he is already better at faceoffs than Gagner also watching Gagner play last still makes me think he should be a winger. I would also like to point out that on top of the fee things you mention about RNH's game last night he also played good defensively, he even covered successfully for a few of Chorney's mistakes and those kind of things shouldn't go unnoticed. Choney and Plante were the worst d pairing I think we have seen to date, I just can't see how either of them makes this team. Plante I think will end up being a career AHLer and I would have to same the same for Chorney but I think another team may be willing to pick him up as a 7th man a few years down the road.

    ReplyDelete
  3. agreed they should have won and also agreed that Hopkins needs to work lots on faceoffs and other aspects of the game. But for a guy playing his second pre-season game he shows confidence in making plays at all ends of the ice. has impressed me more than Hall did early on last season. Lots of work still needed but if he keeps doing what hes been doing he will be the player we all expect

    ReplyDelete

Keep it nice, keep it civil. GOILERS!


Two Guys & Hockey Talk NHL News (CLICK PIC FOR LINK)

The Faithful Followers

Oilers Jambalaya is in no way, shape or form associated with the Edmonton Oilers or the Bakersfield Condors. This is a fans blog for fans. We happen to love those teams, so we write about them.