Sure, but these are extremely short term results. The difficulty being, as I see it, is Nuge doesn't play this well, or at this level for extended stretches. Also of course that topline players absorb MUCH more punishment. I would want to see a 25game segment to see what the pairing looks like longitudinally. I think McD, too, absorbs a whole lot more punishment playing with say Nuge and Rattie than he would playing with any of Maroon, Draisaitl, Lucic. Really I even want to see Slepy get more looks. Had the Oilers wanted to pump Slepy he would be putting up pts on topline as well right now. He's a lot more talented than given credit for. The bonus with Slepy is he is big and strong and very adept at playing in traffic and gets BETTER when he's playing big minutes with Drai or McD.
I do agree with your statement. Just don't agree that Nuge with McD is a long term solution.