Say goodbye to the stacked one line team. This team was going to contend when it could move McDavid and Draisaitl to drive their own lines. Bonus is having Nugent Hopkins who can produce as a winger and still able, if desired, to shift back to depth centre role in situations. Nuge's great utility in his game helps this team's development greatly with high hockey IQ to anticipate and move the puck with super elites McDavid and Draisaitl; a terrific, accurate shot for solid finishing; and defensive conscience that helps support the elite two as well. It is the utility/Swiss Army Knife in Nugent Hopkin's game that is highly valued by coaches and critical to enabling this team to run McDavid and Draisaitl as lethal 1 and 1A lines.
Gone are the seasons when this sad sack franchise once tried to roll out a season with centremen consisting of Nugent Hopkins, Archibello, an 18 year old overwhelmed Draisaitl, and Boyd Gordon. Surviving this organization's flawed 'Development' approach, Nugent Hopkins is able to complement elite talent and do many things across all facets of the game that contribute to winning. In so doing, he's compromised some personal scoring production to focus on 200 foot play and the Oil are better for it with finally talent to lurch it out of the Decade of Darkness.