- Oilers teammates wore custom shirts for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before his record-setting game
- Tuesday’s game against the Devils will be his 1,038th, one more than Kevin Lowe
- Read below for the locker room video and what Nugent-Hopkins and Babcock said
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins showed up Tuesday morning and found his teammates wearing his face.
The Oilers arrived at Prudential Center for their pregame skate in custom T-shirts honoring the franchise record he sets tonight. Nugent-Hopkins plays his 1,038th game for Edmonton against the Devils, passing Kevin Lowe and his 1,037.
The design shows Nugent-Hopkins with a mullet, a camo shirt, a tattoo on his right arm and a cigarette, with the words “1,038 Games Played, Most Games Played As An Edmonton Oiler” across the front. Take a look at the shirts:
Assistant equipment manager Brad Harrison came up with it. He also ran the shirt and sweater projects for Nugent-Hopkins’ 1,000th game last year. Here’s the Oilers’ video of the group wearing them:
The shirts were only the first surprise. When the team got to the rink, the Oilers played a video for Nugent-Hopkins in the locker room with messages from his wife Breanne, his current teammates and longtime former ones like Jordan Eberle and Darnell Nurse.
Nugent-Hopkins was asked about the morning and said it hit home.
“I first went down and saw the guys with the shirts on, and that’s pretty special,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “They always do such a great job with those, and we had some laughs with that and then came here. They just did a little video thing for me. Definitely meant a lot to me. I feel the love.”
Head coach Mike Babcock talked about how the video landed in the room and what Nugent-Hopkins means to the franchise.
“It was emotional,” Babcock said. “Kevin Lowe, you can say whatever you want as an unbelievable player, unbelievable man and what he means to the city, and then you got a guy like Nuge who has been steady ever since he’s got here and is probably underappreciated. Yet when you coach him, you just know how good he is.”
Former Oilers teammate Connor Brown will be on the other bench. Brown, who played with Nugent-Hopkins in Edmonton from 2023 to 2025, was asked what makes him a good example for younger players. “He does everything right,” Brown said. “He puts the team first. He can play in any position, anything called upon.”
Edmonton took Nugent-Hopkins first overall in 2011, and he has never played for another NHL team. He debuted on Oct. 9, 2011 against the Penguins and scored his first goal with 4:55 left in regulation of a 2-1 shootout win.
He now has 294 goals, 517 assists and 811 points in an Oilers sweater, plus seven points in six games for an 11-2-2 team this season. He told reporters what the record means to him.
“This was the dream when I got drafted, and I haven’t wavered throughout my whole career that I want to be an Edmonton Oiler,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Start my career here, finish my career here. It means a ton to me.”
Puck drop in Newark is 7:30 p.m. ET.
