Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went first overall to Edmonton in 2011 and has never worn another NHL sweater. In January 2026 he became the first player to reach 1,000 games entirely with the Oilers.
| Position | Center |
| Number | #93 |
| Team | Edmonton Oilers |
| Shoots | Left |
| Height | 6'0" (183 cm) |
| Weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Born | April 12, 1993 (age 33) |
| Birthplace | Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada |
| Drafted | 1st overall in 2011 by Edmonton Oilers |
| NHL debut | 2011-12 |
| NHL seasons | 15 |
| Career points | 804 in 1,031 games |
| Stanley Cups | 0 |
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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ Early Life and Junior Career
Nugent-Hopkins grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia, and left for the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL after a five-game look with them as a 15-year-old.
His first full year in Red Deer brought 65 points in 67 games and the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as WHL rookie of the year. The second one settled the draft. He put up 106 points in 69 games, won the CHL Top Prospect Award and made the WHL East first all-star team.
The hands and the hockey sense were never in question. The only thing scouts could find to argue about was whether an 18-year-old that slight could handle NHL minutes right away.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ NHL Career
Edmonton took him first overall in 2011, the middle pick of three straight years at the top of the draft. Taylor Hall came in 2010 and Nail Yakupov in 2012.
He answered the durability question in a hurry. Nugent-Hopkins scored in his first NHL game on October 9, 2011 against Pittsburgh, then put up a hat trick in his third, against Vancouver. The rookie year finished with 52 points in 62 games.
Then came the long part. Edmonton missed the playoffs in each of his first five seasons and did not win a round until 2017. His point totals rose and fell with whatever roster the Oilers put around him, which for most of a decade was not much.
The 2022-23 season was the outlier and the peak. He finished with 37 goals, 67 assists and 104 points, every one of them a career high by a wide margin. No Oiler other than Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl had reached 100 points since Doug Weight in 1995-96.
Since then he has settled into the job that fits him best. Nugent-Hopkins plays the wing beside McDavid when Edmonton wants offense and centers his own line when it wants balance. He was there for both trips to the Stanley Cup Final, in 2024 and 2025, and for both losses to Florida. Last spring ended in the first round.
Game 1,000 came on January 18, 2026. He opened the scoring on the power play, Edmonton beat St. Louis 5-0, and he became the 10th player in league history to score in both his debut and his 1,000th game.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ International Career
The 2013 World Junior Championship is the one people bring up, and not for a happy reason. Nugent-Hopkins led the whole tournament with 15 points in six games and Canada still finished fourth, off the podium for the first time since 1998.
He also played the 2012 and 2018 World Championships for Canada, plus the 2016 World Cup with Team North America, the under-24 side built for that event. The best of those was 2018, when he had eight points in 10 games.
What Makes Ryan Nugent-Hopkins So Good
He is the player a coach uses when he would rather not think about matchups. Nugent-Hopkins kills penalties, quarterbacks a power play, takes defensive-zone draws and moves to the wing on a day’s notice.
The passing holds all of it together. Through 2025-26 he had 513 assists against 291 goals, and a lot of those helpers start from below the goal line or off the half wall, where he holds the puck a beat longer than the penalty killers expect.
Special teams is where the value turns into numbers. Of his 804 career points, 320 have come on the power play. He has also piled up 22 shorthanded points and nine shorthanded goals, which is not a combination many forwards carry.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Records and Milestones
He is the first player to reach 1,000 NHL games with the Oilers and no other club. Only Kevin Lowe has dressed for more Edmonton games, and Lowe spent four seasons in New York on top of his Oilers time.
Nugent-Hopkins sits seventh in franchise scoring. The six names ahead of him are Wayne Gretzky, McDavid, Draisaitl, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson.
His 104-point season in 2022-23 made him one of only ten players in Oilers history to reach 100 in a year. He has 811 career points in 1,036 games across 16 seasons.
What Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Is Chasing
Kevin Lowe’s 1,037 games for Edmonton is the franchise record, and it is the one within reach. Nugent-Hopkins is on 1,036.
Three hundred goals is the next round number. His total sits at 294.
Passing Anderson’s 906 points would move him to sixth on the Oilers list. He is on 811, so that one needs roughly two more seasons at his recent rate. The Stanley Cup is the other thing still missing, and Edmonton has now lost the Final twice with him in the lineup.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Off the Ice
Nugent-Hopkins married Breanne Windle in 2019 and they have two children. His cousin Carson Wetsch was drafted by San Jose in 2024.
Edmonton has put his name forward for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy twice, in 2018 and again in 2026. That award goes to a player for leadership and community work rather than anything he does with the puck.
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Stats last updated October 18, 2026. Source: NHL official statistics.