Edmonton Oilers to make tough decision regarding Ryan Nugent-Hopkins future -NHL News Update
Edmonton has certainly witnessed a boost in their fire power ever since they decided to keep their 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) first overall draft pick, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, on the line-up for the first few games, but will they keep him for the season
is still something the Oilers management has not been able to decide.
For many analysts, Nugent-Hopkins will surely remain on the team due to his monumental contribution to the team as soon as the 2011-2012 NHL regular season kicked off, but for others, they consider him still to be too young to play in the league and should
be sent off to the minors to mature a little more.
Asking Nugent-Hopkins about whether he knows where he will be playing as the season progresses, he answers with the same amount of uncertainty as fans would.
"No. Still nothing", Nugent-Hopkins said Monday. "Still just waiting. I'm going to go into (Tuesday) night and just play and see what happens after that".
According to Edmonton Oilers head coach, Tom Renney, a final decision is still yet to be made and it will be clear in the upcoming days whether Ryan will continue playing with his original draft team or sent back to his club, the Red Deer Rebels of the Western
Hockey League (WHL).
"I don't think we've really identified an internal timeline", Renney said when asked how long the decision could take. "We talk about all our players every day, and he's certainly one of the ones we talk about a lot. I can tell you that it's all favourable,
you know? The kid's doing a good job. At the end of the day, and I've said many, many times, it'll be the body of work we'll look at”.
Amazingly, in the past seven matchups, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has played in all and has so far put up great numbers, seven points consisting of five goals and two assists, ranking him sixth in the league overall in terms of goals scored.
Looking at how an underperforming 2010 top draft pick, Taylor Hall, was allowed to stay with the major league club last season, it seems that Edmonton will do the same with the 18-year-old as well, which is just a matter of time now.
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