The Edmonton Oilers have been without former first overall pick and top six centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins since early January, as the 22 year old forward has sat out as one of the team’s numerous injuries throughout the 2015-16 season.
Now, he’s finally back.
Sittting out with a broken finger that required surgery, Nugent-Hopkins has had to watch as his club played their way through most of January and February. Now, though, he’s cleared to re-join the lineup once more.
As mentioned by the Oilers at the announcement of Nugent-Hopkins’ reactivation off the team’s injured reserve list, he boasts 30 points over 46 games played this year. That’s good for seventh in scoring on the roster, despite sitting with a full 24 games in hand on the team’s full schedule – so regaining his offensive services will certainly be a bright spot over the final stretch of the season.
With Nugent-Hopkins reactivated, the Oilers creep ever-closer to being back to full strength; they’ve recently regained the services of fellow first overall pick Connor McDavid as well, as the 19 year old phenom was out with a clavicle injury for most of the season as well. Hopefully, this will help the Oilers finish on a strong note, even if the post-season is once again out of reach.
The next opportunity for Nugent-Hopkins to appear in Edmonton’s lineup will be tomorrow night, when the Pacific Division club hosts the Arizona Coyotes at home at 7:00 PM PST.
