PROJECTED LINEUP: Nugent-Hopkins to centre second line in return against Canes

EDMONTON, AB – The return of the Nuge has arrived.

As expected, forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will return from a lower-body injury to centre the second line for the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night against the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Place.

Nugent-Hopkins has missed all nine games this season for the Oilers after suffering his injury at practice the day before the first game of the regular season, and is poised to play alongside Zach Hyman and Kasperi Kapanen in his first appearance of 2026-27.

"It's gonna be great," linemate Zach Hyman said. "It's awesome. You always know what you're gonna get. He's consistent and steady at both ends of the ice. It's fun to play with him. We've got a lot of chemistry.  We've been playing together for a long time now, so I'm excited that he's back."

No. 93 is beginning his 16th season with the Blue & Orange and is seven games away from surpassing Kevin Lowe for the franchise record for games played in an Oilers uniform, currently sitting on 1,031 career appearances.

"It doesn't matter how long you've played; the first one, you always have that excitement and a little bit of nerves," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It's not fun missing time, but it's been a lot of fun to watch the guys play and see how hard they're competing right now. So I just want to step in and try to emulate that as much as I can."

Head Coach Mike Babcock will ease Nugent-Hopkins back in at centre in a spot he's comfortable with, giving the Oilers another key pivot down the middle who can drive a line and add some much-needed depth to their forward group as they continue to get healthier from a trough of early-season injuries.

"That's what he's been his whole life, and we think he's a really good player with really good intelligence," Babcock said. "You guys are asking me to make decisions that I don't know the answers to. I don't have them, so I'll just watch over time and see if that becomes a real good line, as I expect it to be."

Babcock also said that Nugent-Hopkins will retake his place on the Oilers' top power-play unit, but that the team's current penalty kill will remain intact despite the Burnaby product being a regular fixture for the Oilers while shorthanded over the years.

"Especially the way that our PK is playing now, it's aggressive, it's on your toes, and it's fast," Nugent-Hopkins said. "I think that leaves something in the tank, but we got so many guys that can really skate and read the situations well."

"Obviously we're getting used to it still. It's a new system, and we're just getting the hang of it, but you saw last game how hard it is to play against, and that's a good PP that we're playing against, and you just don't want to give them any life, you don't want to give them any time, and make it hard to make plays."

The return of Nugent-Hopkins gives the Oilers another formidable line to deploy, which Babcock hopes can help reduce the heavy minutes on McDavid, Draisaitl, and Podkolzin while giving those down the lineup more opportunities to earn ice time.

Forwards Colton Dach, Trent Frederic and Isaac Howard look to be beneficiaries of that after their minutes were reduced down the stretch on Tuesday in a tight game against the Wild, with Babcock hoping to give them more minutes to build confidence.

"Freddy's just got to keep being himself and just growing his confidence so he gets his game back. I think he's been better of late," Babcock said. "Dacher played real well for us the other night. He's playing with different linemates. He too wasn't as good in the third just because he hasn't played. We think he's a really important piece for us, so he'll find a spot, whether that be on the wing or center over time.  

"I had a good talk with [Howard] yesterday. Howie deserved more minutes than he played last game, and just the way it worked out, he didn't get them. I just said to him, I used to tell my kids all this all the time: you never let any coach be mentally tougher than you are. You don't let any coach decide where you're going; you decide where you're going. You don't let people influence you. You decide what you want to do.  He's a good player.  He's going to be a really good player.  It's a hard league, but last game he rang one off the bar and had another one who got his hips around in the slot."

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. the Hurricanes below:

Podkolzin - McDavid - Draisaitl
Hyman - Nugent-Hopkins - Kapanen
Formenton - Michaels - Joseph
Frederic - Dach - Howard

Ekholm - Bouchard 
Shea - Murphy
Walman - Emberson 

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