Without Zach Hyman, the Oilers must patch a major gap. One veteran already has been doing the job

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EDMONTON — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been a force against the Dallas Stars, recording at least two points in every game of the Western Conference final.

The Edmonton Oilers veteran has posted nine points in a four-game run to start a semifinal matchup that’s drawing comparisons to Wayne Gretzky in 1988. He’s now doubled his scoring output since the end of the second round and sits fourth in postseason scoring with 18 points.

“Right now, everything at once is clicking,” Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl said. “He’s been the best player in the series.”

It’s a good thing, too, because the Oilers are going to need even more from Nugent-Hopkins without fellow top-six forward Zach Hyman.

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Hyman will have surgery on Wednesday to repair an upper-body injury and is expected to miss the rest of the playoffs. Hyman left Game 4 midway through the first period — and didn’t return — in obvious pain while favoring his right arm after receiving an open-ice hit from the Stars’ Mason Marchment.

As veteran right winger Corey Perry said after the game, Hyman’s vacancy in the lineup is a “big hole to fill.” It’ll be up to players such as Nugent-Hopkins, Perry and others to try to patch that gap.

Hyman was having a different, yet still effective, postseason compared to his 2024 run. At this time last year, Hyman was working toward scoring 16 goals — an NHL-best — as an encore to his 54-goal regular season. Though he was still chipping in offensively during this postseason, with five goals and 11 points through 15 games, he also became a physical force in a way he wasn’t quite before.

Known as a relentless forechecker, Hyman was on track to break the NHL record for most hits in a single postseason. After being credited with two hits before exiting Tuesday’s game, Hyman was up to 111 – just 15 shy of then-Tampa Bay Lightning winger Blake Coleman’s mark of 126 in 2020.

“He’s put everything out there,” Knoblauch said. “Now that we’re going to be missing him, we’re going to need other guys to step up.”

The Oilers have a chance to eliminate the Stars on Thursday in Dallas and earn a trip to their second straight Stanley Cup Final.

However, Hyman’s absence — combined with an injury to Connor Brown, who missed Game 4 — leaves their right-wing depth depleted. Knoblauch and his coaching staff might have to get creative with the lineup. At least they have options.

Perry has followed up a 19-goal regular season by scoring six times through 15 playoff games, including once in Game 4. The 40-year-old has gotten top-line duty at times with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and he’s already been time-sharing the net-front position on the top power-play unit with Hyman. He’s bound to get a bump on the 13 minutes, 54 seconds, he’s averaged in the playoffs.

Evander Kane, who a former NHL player referred to as “a beast” to The Athletic through the first two rounds, could get a bump up in the lineup. He had three assists in Game 3, his only points of the West final. Though typically a left winger, Kane has experience on the right side and could fill in on the opposite side of the ice higher up.

The other two prominent possibilities at that position are Kasperi Kapanen and Viktor Arvidsson. Both have received top-six work in the postseason but have been scratched, too.

Kapanen was held out for the first nine games before replacing Arvidsson in Game 4 of the second-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights. He has two goals in six games. Arvidsson returned to the lineup on Tuesday following a five-game hiatus to backfill Brown’s spot. He has one goal and four points in 10 games.

Trent Frederic also got some shifts next to McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins after Hyman exited Game 4. It was his first chance to play in a different spot other than at bottom-six left wing. His versatility to be able to handle all three forward positions was one reason that enticed general manager Stan Bowman to acquire him from the Boston Bruins before the trade deadline. Frederic stayed low in the lineup after he returned from an ankle injury at the start of the playoffs. This might be a chance to get more playing time.

And then there’s Jeff Skinner. He’s one of the three extra forwards who’ve been skating with the team since the start of the playoffs, along with Max Jones and Derek Ryan. Skinner, a left winger, tracks to be the next man up.

Skinner signed a one-year, $3 million contract on July 1 to provide more scoring punch. The fit hasn’t worked out, as Knoblauch has preferred other players to fill more specific roles.

Still, he had 16 goals and 13 assists in 72 games and is a six-time 30-goal scorer in his 15-year NHL career. He appeared in his first playoff game in the first-round opener against the Los Angeles Kings but has been scratched for the last 14 games in favor of Kane, Kapanen and then Arvidsson.

“We’re fortunate to have a lot of depth, where guys can come in and step up and give us quality minutes,” Knoblauch said.

The Oilers could also use 11 forwards and seven defensemen for Game 5 against the Stars if Mattias Ekholm (lower-body injury) is deemed healthy enough to make his 2025 postseason debut. That’s a scheme Knoblauch was considering for Game 4 before Ekholm was held out of the lineup.

Using seven defenders would allow the Oilers to continue to use Troy Stecher, who’s been excellent since coming in for Game 4 of the last round. The Oilers are 5-1 with him in the lineup.

Regardless of who comes in for Hyman or how Knoblauch chooses to deploy the lineup, the Oilers are going to need the finest of everyone. That starts with the guys at the top.

McDavid and Draisaitl are proven playoff performers. That leaves Nugent-Hopkins, their next-best forward, as the guy in the spotlight.

Nugent-Hopkins endured a trying season in which he had only 49 points, down from the 67 he posted last season and the 104 he recorded in 2022-23. By March, he was in one of the worst offensive stretches of his career.

Those days now seem to be in the rear-view mirror.

“Through the regular season, not that he was ever bad, but he didn’t play up to his expectations,” Knoblauch said. “But when we’ve need him most through these playoffs, he’s really played well. We need him to continue that.”

Draisaitl joked last season that Nugent-Hopkins was Knoblauch’s favorite player because of his well-rounded game. Knoblauch was asked about that after Tuesday’s game and laughed.

“Some days he is,” Knoblauch said. “This series? Maybe he is the way he’s playing. He’s really elevated his game.”

Nugent-Hopkins is referred to as a Swiss Army knife by teammates for his ability to play center or wing while being used in every facet. He’s been Mr. Everything to his organization, almost from the moment he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2011. Only now, as Draisaitl notes, it’s all coming together to the extreme.

“Nuggy, in a way, sacrifices a lot of offense throughout the year for doing everything the right way and being in the right position and doing all the little things that a lot of guys don’t want to do,” Draisaitl said. “He prioritizes that.

“We all know that he’s capable of putting up numbers and scoring and making great plays.”

“Just through the whole playoffs (this is) probably the best I’ve seen him play,” added defenseman Brett Kulak, who’s in his fourth postseason with the Oilers. “He always brings a consistent effort, but he’s consistently at another level lately.”

The Oilers can’t afford for Nugent-Hopkins to drop from that level, now that Hyman probably is out for the rest of the playoffs.

(Photo of Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

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