Welcome to Nuge Week: a celebration of Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ahead of his 1,000th game

Be prepared: we are opening the floodgates of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins content this week.

Nuge Week is in anticipation of one of the greatest Edmonton Oilers achieving the iconic milestone of 1,000 games played in the National Hockey League – all with the Oilers.

Sitting at 997 games before tonight’s matchup against the New York Islanders, it’s all aligning for Nuge to hit the millennium mark at home on Sunday against the St. Louis Blues.

He is second all-time in franchise history in games played, behind only Kevin Lowe at 1,037 games.

Over the next several days, you’ll read about our staff’s favourite Nuge moments: his important milestones, the important numbers, and assuredly a loving and glowing scrawl from Baggedmilk.

So, who is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins?

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins during his days with the Red Deer Rebels.

The bio

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, on April 12, 1993.

After beginning to skate at two-years-old, Nuge quickly impressed amongst his older brother’s age group, as he reached Kindergarten.

While the rising costs of the game precluded him from playing with the North Shore Winter Club, as was originally intended, he played with the Burnaby Winter Club and competed at the 2005 Quebec International Pee-Wee Tournament.

After excellent seasons, including being named the BC Hockey Minor Hockey Player of the Year, Nugent-Hopkins was selected first overall in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft by the Red Deer Rebels.

Despite his diminutive size, Nuge’s elite vision and playmaking ability........

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