The Globe and Mail suggests the NHL lockout has permitted many players to chat among themselves and recently, in one of those conversations, the Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins compared his future with Jason Spezza's past. In the 2004-05 season, Spezza, then 21, was in the same boat that Nugent-Hopkins finds himself in now, assigned (for development purposes) by the Ottawa Senators to their primary AHL affiliate in Binghamton. Spezza, who already had 111 NHL games under his belt, took his assignment the right way and won both the AHL scoring title and its MVP award.
When NHL play resumed the next year, Spezza had a full developmental year under his belt and was ready to hit the ground running. It paid off in a 90-point breakthrough NHL season. Not every locked-out NHLer moved forward during the previous work stoppage, but Spezza did, and so on Friday, when Nugent-Hopkins reports to the Oklahoma City Barons to begin his first (and likely only) AHL training camp, Spezza's words of advice will be ringing in his ears.
According to Nugent-Hopkins, Spezza told him, "he felt like he had an advantage over the guys who didn't play a year because he was more game ready. So hearing that from a guy like him is really good. It brings me a lot of confidence in going down there."
In the meantime, Nugent-Hopkins says he is "100 per cent" recovered from his own shoulder issues, and is "feeling better than I've ever felt before.
"I've never been injured like that before, so it was a little disappointing. I just tried to take any positive I could, like watching from upstairs and seeing the game from a slightly different point of view. It's frustrating, if you let it be, but I just tried to stay positive and help out my teammates where I could."
The AHL regular season starts Oct. 12 and for now, anyway, the Oiler is now an oil Baron – and prepared to make the most of the opportunity.
"I'm just going to go in and play and not worry – too much – about the outside stuff going on. Obviously, I'm going to be involved as much as I can be with it, but I'm just going to get on the ice and focus on that – and whatever happens, happens."
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