The end of the NHL season always tends to bring injuries to light, and the Edmonton Oilers revealed a significant one following the loss in the Stanley Cup Final.
Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was apparently playing through a broken hand in the series against the Florida Panthers, teammate and captain Connor McDavid revealed at the season-ending press conference for players on Thursday.
"Nuge, to be able to gut it out with a broken hand and give us what he gave us, was pretty special," McDavid said to reporters, when asked about the efforts his teammates provided in the Final despite their injuries. "That was a pretty painful thing for him to go through, and it wasn't easy to watch him go through that. Pretty amazing what he was able to do."
It's unclear when or how Nugent-Hopkins suffered the injury.
Nugent-Hopkins missed a couple of practices and had his workload managed during the Final as he dealt with what was then considered an undisclosed injury. However, the forward managed to suit up for all six games.
The 31-year-old finished with only two points in the series (one goal, one assist) but logged an average time on ice of 20:51 — the third-highest among Oilers forwards. Over the playoffs as a whole, Nugent-Hopkins had 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 22 games.
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