Through 35 Career NHL Games RNH Has More Points Than Kane, Tavares, and Skinner, But Trails Sid

While it may seem like RNH has hit a bit of a rookie wall, he has still chipped in with three assists in his last five games which still puts him in elite company among NHL players that entered the league right after the draft.

At the 35 game mark RNH is 9 points ahead of last year's Calder winner's pace. Depending on how long RNH's "slump" lasts, he could still very well end up second to only Sidney Crosby on this list when his season concludes.

After 35 Games

Crosby 16-21-37 -8 116sog.

RNH 13-22-35 Ev 73sog.

Kane 7-26-33 -5 94sog.

Tavares 15-12-27 -4 87sog.

Skinner 9-17-26 -4 92sog.

Hall 11-10-21 -9 97sog.

Duchene 9-10-19 -7 76sog.

Gagner 3-13-16 -7 46sog.

Landeskog 6-9-15 +5 108sog.

Stamkos 4-10-14 -11 75sog.

Seguin 6-7-13 +3 65sog.

Couturier 32gp. 5-6-11 +10 49sog.

Through 30 Career NHL Games RNH Has More Points Than Sidney Crosby Did In His First 30

No, seriously he does. With all of the talk about sending RNH down, RNH's upside = Gagner, the 2011 NHL draft not having top end talent, the kid is too damn skinny to play in the NHL, he can't produce at ES in the NHL, etc. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is making a lot of people look dumber than what all of us look like when we are in total awe of this young phenom.

This is what other prominent/high scoring rookies straight out of the draft have done since the lockout, and yes for now RNH is out pointing none other than Sid the Kid. It might not be for long as Crosby amassed over 100 points in his rookie year, but no matter how you slice it, RNH is the real deal.

After 30 Games

RNH 13-19-32 +3 62sog.

Crosby 13-18-31 -8 95sog.

Kane 7-23-30 -2 81sog.

Tavares 13-11-24 -1 76sog.

Skinner 8-14-22 -5 79sog.

Duchene 8-9-17 -9 67sog.

Hall 10-6-16 -8 85sog.

Landeskog 5-8-13 +4 91sog.

Gagner 3-10-13 -8 40sog.

Seguin 5-6-11 +2 54sog.

Stamkos 3-9-11 -13 66sog.

Couturier 28gp. 5-3-8 +8 44sog.

Through 25 Career NHL Games RNH Ties Kane's Rookie Point Production

With his two point performance against the Minnesota Wild, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins through 25 career NHL games has 27 points, which is the highest point total for a rookie since Patrick Kane's rookie season. Here's some food for thought, this time last year, Jeff Skinner and Logan Couture were running away with the rookie scoring race. Through 25 games, RNH has a 7 point cushion over Skinner and 11 point cushion over Couture from this time last year.

We are seeing something truly remarkable, an elite offensive talent that also plays a very good defensive game at the ripe old age of 18. RNH currently sits tied for 4th in NHL scoring, that is unheard of. Not since Sidney Crosby's rookie year has a player that stepped right out of the draft and into the NHL has a player finished top 10 in league scoring.

Naturally there are a lot of games left between now and the end of the season, but the fact that RNH is even there almost a third into his rookie season speaks volumes about what kind of a season he has had to date. Now obviously Kane faltered later in his season as he did not finish the season near a point a game, and we should expect something similar of RNH.

RNH would need to chip in 45 points in his next 57 games (assuming that he plays all 82 like Kane did) to tie Kane's rookie production. While that certainly appears to be a daunting task, I wouldn't bet against RNH's ability to amaze.

Here is a list of where RNH ranks relative to fellow rookies that stepped straight out of the draft into the NHL in recent years.

After 25 Career NHL Games

RNH 11-16-27 +4 49sog.

Kane 7-20-27 +1 68sog.

Tavares 9-11-20 -1 67sog.

Skinner 8-12-20 -3 63sog.

Hall 8-6-14 -5 62sog. 12/2

Stamkos 3-8-11 -12 56sog.

Landeskog 5-6-11 +1 79sog.

Seguin 5-5-10 +2 45sog.

Duchene 3-7-10 -9 48sog.

Gagner 2-8-10 -10 32sog.

Couturier 23gp. 5-3-8 +8 36sog.

Through 20 Career NHL Games RNH Trails Only Kane's Production In Recent Years

Remember when I said that RNH would be much more Kane than Gagner? The proof is in the pudding. After 20 career NHL games in their post draft season, RNH trails only Patrick Kane in points by the a measly 2 points. Kane of course went on to have a 72 point rookie season, which has been the benchmark for rookies straight out of the draft not named Sid.

If anyone still thinks that RNH will = Gagner, they need their glasses checked, if their prescription still works, then they need to get their head examined. RNH is on a level that Gagner could only dream of attaining, and that's just on the defensive side of the puck, let's not dive into their offensive abilities.

RNH looks like a potential top 5-10 player in the NHL, those that pushed for Couturier maybe salivating over his +/-, but like I said prior to the draft RNH has that "it factor" than Couturier simply does not have. Of course that isn't good enough to the stat community, however the fact that they feel that RNH could not score goals (8 through 20 games) or produce at ES at the NHL level (6-4-10 in 20 games) should be more than enough to short circuit their calculators.

Without further adieu:

Through Their First 20 Career NHL Games

Kane 7-15-22 -1 57sog.

RNH 8-12-20 +1 41sog.

Tavares 8-10-18 -1 58sog.

Skinner 6-10-16 -4 51sog.

Hall 4-5-9 -8 46sog.

Landeskog 5-4-9 Ev 70sog.

Couturier 5-3-8 +8 28sog.

Seguin 4-4-8 -1 35sog.

Gagner 2-7-8 -8 30sog.

Duchene 2-5-7 -7 36sog.

Stamkos 2-5-7 -7 46sog.

After 15 Career Games RNH Trails Only Kane's and Skinner's Production In Recent Years

In terms of rookies that entered the league straight out of the draft (not named Crosby for obvious reasons) since the lockout this is how RNH stacks up with his peers.

Thirteen points in his first fifteen contests while Hall and Eberle still try to find their goalscoring touch. Add to that the fact that the team is in the middle of a lengthy road trip and you have the makings to a tremendous start to an NHL career.

Also of note is that fellow 2011 draftees Gabriel Landeskog and Sean Couturier have had better starts to their NHL careers than most of the below list. Weak draft my ass!

Kane 5-12-17 +3 45sog.

Skinner 6-9-15 Ev 41sog.

RNH 7-6-13 +2 29sog.

Tavares 5-6-11 -2 48sog.

Landeskog 5-3-8 +2 56sog.

Couturier 5-3-8 +9 24sog.

Hall 3-4-7 -7 33sog.

Duchene 2-5-7 -5 27sog.

Gagner 1-6-7 -7 23sog.

Seguin 3-3-6 -2 25sog.

Stamkos 2-2-4 -6 32sog.

RNH With The Best Start To A Post Draft Rookie Year Since Patrick Kane

Just failing to keep at the point a game mark, RNH had more goals than any of the rookies that I've singled out for comparison's sake, more points than anyone not named Kane, and a better +/- than anyone besides fellow 2011 draftee Gabriel Landeskog who is tied with RNH with a +3.

Through ten games RNH has four points at ES including two goals. People that considered the 2011 draft to be void of elite talent at the top of the draft are getting a square kick to the junk as RNH and Landeskog are both having tremendous starts to their NHL careers.

I've said all along that RNH will be much more like Kane in terms of skill and production than Gagner, and while Gagner had a pretty decent start to his NHL career when it's all said and done I fully expect RNH to be closer to Kane's rookie totals of 21-51-72 in 82 games than Gagner's rookie totals of 13-36-49 in 79 games.

After 10 Games:

Kane 3-10-13 33sog. +2

RNH 5-4-9 22sog. +3

Tavares 3-4-7 30sog. -6

Skinner 3-4-7 27sog. +1

Gagner 1-6-7 17sog. -2

Landeskog 4-2-6 42sog. +3

Duchene 1-5-6 20sog. -3

Seguin 3-2-5 18sog. +1

Hall 2-3-5 21sog. -4

Stamkos 2-2-4 24sog. -1

Comparing RNH's Rookie Season To Other Rookies Straight Out Of The Draft

These are some of the most successful rookies straight out of the draft since the lockout. Excluding Crosby for obvious reasons, this is how RNH stacks up statistically against his peers. I'm planning on keeping track of this in 5 game segments.

First 5 games:

Tavares 3-3-6 18sog. +1

RNH 4-1-5 14sog. +1

Kane 0-4-4 18sog. +1

Gagner 0-4-4 10sog. -1

Landeskog 2-1-3 20sog. Ev.

Seguin 1-2-3 10sog. -1

Skinner 0-3-3 14sog. Ev

Duchene 0-2-2 6sog. -4

Hall 0-1-1 9sog. -2

Stamkos 0-0-0 8sog. -1

Oddly enough RNH's goalscoring was questioned in relation to other recent high end rookies, yet there he is leading the charge with 4 goals in his first 5 games. Obviously that pace will not continue throughout the season, but he has definitely shown that he can pot a few at this level.

Also of note is that RNH is one of only three players to be a + in the +/- category. It will be interesting to see how he stacks up with these players as the season progresses. Will he keep somewhat consistent? Will he hit a month long slump like Tavares did? Whatever the case, RNH has already shown much more out of the gate than most of these guys did.