July 9, 2011 /
By Mark Janzen /
Red Deer Rebels president and owner Brent Sutter wasn’t entirely convinced of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The Rebels had the first selection in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft and while head scout Dale McMullin was fully on board with the Burnaby, B.C.-product, Sutter needed a little coaxing.
So McMullin asked the one guy, who likely knew Nugent-Hopkins as a hockey player better than anyone else, to do a little persuading.
“They wanted to draft him and Brent wasn’t sold on him,” said John Batchelor, who coached Nugent-Hopkins during his Bantam years at Burnaby Winter Club. “I had to write a letter to Brent saying what I thought he would be like as a Junior player and where I saw his career going. And everything I said has pretty much panned-out.
“I told him he was going to be a franchise player for you. You’re probably going to have him for two or three years and that’s it. He’s going to play for Team Canada as a Junior player and he’s going to play for Team Canada as an NHL player. He’s that good of a player.”
Apparently, Batchelor’s penmanship worked.
Sutter was convinced. The Rebels took Nugent-Hopkins, first overall. And since then, detractors have been few and far between as the 6-0, 164-pound centre.
So, when the Edmonton Oilers made Nugent-Hopkins their first overall selection in the 2011 NHL entry draft, making him the highest B.C.-born player ever selected – ahead of Barry Beck and Ryan Walter who were picked second in 1977 and 1978 respectively – it just seemed like a logical step for the BWC alumnus.
After his final Bantam season under Batchelor, in which Nugent-Hopkins collected 119 goals and 95 assists in 66 games and was plus-129, the soon to be NHLer played a year with the North West Giants of the BC Major Midget league, earning 78 points in 36 games, and then made the leap to the Rebels.
And in two years with Red Deer, and quite possibly his only two years with the Sutter-run organization, he put up 171 points in 136 games, including 31 goals and 75 assists just this past year as he worked his way into becoming the hottest commodity going into the NHL Draft.
“His vision on the ice was amazing,” said Batchelor, recalling his Bantam days when it was already clear he would be a star. “He saw the game at such a different level and anyone who played was a better player because he made everybody better.
“His ability to know what the guy is going to do before he does it is one of his greatest assets. He can tell where a guy is on the ice, where he came from, where his stick is, when he did that crossover, how his feet are and what he’s going to do. It’s just something you can’t teach guys.”
When the Oilers selected him, Edmonton GM Steve Tambellini told reporters the exact same thing: “He has vision that surprises you even if you’re watching from the stands, sometimes. You think you see the obvious plays in place and he’ll come up with something even different than what you can see from up top.”
And ask anyone who knows Nugent-Hopkins well and they’ll tell you he’s always been a team player and a great kid off the ice.
“All he cares about is the team he’s on,” Batchelor said. “He doesn’t care about his own personal stats. He just wants the team to succeed.
“It’s so nice to see a good thing happen to such a good kid. He works hard for everything he gets. He doesn’t take anything for granted. He treats others with the utmost respect. I can’t say anything bad about him.”
Neither can Sutter, nor now, the Oilers. |