HELSINKI, FINLAND

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins been a study, since the day he arrived for the pre-tournament games in Switzerland until the end of the round robin.

And just about everybody involved in this year's world hockey championship has been engaging in the study.

There have been times he's looked lost out there – times he's looked more than lost. There have been times where he's figured it out and made great plays. There have even been times, against both Finland and Belarus, where he's sensed Canada needed somebody to shake things up and produced the first finish-your-check hits of both games. When you get that from the most unlikely guy in your line-up, others take notice.

Going into the quarter-finals, RNH had scored four goals. Nobody else in the Helsinki pool had produced more. The only other four-goal scorers for Canada in the round robin were Jordan Eberle and John Tavares, both in their third world championships.

Nobody has made more of a study of Nugent-Hopkins than Devan Dubnyk, his Edmonton Oilers team-mate who has also been his room-mate over here.

“Everybody loves Nuge,” he marveled.

“He's so quiet, so respectful and so humble.

“The best way I can describe it is I don't think Nuge knows he's The Nuge yet.

“And I don't think that's ever going to be a problem with him. He's so easy to like.”

Dubnyk said it's not like RNH hasn't become part of the team.

“He's not a mute around the guys. He opens up a bit. And when he does, that just makes him more easy to like,” added the Team Canada back-up goaltender.

“The thing with Nuge is everybody forgets he's 18. He's already such a great player and mature kid. You forget there is still a lot of learning involved because he's so far ahead of his age.

“This opportunity has been so great for him. I think he's really going to benefit from it.”

Goaltender Cam Ward laughs and said his contention is that RNH's stats this past season are inflated.

“He scored one on me in Edmonton that was pretty soft. I gave him a gift goal,” he said of Nugent-Hopkins 18 goal, 52-point rookie season despite missing 20 games due to injury.

But that said, Ward admits he's had his eyebrows raised, having not watched RNH much in Carolina.

“He's a very, very skilled player. A tremendous skater. I was really impressed the way he stood up for himself after Belarus players came after him when he scored his goal. He may be quiet and respectful but there's another side to this kid.”

Jordan Eberle, his Oilers linemate, said it's been interesting.

“Obviously he's managed to get better as the tournament has gone on. In my first year, the transition to the big ice and the style of play was a pretty big adjustment. But with his skating style, it should really be an advantage the more and more he plays. And we all know he's mature beyond his years,” added Eberle.

“He's just such a nice guy,” said Vancouver Canucks Alex Burrows.

“He's really down to earth. I don't think there's any question he's a superstar in the making. He reminds me a little bit of the twins when they came into the league,” he said of his Canucks line-mates Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

That his Team Canada team-mates were reaching these kind of conclusions started to become obvious the other day when Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith volunteered the findings of his study of the Burnaby, B.C. product drafted No. 1 overall from the Red Deer Rebels.

“He's a young guy who is very respectful. And he has such a great attitude. You can see the reason he was drafted No.1. He has a great attitude and he's going to be a heck of a player down the road. He's very quiet and observant and a nice guy,” said Keith.

“His tournament has been very much like his first season in the NHL,” said Kevin Lowe, Team Canada general manager and Edmonton Oilers president of hockey operations.

“In a couple of games it looked like it was pretty tough for him. But for an 18-year-old his intelligence for the game is so incredibly high he's working his way around it.

“I loved what he did in the game against Finland. In the first period we were playing the European game while they were playing the Canadian game. We weren't hitting anybody. He delivered the first hit of the game right in front of our bench,” said Lowe.

“Everybody I talk to here says the same thing. 'What's this kid going to look like in two years?'”

RNH has often been compared to Steve Yzerman, but the former Detroit Red Wing who will once again head up Canada's Olympic hockey management team, was already on record before he came here as saying he thinks Nugent-Hopkins will be better.

“I think he's niftier, if I can say that. He's taller and has a little more range. He'll be better than me because he's got a longer reach. He's outstanding. He's got the mind, you know. And his vision is fantastic.”

Upon further examination here, Yzerman offered more.

“I just think he's a great young talent. He's got all the tools. He's going to take some time to develop. I'm not saying he'd make the Olympic team today. He has composure and confidence and to do what he's done as an 18-year-old this season ...

“I don't think you can teach the kind of hockey sense he has. I'm not saying he'll be ready for the Olympics in a year and a half, but we're sure going to be watching his progress.”

Nugent-Hopkins himself seems oblivious to how others are viewing him over here.

“I'm not too sure,” he said. “I'm just the kid. I'm just the new guy.

“I definitely feel more comfortable as we go along. I think I'm making more and more of the adjustments as we go along.

“I hope I can be a part of a success as we go forward. I feel good.”

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terry.jones@sunmedia.ca