The Edmonton Oilers had a tumultuous past season and have a laundry list of players who were put in positions where they couldn’t succeed or who underperformed relative to their paycheques. The list of underachievers in Edmonton isn’t short, and no player dominates that discussion more than defenseman Darnell Nurse.
Nurse is perhaps the most polarizing player in Edmonton, which is really saying something for a team that also employs goaltender Tristan Jarry. But Nurse’s cap hit and poor play have continued to dominate the discussion around the Oilers for good reason. That said, if there ever was a time for the Oilers to move on from Nurse, this summer could be it.
Obviously, trading Nurse and his $9.25MM salary is a tall order. Couple that with his no-move clause and the four years remaining on the deal, and trading him becomes even more impossible. Then there are concerns about Nurse’s play, which hasn’t been great for a few years and took another dramatic drop this year.
The 31-year-old posted his worst offensive numbers in nearly a decade, and his underlying numbers were well below his career averages. Not to mention that he often appeared a step slow, both with and without the puck, leading to him turning the puck over at an alarming rate and taking a pile of penalties when he was caught out of position.
Despite all of these obstacles, this offseason might be Edmonton’s best opportunity to unload most of Nurse’s contract, or at the very least find a move that is palatable for them to move on from the player they selected seventh overall back in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
The reality is that Nurse is still an NHL defenseman, but in Edmonton, enormous expectations are placed on him because of his inflated contract. Now, no one should feel sorry for Nurse, as he played the contract game, rolled the dice on a bridge deal and played himself into his massive payday.
But patiently waiting for that contract, Nurse inadvertently put himself in a position to be miscast as a number-one defenseman, which he is not. In fact, at this stage of his career, Nurse is a high-end third-pairing defender on a good team, where he doesn’t have to play against the opponent’s top players, and he can get away with some of the issues in his game a little bit more without being constantly exposed.
But very few teams can pay that talent $9.25MM a year, and the ones that could don’t want to pay an aging, declining defender that kind of money when they are stockpiling younger assets. Mix all of those concerns with Nurse’s contractual control of the situation, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Most contending teams won’t trade for Nurse for the reasons stated above. The teams that would trade for him likely aren’t contenders, and he isn’t likely to waive the clause for them.
But this summer, there is more salary-cap growth, and for the first time in what feels like ages, there are teams with significant money available and very few free agents to sign. There are also many teams looking at their back end and believing they need to upgrade that defensive unit.
Most teams will try to do so by trading for higher-end options such as Bowen Byram or entering free agency to sign a Darren Raddysh, but so few of those options exist, and the prices will be exorbitant. There will be teams who strike out in the market but need defensemen, who may pivot and look to the secondary market for players like Morgan Rielly and, yes, Nurse. This dynamic will likely turn an unmovable contract into one that is simply tough to fully absorb.
Despite the warts in his game, Nurse can play a lot and still has good size, decent skating and durability. He’s an NHL defenseman who is miscast in a lineup because of his salary and the lack of better options around him.
If he were moved to a team with more defensive depth that could deploy him in a more sheltered role, that would be ideal, and he would serve as suitable short-term insurance if they were to lose a top-four defenseman.
For the Oilers, it is now or never to make the move, since they badly need the cap space to chase another goaltender and try to build a better lineup around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Couple the Oilers’ desperation with the growing salary cap and the league-wide need for defensemen, and you have a recipe for a Nurse move, if he wants it to happen.
Oilers fans need to be cautious and temper their expectations for a Nurse trade. It is unlikely the team will hit a home run in a trade for an undesirable player, as the Penguins did when they dumped Jarry on the Oilers for three assets.
The primary objective in a Nurse trade is to create as much cap relief as possible to allow for better roster balance and the reallocation of those financial resources.
Edmonton has several options for trading Nurse. They could dump him along with other assets to incentivize a team to acquire him and his contract. The Oilers could also flip Nurse for another player with a bad contract, such as Jonathan Huberdeau or Morgan Rielly.
While the door is open for a Nurse trade, it still feels like a long shot given a litany of factors. But unlikely is very different from impossible, and there have been moments over the last few years when a Nurse trade looked impossible.
This summer represents the best opportunity for Edmonton to trade Nurse, and it comes at a time when they need to hit multiple home runs as they try to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals.
When breaking down Nurse’s career, And, Current contract it’s important to note who signed him to the dreadful deal, I don’t see Ken Holland’s name mentioned.
Are you kidding me? Who is going to have anything to do with that contract? I don’t care what you throw with it even supposing they HAD anything to throw with it, Which they don’t. They’re going to have to buy him out to get rid of him. Just get it over with. Geez