Owen Griffin

There is mutual interest between the Flyers and veteran defenseman Darnell Nurse as the Oilers blueliner looks for a new home, reports Jackie Spiegel of The Philadelphia Inquirer.  To that end, Philadelphia is believed to be on the shortlist of teams that Nurse will waive his trade protection to go to.  The 31-year-old has been a top defender for Edmonton in the past and is getting paid like one with a $9.25MM per season contract that runs through the 2029-30 campaign.  However, he’s better off being more of a second or third option.  With that in mind, it stands to reason that the Oilers will need to pay down at least a portion of the contract in order to make it more palatable for potential trade partners.  The Flyers already have Travis Sanheim, Cameron York, and Nick Seeler as left-shot players on their back end so if they were to acquire Nurse, either one would have to move to their off-side or some more tinkering on the blueline might need to be done if one isn’t moved as part of a trade.

More from the Metropolitan:

• Still with the Flyers, a team source suggested to Kevin Kurz of The Athletic that of their pending unrestricted free agents, the likeliest to return would probably be center Luke Glendening. Claimed off waivers before the trade deadline back in March, the 37-year-old provided a bit of a spark down the stretch, chipping in with five points in 18 games while winning over 57% of his faceoffs.  Glendening had to settle for a training camp tryout last fall so this isn’t necessarily a situation where Philadelphia has to hurry up to sign him; they can afford to wait if they want to see how things go early in free agency and then circle back.
• A Blue Jackets prospect will have a new team next season. OHL Guelph announced that they’ve acquired forward Owen Griffin from Oshawa for four draft picks and two other players.  Griffin was a fifth-round pick last June by Columbus, who selected him 160th overall.  This season, he played in 66 games for the Generals, leading them in scoring with 25 goals and 42 assists.  The Blue Jackets have until June 1, 2027 to sign Griffin unless he pivots to college hockey after next season.