Player Discussion Darnell Nurse is a #1 dman

[Canovin]

I'm pretty sure you quoted like two of my posts shitting on Skinner in the PGT haha.

There isn't a single number that makes him look good. The added context of the team's defensive metrics actually makes him look even worse.

I'm not disagreeing with you. Just saying the crowds somewhat overlaps each others haha

 

[Fishy McScales]

Whenever I hear "Nurse has to learn less is more" I cringe, and I think you're kind of speaking to the result of that message. He's probably the one player you would rather have running around rather than slowing down and thinking, and I wonder if that is how he's interpreting the message.

Nurse is unique in that his physical abilities are all he has to offer. When he's skating, hitting, shooting, etc he can actually be effective, but the trade off is he's going to f*** up once in a while. Conversely the "slow down and think" strategy causes him to not play to his physical strengths at all, while still being a disaster due to him not knowing how to play hockey.

I've long thought that you kind of just have to unleash him and accept the bad with the good. Let him run around and be high event, but with some hits and goals to our benefit along the way. Currently we are getting the worst of everything.

This is how I see the player too, pretty much to a tee.

 

[bettmanhatescanada]

He looks like he's broken. Like say what you will about the player, he used have confidence, and swagger and that seems completely gone.

Maybe he's having some kind of self confidence crisis right now, it would make sense in what I'm watching on the ice.

He should watch video of himself from the 2022 playoffs and try to remember that player.

I really believe Nurse has impostor syndrome now and it's affecting him mentally big time. The physical attributes have diminished a bit with age and wear and tear, but his brain is gone. He should not wear that jersey ever again. That contract might have been a blessing for his bank account, but it phucked him up in the head and he no longer has any faith in his abilities.

 

[CupofOil]

Nah. This is coming from the "don't bring up numbers if you don't want to talk context" crowd. Nowhere in my post did I say Nurse was playing well. I was just showing that Skinner is making those bad numbers even worse.

PDO was a hot topic with the Canucks. Nurse's PDO right now is just shy of being 3 times lower than 1.000 than the Canucks were above 1.000 during the season. It's kind of funny how PDO was such a big deal for them, but apparently just a bad excuse for Nurse.

I would agree with this if it was a one-off but his numbers have tanked the last 3 playoffs. First it was the injury excuse against the Avs then it was the Ceci excuse last season and now what is it? Skinner and the bottom 6 and an abnormally unlucky PDO? At what point is it going to be about Nurse himself. At least in the past, he's had pretty good regular seasons so there was always that chance of getting a bounceback playoff performance but this has been his worst season as a pro arguably and he just looks completely lost out there often times even when he makes saves with his butthole.

He's a huge anchor on this team, along with Ceci and Skinner and a few bottom 6 guys but those bottom 6 guys issues can be hidden easier. It's not just Nurse that is underperforming but when the guy is getting paid as a franchise player and is performing like a replacement level player, it becomes a more glaring issue and a bigger inhibitor to winning a Cup.

 

[McDNicks17]

I would agree with this if it was a one-off but his numbers have tanked the last 3 playoffs. First it was the injury excuse against the Avs then it was the Ceci excuse last season and now what is it? Skinner and the bottom 6 and an abnormally unlucky PDO? At what point is it going to be about Nurse himself. At least in the past, he's had pretty good regular seasons so there was always that chance of getting a bounceback playoff performance but this has been his worst season as a pro arguably and he just looks completely lost out there often times even when he makes saves with his butthole.

He's a huge anchor on this team, along with Ceci and Skinner and a few bottom 6 guys but those bottom 6 guys issues can be hidden easier. It's not just Nurse that is underperforming but when the guy is getting paid as a franchise player and is performing like a replacement level player, it becomes a more glaring issue and a bigger inhibitor to winning a Cup.

He was +3 and -2 in the last two playoffs. Throw the -12 this year in there and I'd say it's fair to say one thing is not like the others.

 

[Stoneman89]

When Nurse simplifies his game and plays with a controlled edge, he can be very effective. The trouble is, he doesn't always do this, and when he does, he rarely seems to be able to be that player for 60 minutes or even close to it.

He was +3 and -2 in the last two playoffs. Throw the -12 this year in there and I'd say it's fair to say one thing is not like the others.

And if we're going to talk plus/minus, we have 2 players with an amazing combined 50 points in the playoffs, but are a combined plus 5. Something not quite right there.

 

[bobbythebrain]

 

[Stoneman89]

I really believe Nurse has impostor syndrome now and it's affecting him mentally big time. The physical attributes have diminished a bit with age and wear and tear, but his brain is gone. He should not wear that jersey ever again. That contract might have been a blessing for his bank account, but it phucked him up in the head and he no longer has any faith in his abilities.

He was never the player in that contract in the first place. The team was boxed into a corner with a lack of quality dmen, Werenski and Jones got way overpayed, he just came off a complete outlier offensive year at the expense of some crap Canadian teams, he was a year from UFA status, and he had a weak GM that his agent played like a fiddle. A perfect shit storm. He is what he is, but he's being payed like an elite dman.

View attachment 876763

The other problem is that Nurse and Deshairnais looked like a whole lot of crap last night as well. Vinnie really struggled.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

He was +3 and -2 in the last two playoffs. Throw the -12 this year in there and I'd say it's fair to say one thing is not like the others.

He was a combined -13 in the last two series losses + 1 suspension.

 

[CupofOil]

He was +3 and -2 in the last two playoffs. Throw the -12 this year in there and I'd say it's fair to say one thing is not like the others.

He was -6 against Vegas and -6 against Colorado and a minus infinity this playoffs barely playing top 4 minutes, his pairing was arguably the MAIN reason why they lost those series. As I said, this isn't a one-off, his pairing has been their biggest weakness in 3 straight playoffs.

Honestly, I'm shocked that Nurse has any defenders at this point. I used to be one of his defenders at one point but he has continuously made me look like a fool for being one of the few left that were defending him, I can't do it anymore. The proof is in the pudding and it's a real shitty pudding. The same with Skinner, I was one of his defenders but he's making it real hard for me to do that anymore. These guys are the biggest crutches, along with Ceci, holding the Oilers back from winning a Cup but like I said before one gets paid $9.25m with lots AND LOTS of term while the other two are roughly $6m combined short term so the 9.25m guy is a much more glaring issue. It's simply inexcusable how he's been performing.

 

[oobga]

View attachment 876763

Why was that even happening?

Ceci + Kulak 9:27 - 70.61% xGF
Ceci + Nurse 8:54 - 15.72% xGF


Nurse + Vinny - 7:34 - 14.8% xGF
Kulak + Vinny - 5:07 - 100% xGF. Small data sample, not much got to the net either way in this ice time, which honestly I would take any day of the week right now considering the crap we see with our bottom 2 pairs.


So, I guess Nurse + Vinny was a mess and he changed it, but it created an equal mess of a pair with Nurse+Ceci, which ended up costing us badly.

This isn't accounting for competition. I would guess Nurse' pair gets harder comp with Ceci or Vinny. I think we simply needed our 9.25M Dman to play like even half of one last night. He played like 1/6th of one.

There is no way to juggle this mess to not have Ceci and Nurse playing a decent amount of minutes. Stecher done now. Really think we need to try Broberg. This is looking bad.

 

[Pavel10]

I do wonder how much pressure Darnell feels seeing Bouchard kill it. He's making a fraction of nurse and he's the one behaving like a 9m dman.

I wonder if this is a part of the reason why nurse is always trying to do a lot offensively and then he's on his ass in the crease defensively.

Coffey needs to tell him to be more like a Randy Gregg or Craig muni.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

I do wonder how much pressure Darnell feels seeing Bouchard kill it. He's making a fraction of nurse and he's the one behaving like a 9m dman.

I wonder if this is a part of the reason why nurse is always trying to do a lot offensively and then he's on his ass in the crease defensively.

Coffey needs to tell him to be more like a Randy Gregg or Craig muni.

Sounds like a guy too wrapped up in himself to be a good teammate.

If only Nurse was actually worth what he’s being paid, we’d have two top pairings basically. Dump this idiot, dump Campbell and build a better 2nd pair and 3rd line with the savings.

 

[Jarvi]

We should try the big Buff route and see how he fares as a winger next season. At least it's less important of a position, so his f*** ups won't be so glaring.

 

[oobga]

We should try the big Buff route and see how he fares as a winger next season. At least it's less important of a position, so his f*** ups won't be so glaring.

I can't help but think this all the time too. I really want to see Nurse tried on the wing one day. Maybe he would even have time to play tough and throw good hits.

 

[Heavy Dee]

Sarah > Darnell

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I can't help but think this all the time too. I really want to see Nurse tried on the wing one day. Maybe he would even have time to play tough and throw good hits.

He’s been hanging around McLoed too much.

 

[oobga]

He’s been hanging around McLoed too much.

Could be. I also think trying to play D uses up 100% of his brain power and there is nothing left to actually look for ways to punish opponents. Aside from the occasional beard swipe with the hand, or an end of game instigator for no good reason.

 

[Heavy Dee]

Why was that even happening?

Ceci + Kulak 9:27 - 70.61% xGF
Ceci + Nurse 8:54 - 15.72% xGF


Nurse + Vinny - 7:34 - 14.8% xGF
Kulak + Vinny - 5:07 - 100% xGF. Small data sample, not much got to the net either way in this ice time, which honestly I would take any day of the week right now considering the crap we see with our bottom 2 pairs.


So, I guess Nurse + Vinny was a mess and he changed it, but it created an equal mess of a pair with Nurse+Ceci, which ended up costing us badly.

This isn't accounting for competition. I would guess Nurse' pair gets harder comp with Ceci or Vinny. I think we simply needed our 9.25M Dman to play like even half of one last night. He played like 1/6th of one.

There is no way to juggle this mess to not have Ceci and Nurse playing a decent amount of minutes. Stecher done now. Really think we need to try Broberg. This is looking bad.

If they had the guts they would flat out replace Nurse with Broberg. It can't get worse.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Could be. I also think trying to play D uses up 100% of his brain power and there is nothing left to actually look for ways to punish opponents. Aside from the occasional beard swipe with the hand, or an end of game instigator for no good reason.

When you have a cauliflower for a brain it makes it tough to multitask.

 

[TheNumber4]

I like this comment about Nurse by Knob in today's presser. I've often railed against Nurse for not having the brains for big game hockey. It's like his brain shuts off, or more accurately he's probably in his head and thinking too much instead of playing free or with his instincts. Hopefully this comment from Knob unleashes the GOOD Nurse, cause I think somewhere deep down that player still exists:

"I think Darnell can play better, and I think it's just a matter of playing on instincts, the way Darnell checks and covers the ice, I don't know anyone in the NHL that is able to get around the ice as quick as he can and close plays off. He's so efficient at that, for him that's his strongest attribute and for him to play well that's something he's got to be doing every shift"

 

[Reasonable Oil Fan]

By this time tomorrow night we will be discussing a tied series

 

[TheNumber4]

By this time tomorrow night we will be discussing a tied series

f*** YAH WE WILL. LETS GO OIL.

 

[Oilhawks]

We should try the big Buff route and see how he fares as a winger next season. At least it's less important of a position, so his f*** ups won't be so glaring.

Really interesting idea, and could actually work. Doubt that they ever consider this and even if they do, doubt he agrees to it. Too much pride

 

[ORRFForever]

Why was that even happening?

Ceci + Kulak 9:27 - 70.61% xGF
Ceci + Nurse 8:54 - 15.72% xGF


Nurse + Vinny - 7:34 - 14.8% xGF
Kulak + Vinny - 5:07 - 100% xGF. Small data sample, not much got to the net either way in this ice time, which honestly I would take any day of the week right now considering the crap we see with our bottom 2 pairs.


So, I guess Nurse + Vinny was a mess and he changed it, but it created an equal mess of a pair with Nurse+Ceci, which ended up costing us badly.

This isn't accounting for competition. I would guess Nurse' pair gets harder comp with Ceci or Vinny. I think we simply needed our 9.25M Dman to play like even half of one last night. He played like 1/6th of one.

There is no way to juggle this mess to not have Ceci and Nurse playing a decent amount of minutes. Stecher done now. Really think we need to try Broberg. This is looking bad.

Can Nurse be bought out?