Player Discussion Darnell Nurse is a #1 dman

[Fishy McScales]

The game 1 atmosphere overwhelmed him a bit, IMO.

He looked lost during the anthem. He kind of had that stunned Nurse look instead of the determined and ready look the other Oilers showed.

Hopefully he is more mentally prepared for Game 2. A scowl on the bench would be nice. Kulak would also be a good addition again to his pairing. Ceci is too chaotic.

He also seemed a bit off in the media-day stuff I thought.

I watched some of the interviews Alexa Landestoy and Jason Demers were doing, and while most of the guys seemed pretty relaxed and were having fun with it, Darnell just looked like he'd rather be anywhere but in front of a camera.

Just seemed a bit uncomfortable, almost like he expected them to start throwing hard questions at him which they obviously didn't because that's not the kind of vibe they were going for.

 

[guymez]

Please Knoblauch, don’t be Woodcroft.

Nurse and Ceci doesn’t work, hasn’t worked for a moment this season, and hasn’t worked for at least two full calendar years. Don’t f***ing do it again. There is no reason to do it again, don’t f***ing out think yourself like the last moron we had here.

The decision to play them together in Game 1 probably reduced our odds of winning the Cup by about 10% alone at least. Just don’t double down.

I think that he outsmarted himself.
If he tries that again in game 2 then we really have to wonder.

 

[bobbythebrain]

On top of the obvious blunders yesterday did anyone catch the needless reverse back into pressure?

I mean, the whole point of the reverse is to relieve pressure of a tight forecheck, front or back.

Nurse had neither. Nobody infront and the player behind him was 5 feet away. He reversed it, as he usually does for NO F***in reason!! To boot, he put it back into danger

He sucks. There's no other way to sugarcoat it

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I just can't even fathom why Knoblauch put them back together after how awful they've been for the better part of three years. There was absolutely zero reason to do it.

 

[Pavel10]

I just can't even fathom why Knoblauch put them back together after how awful they've been for the better part of three years. There was absolutely zero reason to do it.

Florida has played the same 6 dmen entire playoffs.

Once again an indictment on Holland that our defense is so porous aside from Ekholm Bouchard pairing.

 

[McDNicks17]

Florida has played the same 6 dmen entire playoffs.

Once again an indictment on Holland that our defense is so porous aside from Ekholm Bouchard pairing.

Zito added more NHL defensemen last offseason than Holland did in five years.

 

[guymez]

He also seemed a bit off in the media-day stuff I thought.

I watched some of the interviews Alexa Landestoy and Jason Demers were doing, and while most of the guys seemed pretty relaxed and were having fun with it, Darnell just looked like he'd rather be anywhere but in front of a camera.

Just seemed a bit uncomfortable, almost like he expected them to start throwing hard questions at him which they obviously didn't because that's not the kind of vibe they were going for.

Sometimes a player will wilt after signing a big contract.
That could be the case with Nurse.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Zito added more NHL defensemen last offseason than Holland did in five years.

Just painful that they did a hard pivot to Holland away from Zito when the former became available.

 

[McDNicks17]

Just painful that they did a hard pivot to Holland away from Zito when the former became available.

Watching Forsling and Montour - two guys that are better than Nurse, that Zito got for a waiver claim and a third round pick, making a combined $9.25M - almost makes you physically ill.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Watching Forsling and Montour - two guys that are better than Nurse, that Zito got for a waiver claim and a third round pick, making a combined $9.25M - almost makes you physically ill.

Hyman and Ekholm were great adds but the Nurse and Campbell contracts are just so crippling. If Nurse made half of what he does right now that would be perfect.

 

[Fishy McScales]

Sometimes a player will wilt after signing a big contract.
That could be the case with Nurse.

Yeah but this feels more recent to me, as in these playoffs.

Fans have complained about the contract for years, but Nurse might have been insulated from that if he doesn't read HF basically.

However now he's losing his icetime and role on the team. The media is talking about his poor play, asking his coach, asking his teammates, asking him.

Nurse always struck me as a guy with swagger and high self confidence. I suspect being questioned like this is an experience he literally doesn't know how to approach and at this point that vaunted self confidence is suddenly shot.

 

[guymez]

Yeah but this feels more recent to me, as in these playoffs.

Fans have complained about the contract for years, but Nurse might have been insulated from that if he doesn't read HF basically.

However now he's losing his icetime and role on the team. The media is talking about his poor play, asking his coach, asking his teammates, asking him.

Nurse always struck me as a guy with swagger and high self confidence. I suspect being questioned like this is an experience he literally doesn't know how to approach and at this point that vaunted self confidence is suddenly shot.

I think what you are referring to is resilience and if Nurse is short on that then I dont want him on the team.
I also dont think its that recent.
I have been posting about Nurses poor decision making for well over a year now.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

I just can't even fathom why Knoblauch put them back together after how awful they've been for the better part of three years. There was absolutely zero reason to do it.

It's because Kulak wasn't great on his offside. Putting Broberg on the second pair on his offside isn't great either. And Nurse-Ceci isn't great either.

Mistakes made in the offseason. The plan was to play Broberg with Ekholm, and Nurse with Bouchard, remember. That could work, but Nurse won't simplify. Once those pairings flamed under woodcrap, we were destined for the same situation we were in last playoffs imo

 

[Fishy McScales]

I think what you are referring to is resilience and if Nurse is short on that then I dont want him on the team.
I also dont think its that recent.
I have been posting about Nurses poor decision making for well over a year now.

Nurse has had poor decision making his whole career.

I'm talking about his demeanor and mental fortitude at this stage. It has nothing to do with resilience.

 

[Lannes]

I hope that he gets the record and that we still win the cup in spite of it. If that won't be the kick in the ass needed for him to have a huge offseason and try to right his game then he's a lost cause IMO.

I don't know what he can do in the off-season to fix this, though.

Its not a physical thing, he is just completely incapable of processing and reacting to the game at an NHL level. Like at all. From clearing attempts that get picked off rountinely, to dumb penalties, to passes that miss everyone by 10 feet and end up as icings, to doing snow angels at the least sign of pressure, to going into vapour lock like he inexplicably did last night on the second goal. Even in his two 'good' games against Dallas, alot of this was still happening.

I dunno what happens from here. He's not young anymore, and he has never improved on these things.

 

[guymez]

Nurse has had poor decision making his whole career.

I'm talking about his demeanor and mental fortitude at this stage. It has nothing to do with resilience.

Mental fortitude has everything to do with resilience.

 

[Fishy McScales]

Mental fortitude has everything to do with resilience.

It feels like your trying to misunderstand or misconstrue what I'm saying on purpose.

I don't have the mental fortitude or resilience to engage in this. It's not important to me to see this argument through.

I have a pretty clear idea of what this player is and it seems we're talking about separate things.

 

[guymez]

It feels like your trying to misunderstand or misconstrue what I'm saying on purpose.

I don't have the mental fortitude or resilience to engage in this. It's not important to me to see this argument through.

I have a pretty clear idea of what this player is and it seems we're talking about separate things.

Actually we agree except that mental fortitude (your words) doesnt exist without resilience.
So really I am not misunderstanding what you are saying at all.

Mentally resislient players (players with mental fortitiude) are able to bounce back from setbacks and clearly Nurse hasnt been able to do that.
Not at all sure what your getting all twisted up about here.

All that being said we agree that Nurse has had poor decision making as an issue for a long time now.

 

[K1984]

I think that he outsmarted himself.
If he tries that again in game 2 then we really have to wonder.

According to Brown on GYB - Kulak wasn’t quite “comfortable” enough on the right side, so naturally that means going back to the pair that has been getting skull f***ed to a near unprecedented degree for a team this deep in the playoffs.

An absolute absurd justification for that choice if that’s truly why they did it.

 

[guymez]

According to Brown on GYB - Kulak wasn’t quite “comfortable” enough on the right side, so naturally that means going back to the pair that has been getting skull f***ed to a near unprecedented degree for a team this deep in the playoffs.

An absolute absurd justification for that choice if that’s truly why they did it.

I couldnt agree more.

 

[T-Funk]

According to Brown on GYB - Kulak wasn’t quite “comfortable” enough on the right side, so naturally that means going back to the pair that has been getting skull f***ed to a near unprecedented degree for a team this deep in the playoffs.

An absolute absurd justification for that choice if that’s truly why they did it.

You could tell that Kulak really struggled, but the rest of the team was playing pretty damn good and winning games. Kulak can go back to being comfortable in 6 games...probably 3 now that Knob spotted them game 1.

 

[oil Leaks]

Watching Forsling and Montour - two guys that are better than Nurse, that Zito got for a waiver claim and a third round pick, making a combined $9.25M - almost makes you physically ill.

Another good move by Zito was not panic signing Montour to a long-term contract after a career season.

 

[Pavel10]

Zito added more NHL defensemen last offseason than Holland did in five years.

Yeah I know. It's funny when the casual NHL fan equates oilers final = are you really going to not extend Holland?

This team was bound to be here by now with a potato as a gm. Hell the only tragedy is because of the poor moves by the last two GMs we haven't been in the finals a few years earlier.

 

[Yuke]

Yeah I know. It's funny when the casual NHL fan equates oilers final = are you really going to not extend Holland?

This team was bound to be here by now with a potato as a gm. Hell the only tragedy is because of the poor moves by the last two GMs we haven't been in the finals a few years earlier.

Sad that a normal fan thinks a NHL GM job is that easy

 

[LTIR]

Hopefully the media grills him again so he follows it up with a 12 hit game like last time.