Player Discussion Darnell Nurse is a #1 dman

[Mr Kot]

Should change title to "Nurse is a d-man"

 

[foshizzle]

This is the most offensive thing about the contract.

If you're paying top, top, top dollar on a long term deal you need a way out. I wasn't in the room, but I simply can't imagine a world that Nurse's camp would put their foot down if the Oilers told them they can have the AAV and the money, but not front loaded so there is an exit strategy.

I honestly don’t even think there was a negotiation. Nurse’s agent got what he asked for. Hell, if you guys remember, Nurse didn’t sign it right away because he was on vacation or something. When the player is no rush to sign it- you need to fire yourself if you are the GM

Should change title to "Nurse is a man"

Fixed it for you

 

[foshizzle]

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.

Inexplainable and inexcusable imho. By the end of the game- they were the third pair. Broberg, a rookie playing on his wrong side was a far better defenseman. The fact some media are suggesting Broberg play with Nurse so Nurse can “roam” is mindboggling. Nurse needs to be babysat now by a rookie?

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

He is right. The core is from Chiarelli and MacT. The coaching staff, all of it is from Chiarelli or, in the case of Knob, Jackson. Hyman was an add that his son fought tooth and nail for because Holland jr is an analytics guy and felt he was going to pop. He was right. Holland has actually been constantly handicapping this team

 

[Pavel10]

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

Yeah it's even more sad Holland is the highest paid gm in the history of the league and the core he inherited have had to drag us this far.

 

[ottawah]

I think this years playoffs numbers are really telling.

5v5 GA/60

Nurse/Ceci pairing 4.3. Ceci without Nurse 1.1
Nurse/Dehairnais pairing 5.1. Dehairnais without Nurse 2.3
Nurse/Kulak Pairing 3.5. Kulak without Nurse 1.7


At some point you have to stop blaming his partners. Its not like they get plum assignments with vs without Nurse. Easier, but not plum. Not to the tune of those levels of differences.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I honestly don’t even think there was a negotiation. Nurse’s agent got what he asked for. Hell, if you guys remember, Nurse didn’t sign it right away because he was on vacation or something. When the player is no rush to sign it- you need to fire yourself if you are the GM


Fixed it for you

Nurse's agent is Swan, Holland is the cop, instead of "he look like a man" Nurse's Agent kept saying "he look like a #1 D!".

 

[Bryanbryoil]

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.

Train his mind and body. His mind by working on scanning and his body in terms of retrieving and snapping the puck up ice quickly. That 2nd goal doesn't happen if Darnell is aware of the threat from the slot.

 

[McDoused]

I dont want to rag on a guy who is in the cup finals. He can play much better than he has shown this playoffs.

Ill hold my comments until the offseason.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Yeah it's even more sad Holland is the highest paid gm in the history of the league and the core he inherited have had to drag us this far.

It's like they learned nothing from hiring a guy whose best days were behind him and had to be put out to pasture...by hiring someone who was both older and whose best days were even further back of the guy they had just fired! All of Holland's best moves were suggested by his son, a guy no wiser than the wisest armchair GMs on this board.

We could've had Bill Zito as GM.

 

[mkatcherin00]

I think this years playoffs numbers are really telling.

5v5 GA/60

Nurse/Ceci pairing 4.3. Ceci without Nurse 1.1
Nurse/Dehairnais pairing 5.1. Dehairnais without Nurse 2.3
Nurse/Kulak Pairing 3.5. Kulak without Nurse 1.7


At some point you have to stop blaming his partners. Its not like they get plum assignments with vs without Nurse. Easier, but not plum. Not to the tune of those levels of differences.

Even with a cup on the line this team would never scratch nurse. Even with these terrible numbers and his eventual green jacket record coming

 

[mkatcherin00]

Did anybody see practise lines today? D pairs

 

[Dieseloil]

Jeez it wasn’t that long ago that criticism of Nurse was kinda taboo in these threads. He’s been crap for years, with the odd decent game. I think he needs to to join Soup in the press box. Ya ya the money I know. That second goal last night was classic Nurse, WTF is he thinking there? Certainly not clobbering the goal scorer cruising into position.

 

[Kolja]

I think Broberg - Ceci did a good job. Let me suggest for game 2:

Ek - Bouch
Bro - Ceci
Kulak - Desh

Makes sense if we have a merit based line-up.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Even with a cup on the line this team would never scratch nurse. Even with these terrible numbers and his eventual green jacket record coming

Scratching him has every merit as far as logic. But optics are a thing. Hate to say it despite the mounting evidence to the contrary, the room would take a hit mentally imo

Scratching would be a hint of defeat in that room. Hate to say it. Limit his ice time is the best option

 

[Fishy McScales]

I think this years playoffs numbers are really telling.

5v5 GA/60

Nurse/Ceci pairing 4.3. Ceci without Nurse 1.1
Nurse/Dehairnais pairing 5.1. Dehairnais without Nurse 2.3
Nurse/Kulak Pairing 3.5. Kulak without Nurse 1.7


At some point you have to stop blaming his partners. Its not like they get plum assignments with vs without Nurse. Easier, but not plum. Not to the tune of those levels of differences.

What's the matchup context look like?

Not saying either way but that looks like it might just be everyone also faces tougher competition when paired with Nurse. Though I will say Nurse and Ceci are basically negative synergy.

Anyway, someone tell him to take warmup without a helmet, them aim for the crossbar.

 

[ottawah]

What's the matchup context look like?

Not saying either way but that looks like it might just be everyone also faces tougher competition when paired with Nurse. Though I will say Nurse and Ceci are basically negative synergy.

They do (I noted), but not really far easier.

Dallas is probably the best example as Ceci/Nurse were away from each other the whole series. Ceci played mostly against Marchment, Johnson and Duchesne, but overall played 23-36 minutes against the top 9 of Dallas (pretty deep team). 24 against Robertson.

Nurse played mostly against Duchesne, Sequin and Robertson. Was 25-35 minute against top 9. 32 against Robertson.

Zone starts are about the same.

So I think its safe to say Nurse had tougher ice minutes, although not tougher assignments. The minutes were quite spread around between all 6 D men. Dallas with its depth is not always the best to go by though.

But those GA/60, even against top competition is simply horrendous. Thats send to the AHL bad. He may be in a tough stretch, he may be injured, he may just be getting exposed, but he needs to pick it up.

 

[ottawah]

Scratching him has every merit as far as logic. But optics are a thing. Hate to say it despite the mounting evidence to the contrary, the room would take a hit mentally imo

Scratching would be a hint of defeat in that room. Hate to say it. Limit his ice time is the best option

And thats what they did last game. In fact his ice team seems to have been dwindling as the playoffs have gone on. Maybe if he knows its 15 minutes a night well spread out, he can go all out and have a very effective 15 minutes as opposed to 22 of of what we have seen so far. It will put pressure on the third pairing for sure, but max 6 games left, leave nothing in the tank.

 

[foshizzle]

Train his mind and body. His mind by working on scanning and his body in terms of retrieving and snapping the puck up ice quickly. That 2nd goal doesn't happen if Darnell is aware of the threat from the slot.

Darnell, in his post game interviews, does t even think he did something wrong. “Just went through my wickets”

 

[Pavel10]

I think Broberg - Ceci did a good job. Let me suggest for game 2:

Ek - Bouch
Bro - Ceci
Kulak - Desh

Makes sense if we have a merit based line-up.

Ceci is worse than nurse.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Right now he’s a 3 and if Broberg continues his positive development he might be a 4 or 5 next year with how he’s playing. Kulak has been better than Nurse this and every single playoffs.

 

[K1984]

Right now he’s a 3 and if Broberg continues his positive development he might be a 4 or 5 next year with how he’s playing. Kulak has been better than Nurse this and every single playoffs.

You could make a legitimate argument that Nurse has been our worst defensemen in the playoffs since 2022.

Actually now that I think about it, you would actually have to come up with an argument to fight your case as to why he hasn't been the worst overall D man since 2022. I can't think of any grounds to make that case off the top of my head.

Not like he's a shining star in the regular season either, but he finds a way to hit new lows every single playoffs. One of the worst playoff performers I can think of, maybe the worst playoff performer going back 10+ years.

 

[Fishy McScales]

You could make a legitimate argument that Nurse has been our worst defensemen in the playoffs since 2022.

Actually now that I think about it, you would actually have to come up with an argument to fight your case as to why he hasn't been the worst overall D man since 2022. I can't think of any grounds to make that case off the top of my head.

Not like he's a shining star in the regular season either, but he finds a way to hit new lows every single playoffs. One of the worst playoff performers I can think of, maybe the worst playoff performer going back 10+ years.

Yeah his scoring dries up too. In the regular season he is a 40-point d-man but in the playoffs that takes a nose dive.

In fact, 2022 is the only playoff where Nurse has even scored a goal in his career (he had two).

I'm at my wit's end with this player. It seems like his mental game is just getting worse and worse, but it's also his inability to learn from mistakes. His hockey sense isn't good enough for him to improve, especially at this age. Both his plays on the goals the other night are the same mistake he's been making for years.

 

[McDNicks17]

Darnell, in his post game interviews, does t even think he did something wrong. “Just went through my wickets”

Or he's just not wasting his time with the media.

He clearly told the bench that it was his fault.

 

[foshizzle]

Or he's just not wasting his time with the media.

He clearly told the bench that it was his fault.

Maybe. Or maybe he doesn’t recognize it’s a mistake and the lack of recognition is a reason why he has +/- not seen this century by a d man

It's like they learned nothing from hiring a guy whose best days were behind him and had to be put out to pasture...by hiring someone who was both older and whose best days were even further back of the guy they had just fired! All of Holland's best moves were suggested by his son, a guy no wiser than the wisest armchair GMs on this board.

We could've had Bill Zito as GM.

What hurts is Zito interviewed with the Oilers but everything was dropped and processes ignored once Holland became available

 

[McDNicks17]

Maybe. Or maybe he doesn’t recognize it’s a mistake and the lack of recognition is a reason why he has +/- not seen this century by a d man

Yeah, he immediately told the bench it was his fault and then screamed an expletive because he didn't think it was his fault?

There's a bazillion real things to shit on Nurse for right now. I don't get making up dumb shit to pile on.