Player Discussion Darnell Nurse is a #1 dman

[Kamus]

You come onto our board claiming McDavid is leaving after losing game 3 in the SCF. Why not find a hobby? Or touch some grass.

“Our” board???? Please explain?

 

[Macblender]

Is it actually buyout proof?

Like dont get me wrong years 2026-2030 are awful but we get two cracks at a cup with an additional $10.5MM and $8.5MM in next two seasons with a rising cap. If you get even the sense McDavid or Drai are considering leaving and think you can replace him for like $4-5MM in FA then IDK if it is that bad of a deal to try and win a cup in next two years.

 

[oobga]

Let's blow Ken Holland's mind in his next GM job. Show him that you CAN get players for free.

Nurse + Campbell + 6th

for

7th

 

[thadd]

That's still ten minutes you'll have watched.

I'm not sure if I can last 10 seconds.
I just got off the phone with family. Trying to cheer them up and all we can do is recount Darnell's 'puck luck.'

I swear, unless it's revealed that he was playing through the entire playoffs on 1 leg and half a hip, he's dead to me.

 

[MessierThanThou]

I took a break from hockey from 2018 up through the two COVID seasons, so I went back to read what people were saying about Nurse during that time, and...it hasn't changed much. The consensus seemed to be that he (still) had a low hockey IQ and was eating up major minutes but not really making a positive impact, and that the team was essentially a defensive sieve without Klefbom. In 2020-21, Nurse finished seventh in Norris voting, but the Oilers really only played six other teams that season.

It doesn't seem like Nurse was ever a genuine top-pairing D-Man in a normal NHL regular season and that his contract, because of all the limitations it places on the Oilers, might end up being the most destructive in league history, since it almost forces the team to give him major minutes so management doesn't look as idiotic as they actually are for signing someone who isn't even a legit second-pairing D-man to one of the most lucrative contracts possible. Also, it forces him to stay in the top-four, hindering the second pairing for as long as he's under contract and also preventing us from being able to afford additional defensive support or needed depth forwards (not benchwarmers like Ryan, Carrick, and Grandpa Perry).

Furthermore, Skinner's horrific play gets blamed on Nurse, when in reality they're as effective together in preventing our success as McDrai and Ek-Bouch are in achieving it. Nurse is a 6th D-Man on a good day and Skinner is a headcase who belongs in the AHL.

Ken Holland, Stuart Skinner, and Darnell Nurse are the three biggest reasons, in that order, why the Oilers didn't win a Cup this year or last. I have zero respect for the idiots who blame Draisaitl or McDavid in any way whatsoever for our current predicament. They have been willing this team farther than any other two players could go with Skinner in net and Nurse eating up 20 plus minutes a night.

We'd have at least one more Cup by now if they hired Bill Zito in 2019 (like we almost did!) instead of an old man primed for retirement whose only good moves for us were due to his son playing armchair GM.

 

[oobga]

I took a break from hockey from 2018 up through the two COVID seasons, so I went back to read what people were saying about Nurse during that time, and...it hasn't changed much. The consensus seemed to be that he (still) had a low hockey IQ and was eating up major minutes but not really making a positive impact, and that the team was essentially a defensive sieve without Klefbom. In 2020-21, Nurse finished seventh in Norris voting, but the Oilers really only played six other teams that season.

It doesn't seem like Nurse was ever a genuine top-pairing D-Man in a normal NHL regular season and that his contract, because of all the limitations it places on the Oilers, might end up being the most destructive in league history, since it almost forces the team to give him major minutes so management doesn't look as idiotic as they actually are for signing someone who isn't even a legit second-pairing D-man to one of the most lucrative contracts possible. Also, it forces him to stay in the top-four, hindering the second pairing for as long as he's under contract and also preventing us from being able to afford additional defensive support or needed depth forwards (not benchwarmers like Ryan, Carrick, and Grandpa Perry).

Furthermore, Skinner's horrific play gets blamed on Nurse, when in reality they're as effective together in preventing our success as McDrai and Ek-Bouch are in achieving it. Nurse is a 6th D-Man on a good day and Skinner is a headcase who belongs in the AHL.

Ken Holland, Stuart Skinner, and Darnell Nurse are the three biggest reasons, in that order, why the Oilers didn't win a Cup this year or last. I have zero respect for the idiots who blame Draisaitl or McDavid in any way whatsoever for our current predicament. They have been willing this team farther than any other two players could go with Skinner in net and Nurse eating up 20 plus minutes a night.

We'd have at least one more Cup by now if they hired Bill Zito in 2019 (like we almost did!) instead of an old man primed for retirement whose only good moves for us were due to his son playing armchair GM.

It was all over when Bobby Nicks started to say "overripe" every second sentence after he fired Chia and went on his educational tour to learn what a GM and POHO are supposed to do. He was already Ken Holland's B#$%&, likely the only person Bobby called. Ken Holland hooked that fish in an instant for a cool $25,000,000. And 5 years of inept GMing was our reward. Thank goodness we at least got this run, thanks to Jackson forcing the coach bump. But Holland's laziness caught up to us again.

It's gonna take some crazy good GMing now to follow it up with most of our cap increase burned next year, then Bouch and Drai extensions after that. Nurse seems like an obvious guy to try to get rid of for space. And absolutely we need a real #1 goalie.

 

[Oilhawks]

I think that's already happened.

Oh I agree, but not on paper (for the org), yet.

Definitely on fan depth charts

 

[McSuper]

Just for funzies...who was the poster who called my take an embarrassment when I posted this guy is a #5-6 at best many moons ago?

Care to step up and discuss this further as to why you thought this guy is legit ?

I specifically cited how bad this clown is in the playoffs, and he just keeps proving it over and over

I'd be embarrassed to know that I defended him right about now

I also said this for a while. I don't want to see Nurse in the Oilers silk ever again. If he was a UFA I wouldn't sign him to a 5 million contract. Lets get the chant Nurse sucks going at games so he demands a trade.

 

[McSuper]

Lol

Maybe "Darnell Nurse might be a good 2nd line winger"

He doesn't have the brains for that.

 

[Fishy McScales]

Because I got into a Facebook arguement on what nurses contract looks like on a buyout I’m gonna share this here
View attachment 882296

Unless you think Mcdavid and Draisaitl are gone in 2 years and the oilers are relocating while getting a new expansion team the Idea of buying out nurse is disgusting

Most people don't know the rules and just regurgitate shit they heard someone say in a different context.

 

[Fishy McScales]

Nurse could easily be a 1 D.

Only problem is that his NMC prevents us from sending him to Bakersfield.

 

[Fishy McScales]

I'm not sure if I can last 10 seconds.
I just got off the phone with family. Trying to cheer them up and all we can do is recount Darnell's 'puck luck.'

I swear, unless it's revealed that he was playing through the entire playoffs on 1 leg and half a hip, he's dead to me.

1 leg, half a hip and shrooms.

 

[oobga]

Because I got into a Facebook arguement on what nurses contract looks like on a buyout I’m gonna share this here
View attachment 882296

Unless you think Mcdavid and Draisaitl are gone in 2 years and the oilers are relocating while getting a new expansion team the Idea of buying out nurse is disgusting

It's just insane

We give him absolute max money for one year of crazy shooting % with all his ice time with McDavid and clearly showing he sucks without Connor. But then we also have to go insane with bonuses to make it buyout proof. Buyout cap hits even higher than the normal cap hit for multiple years of the buyout.

 

[Fishy McScales]

In the last 2 games he has a goal and an assist and is +4.

I know he had a rough play last game, but hopefully this gives him a confidence boost.

 

[Lannes]

Dear Darnell,

If you could just please crush Tkachuk or Bennett on Tuesday night, Stevens-style at center ice... all will be forgiven.

 

[guymez]

Nice to see Darnell score.
He has also looked much better with Broberg who has been playing like a stud.

 

[Pavel10]

He's looked massively better without ceci as an anchor.

He's also probably playing heavily medicated, with broken ribs, knowing his pain tolerance.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

To me, it feels like the big thing with Nurse is he needs a partner that's strong at puck retrievals, AND can make a competent breakout pass themselves.

They don't need to be elite, just good at those two elements. For example, I think Nurse is far better paired with someone like Kulak or Stecher vs. Ekholm or Bouchard.

When he has a partner that can get back quickly and move the puck themselves, it lets him be as aggressive as he wants stepping up and breaking up plays.

That's a common thread through Bear, Barrie, Stecher, Kulak, and now Broberg.


Contrast that to Nurse with Benning, Larsson, Ceci, and Vinny. None of those guys are great at vacuuming up pucks chipped in deep and quickly turning it up ice.

It's also why he's still doesn't have strong results with Bouchard and Ekholm in the limited minutes they're spent together, or Kris Russell. All of whom bring one of those elements, but not both.

Playing with those guys forces Nurse to take a super conservative approach. A style he struggles with, as he doesn't know what to do beyond play passive AF in that situation.