Player Discussion Darnell Nurse is a #1 dman

[ManofSteel55]

Oilers need to take some risk. Do the buyout and go for the cup the next 2 years with draisaitl and bouch resigning plus adding solid pieces. This ist the only realistic window, they are so close NOW.

They need to take calculated risks. Buying out a player who is well liked in the locker room and will give you an 8 - 9 M cap penalty 3 - 7 years from now is far too short sighted. We need to focus on winning now, but you can't cripple the franchise for a half decade in the future just for the chance to win once now. The goal has to be sustained success, we don't want another decade of darkness.

You think McDavid re-signs long term here if we buy out Nurse and can't replace him due to cap penalties 3+ years from now?

 

[dem]

You can't buy out Nurse. It's not even worth discussing.

He has to be better. That's it.

Or maybe you pay out the nose for Utah to take him. They literally have zero defense on contract.

 

[oobga]

This player is the biggest challenge for the next GM. As Nurse gets slower, he moves closer to being a mediocre 3rd pair D. His brain just is not able to compensate for his body slowing. His game is pure reaction. His ability to read the play and know what is coming is near zero. If he keeps losing the speed to keep up with how reactive his style of play is, he becomes more and more of a consistent liability. The cost of a D that can insulate us from his faults starts becoming an even more expensive fix.

NMC, buyout proof contract ... the org needs to have a very tough conversation with him. Maybe he does feel the pressure of his deal and he would like to escape it with a fresh start. Maybe there is some angle management can find to make everyone happy. First step is trying, and we absolutely need to make better use of his cap space.

 

[McDNicks17]

I don’t really see the issue with Nurse’s play after the obvious disasters early in the run.

He and Broberg had that one stinker, but they had some solid results in the finals. I’d put Nurse and that pairing way down the list of why they lost to the Panthers.

 

[oobga]

I don’t really see the issue with Nurse’s play after the obvious disasters early in the run.

He and Broberg had that one stinker, but they had some solid results in the finals. I’d put Nurse and that pairing way down the list of why they lost to the Panthers.

He gave Florida multiple gifts in the first 3 games which set us up to need to make a historic comeback. His poor play in earlier rounds helped turn what could have been a sweep or 5 game series vs Canucks into a 7 game injury fest. We are damn lucky knob found a way to babysit him with a LHD playing their off side against Dallas or we don't even get out of that series.

He may not have costed us in the most recent games, but he was a massive handicap for the team throughout the playoffs and made everything way more difficult than it needed to be. Not at all what a 9.25M player should have as their impact on a team.

Being paid 1.5 Ekholm's to be a player the coach is constantly having to worry about how to make less of a liability instead of a guy the coach wants out on the ice as much as possible is a joke honestly.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

He gave Florida multiple gifts in the first 3 games which set us up to need to make a historic comeback. His poor play in earlier rounds helped turn what could have been a sweep or 5 game series vs Canucks into a 7 game injury fest. We are damn lucky knob found a way to babysit him with a LHD playing their off side against Dallas or we don't even get out of that series.

He may not have costed us in the most recent games, but he was a massive handicap for the team throughout the playoffs and made everything way more difficult than it needed to be. Not at all what a 9.25M player should have as their impact on a team.

Darnell nurse? Game 1 maybe.

He barely played game 2 and was a +1 in game 3.

He was better than Draisaitl in the finals

 

[ManofSteel55]

You can't buy out Nurse. It's not even worth discussing.

He has to be better. That's it.

Or maybe you pay out the nose for Utah to take him. They literally have zero defense on contract.

If he even wants to go there. NMC after all.

 

[bobbythebrain]

I don’t really see the issue with Nurse’s play after the obvious disasters early in the run.

He and Broberg had that one stinker, but they had some solid results in the finals. I’d put Nurse and that pairing way down the list of why they lost to the Panthers.

Reason they lost....no.
However that's 9mil going towards a player they had to take icetime from
That's 9mil going to a player who struggles to get it out of his zone even by dumping it.

Also, that's 9mil to a guy who can't pass. While he did have a decent game yesterday did you see him pass it behind Drai on the breakout? Or behind Broberg who had daylight?

He may have not lost us the series, but he moves zero needles

 

[Ninety7]

I don’t really see the issue with Nurse’s play after the obvious disasters early in the run.

He and Broberg had that one stinker, but they had some solid results in the finals. I’d put Nurse and that pairing way down the list of why they lost to the Panthers.

What you’re saying is the bar is set so low for this player that we’re okay with him doing nothing at this point

That is a sad reality.

 

[Oilhawks]

Someone else mentioned they should try converting him to forward. Why not, at this point?

 

[FDBluth]

Neutral fan here, hoping for the Oilers and a big McDavid fanboi.

Nurse played like he wanted no part of that game 7. He played scared, tentative, indecisive the whole game. When the margins are so thin in a championship game, players like that are the difference between winning and losing. He could be a part of a championship in a very specialized role. But big money players usually need to be dependable in a lot of situations. I don't know what they should do with him.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Everything that is wrong with Nurse seems fixable, but at 29 I'm thinking some of it is likely baked in for the long haul.

I think the first issue is gap control he gives too much space and backs in more than he has to, second issue is he shows his hand too early, often you can tell what he intends to do well before, for example taking away a cross seam pass, while taking an option away is a good thing in showing your intention early it gives the opposition more time to play around you looking for the hole/gap. Third issue is he doesn't contest the puck enough, he will fight the body and box guys out, but he really isn't gaining puck control all that often, he needs to find and pounce on opportunities to take the puck, Ekholm is a great rolemodel in he contests the puck a ton, but rarely gets out of position in doing so.

At the core of Nurse's issue is he is trying to do too much damage mitigation or quality of chance reduction, when we really need a greater level of puck possession and reducing defensive zone time. We can't really afford a $9M+ d-man that doesn't tilt the ice in our favor, while imitating Kris Russell was decent for patching holes in his game early in his career, he needs to ditch that style, he needs to be on guys more challenging them for every bit of ice.

 

[Stoneman89]

Nurse is at his best instinctually. When he has time to think, is when he gets in trouble. Has great difficulty reading the play, and his anticipating skills are lacking. Has all the physical traits you could ever want in a player, but it's unfortunate the vision and ability to think the game at a high level are not where they need to be.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Everything that is wrong with Nurse seems fixable, but at 29 I'm thinking some of it is likely baked in for the long haul.

I think the first issue is gap control he gives too much space and backs in more than he has to, second issue is he shows his hand too early, often you can tell what he intends to do well before, for example taking away a cross seam pass, while taking an option away is a good thing in showing your intention early it gives the opposition more time to play around you looking for the hole/gap. Third issue is he doesn't contest the puck enough, he will fight the body and box guys out, but he really isn't gaining puck control all that often, he needs to find and pounce on opportunities to take the puck, Ekholm is a great rolemodel in he contests the puck a ton, but rarely gets out of position in doing so.

At the core of Nurse's issue is he is trying to do too much damage mitigation or quality of chance reduction, when we really need a greater level of puck possession and reducing defensive zone time. We can't really afford a $9M+ d-man that doesn't tilt the ice in our favor, while imitating Kris Russell was decent for patching holes in his game early in his career, he needs to ditch that style, he needs to be on guys more challenging them for every bit of ice.

Speaking of Kris Russell, this type of player might be all Nurse needs. A guy who might not be very talented, but thought the game well, was predictable, and was capable of moving the puck well to make up for Nurse taking risks and making use of his best asset: his physical attributes and offensive ability. The Nurse-Russell pairing was actually our highest quality of competition pairing from 2017-2019, over the Klefbom Larsson pair, and was by far our best pairing numbers wise. Similarly, he did well with Ethan Bear in 2019-20. Nurse-Barrie probably only worked b/c Canadian division was ass, it was pretty terrible the following season. I imagine part of why Nurse-Ceci doesn't work is b/c Ceci is an unpredictable adventure in his own right and Nurse had to try to be the "steady low risk" player which his hockey IQ is just too low for, and Brett Kulak is just unplayable vs high quality competition in general. If we can't get someone like Chris Tanev then let's just look for a Kris Russell clone for him to work with.

I don’t really see the issue with Nurse’s play after the obvious disasters early in the run.

He and Broberg had that one stinker, but they had some solid results in the finals. I’d put Nurse and that pairing way down the list of why they lost to the Panthers.

Replace Kulak's nametag with Nurse's last game and we've got 5 media hit pieces on him by now. Instead people are blaming Skinner for holding Florida to 2 goals some reason? Nurse was bad this playoffs but I swear some fans watch players like Nurse and Skinner hoping they make a mistake while ignoring the bad play of other players.

 

[guymez]

Everything that is wrong with Nurse seems fixable, but at 29 I'm thinking some of it is likely baked in for the long haul.

I think the first issue is gap control he gives too much space and backs in more than he has to, second issue is he shows his hand too early, often you can tell what he intends to do well before, for example taking away a cross seam pass, while taking an option away is a good thing in showing your intention early it gives the opposition more time to play around you looking for the hole/gap. Third issue is he doesn't contest the puck enough, he will fight the body and box guys out, but he really isn't gaining puck control all that often, he needs to find and pounce on opportunities to take the puck, Ekholm is a great rolemodel in he contests the puck a ton, but rarely gets out of position in doing so.

At the core of Nurse's issue is he is trying to do too much damage mitigation or quality of chance reduction, when we really need a greater level of puck possession and reducing defensive zone time. We can't really afford a $9M+ d-man that doesn't tilt the ice in our favor, while imitating Kris Russell was decent for patching holes in his game early in his career, he needs to ditch that style, he needs to be on guys more challenging them for every bit of ice.

The bolded nicely sums up the issue with Nurse.
He is going to be 30 years old next season and he is under contract until he is 34. So thats over $46M in cap space over 5 years eaten up by a player that doesnt tilt the ice in the right direction.
With players like Bouchard, Draisaitl on the verge of getting huge raises Nurse becomes even more of a liability.

 

[popo]

Neutral fan here, hoping for the Oilers and a big McDavid fanboi.

Nurse played like he wanted no part of that game 7. He played scared, tentative, indecisive the whole game. When the margins are so thin in a championship game, players like that are the difference between winning and losing. He could be a part of a championship in a very specialized role. But big money players usually need to be dependable in a lot of situations. I don't know what they should do with him.

Nurse barely played in game 7. He and Broberg had the lowest TOI of all the defense. When is the last time you saw Nurse only given 15 minutes of time a game?
His ice time had continuously declined as the series progressed. Possibly he was nursing an injury (no pun intended). I'd argue Nurse scored the worst grade for anyone on the roster these playoffs and the reduced ice time was warranted.

 

[TheNumber4]

Don’t know what to say about Nursey. He wasn’t good enough. The decision making is not great. But f*** did I want him to prove his haters and me wrong, I really wanted that to happen for him. He played with his heart and brought everything he could. So I guess there’s that.

 

[Stoneman89]

The bolded nicely sums up the issue with Nurse.
He is going to be 30 years old next season and he is under contract until he is 34. So thats over $46M in cap space over 5 years eaten up by a player that doesnt tilt the ice in the right direction.
With players like Bouchard, Draisaitl on the verge of getting huge raises Nurse becomes even more of a liability.

Nurse's inflated contract won't cost us McDavid, Draisaitl or Bouchard, but it will cost us a very good complimentary player. And a lot of times, those complimentary players can be the ones to get you over the hump.

 

[hockeyguy0022]

Nurse cannot play D next year. Do anything to get him out, or move him to forward.

He cost the oilers easily 4-5 games in these playoffs that would make Giordano on a league min deal would look like shea weber.

He's 29, making mistakes most fundamental 21 year old defence man don't make. He will not improve in hockey IQ (I think he has great physical traits BTW, im not hating on that)

Nurse's inflated contract won't cost us McDavid, Draisaitl or Bouchard, but it will cost us a very good complimentary player. And a lot of times, those complimentary players can be the ones to get you over the hump.

Oil should be ALL OVER Jeff skinner right now...

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

I don’t really see the issue with Nurse’s play after the obvious disasters early in the run.

He and Broberg had that one stinker, but they had some solid results in the finals. I’d put Nurse and that pairing way down the list of why they lost to the Panthers.

Yes, but look at the bigger picture.

This is a game of momentum, and Nurse's effect on momentum over the course of the season is wildly bad. The issues is, he makes dumb mistakes, all the time, and can't be trusted.

Sometime the mistakes really hurt us, sometimes it's a brain dead icing instead of a breakout, but it all hurts in the big picture, and he's not hard enough to play against it to balance it out. We could literally get a player who can be trusted to replace him for 6 million in UFA.

Even worse, stapling Broberg to Nurse , while making him play his off side, is the worst thing possible for Broberg's development, which is way more important than Nurse in the big picture.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

Nurse cannot play D next year. Do anything to get him out, or move him to forward.

100% with you. It has to happen. It's trade, buyout or forward before being bought out now.

He is going to be bought out at some point for sure, so what is the point of waiting, when we desperately need cap space and a top 4 Dman right now? That ugly ass 1.5 cap hit is going to be there in the future no matter what, and it's never going to look better than next season.

Speaking of Kris Russell, this type of player might be all Nurse needs.

Oh ya, and who is going to break the puck out? That's the thing, the perfect partner for Nurse is someone who is both a puck mover and a stay at home defenseman. Put Russell with him and there is no breakout, put Barrie with him, and there is no defenseman. We got to move on, find someone for Broberg instead.

 

[bobbythebrain]

The management will go thru every roster player, breakdown play vs cap.

I fail to see where Nurse comes even close to favorable

He basically has a -C to F in every category

 

[popo]

I hope Nurse bounces back next year.
But for the fun of speculation, is there any way Toronto would consider a Nurse for Marner swap?
Toronto needs help on defense and saves a little money next year.

 

[Fishy McScales]

I hope Nurse bounces back next year.
But for the fun of speculation, is there any way Toronto would consider a Nurse for Marner swap?
Toronto needs help on defense and saves a little money next year.

Before the playoffs I was against this idea, but now I would do it provided we could flip Marner for defensive help or cap space.

I strongly doubt the Leafs do it, though.

 

[Canovin]

Imagine Drai and Marner together. Take out RNH and his unwillingness to shot on the PP.

We can replace Nurse with a 3M Dman. That's how replaceable he has been.