Player Discussion Darnell Nurse: Is He Growing Into His Contract?

[OG Eberle]

Couldn't find his player discussion thread the past 5 pages so I felt a new one was in order.

I can't help but be impressed by how Nurse has looked for most of this season, especially the playoffs. He seems to be driving plays, making smart decisions, anchoring his line and using his body more (even if it isn't showing up with increased hits).

He seems to be standing out for the right reasons to me, as opposed to being the focal point of discussion as to why we lost a game or came close to it.

I know his contract was pretty big point of contention the last few seasons, but with the rising cap and the improvements in his game (that I perceive), I don't think it's nearly as bad as most non-Oilers fans probably still think it is.

Curious if anyone else sees this growth as well

 

[Hockeylife2018]

I think it comes down to 3 main points

1) with the cap going up his caphit has been more manageable, when it was signed he was not worth the caphit %, im sure near the end of his contract it won't even be seen as an issue
2) bringing in offensive D men...nurse is at his worst when he's trying to do too much...he's at his best when he's just trying to be a tough gritty D that can pot the odd one...he doesn't have to hockey IQ to make jump up plays and looks terrible when he does

3) the overall team commitment to better defensive play which also takes some stress off of him

 

[The Nuge]

The analytics have continuously pointed to him being a ~8 million dollar dman, and the rising cap is going to make his contract fine. The problem is people refuse to look past his mistakes, and pretend like he’s some bottom pairing dman. People claim he’s only worth 5 million when that’s what freaking Zadorov makes.

 

[HockeyGuy1964]

The analytics have continuously pointed to him being a ~8 million dollar dman, and the rising cap is going to make his contract fine. The problem is people refuse to look past his mistakes, and pretend like he’s some bottom pairing dman. People claim he’s only worth 5 million when that’s what freaking Zadorov makes.

Yeah, this is basically it.
Posters also don't like that he makes more than Ekholm.

 

[OG Eberle]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. I'm sure if you grab enough stats on anyone, you can paint anyone as "awful" compared to whatever other arbitrary stat you want to use to suit a narrative.

He honestly seems worth it to me at this point and that he's starting to play to his capabilities. Whether thats because he's doing a bit less, or because he's growing. Either way, he's eating minutes and playing well when it matters most.

 

[Bumblebee Man]

He was horrible for a few years.

He was fantastic this season

Playoff Darnell is a different story...alot of bad mixed in with some good.. but not 9mil good

 

[Mr Positive]

Imo hes worth 9 million just because of the growth of the cap.

If I'm wrong it's not by much. With his minutes and with a decent partner he's definitely an 8 million AAV Dman minimum

 

[AddyTheWrath]

No. A $9.25M defenseman doesn’t only play well when paired with very specific defensemen. Add to that the fact that Nurse would be on our bottom pairing if Ekholm was healthy.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

No. A $9.25M defenseman doesn’t only play well when paired with very specific defensemen. Add to that the fact that Nurse would be on our bottom pairing if Ekholm was healthy.

Nurse is our second best LD, zero chance hes on the bottom pairing if Ekholm is healthy.

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

He really had to step up considering we missed Ekholm for a while..

Did everyone just take turns bonking him in the head in the dressing room??

 

[Perfect_Drug]

My kid was born around the same time as Nurse's.

She doesnt sleep. She wakes up 3x a night. And we tried everything from sleep consultants to every kind of sleep training.

Nurse's play cratered the day his kid was born, and is getting better as his kids are less demanding.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

Nurse is our second best LD, zero chance hes on the bottom pairing if Ekholm is healthy.

Walman and Ekholm are both better than Nurse

 

[syz]

He's become mostly competent defensively when put in the right situation (2nd pairing with a partner that suits him).

99 times out of 100 I can't stand watching him attempt to do much of anything offensively.

Still too much money for that sort of player but you live with it as the cap goes up.

 

[hockeyguy0022]

lol Ken, we know it's you, Darnell is going to look great in a Kings jersey.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Walman and Ekholm are both better than Nurse

Ekholm is, walman definitely isn’t.

 

[Mr Positive]

No. A $9.25M defenseman doesn’t only play well when paired with very specific defensemen. Add to that the fact that Nurse would be on our bottom pairing if Ekholm was healthy.

That's never true of any player in any position. Even McDavid's is dependant on who he plays with. Getting paid more doesn't make you immune to chemistry concerns and complementary play styles. Even with Makar in Colorado, who will be paid 14 million likely, is stapled to a Dman who he found success with. Find what works

 

[AM]

If we win with him he’s worth it. If we don’t he’s not.

 

[tiger_80]

I think it comes down to 3 main points

1) with the cap going up his caphit has been more manageable, when it was signed he was not worth the caphit %, im sure near the end of his contract it won't even be seen as an issue
2) bringing in offensive D men...nurse is at his worst when he's trying to do too much...he's at his best when he's just trying to be a tough gritty D that can pot the odd one...he doesn't have to hockey IQ to make jump up plays and looks terrible when he does

3) the overall team commitment to better defensive play which also takes some stress off of him

Still think 9.5 million is a lot of money for No.3 d-man, who will be 35 at the end of his contract. He's a 6-6.5 million player at most.

 

[booyakasha]

He was horrible for a few years.

He was fantastic this season

Playoff Darnell is a different story...alot of bad mixed in with some good.. but not 9mil good

he doesn't get paid 9 million in the playoffs, so the point is moot.

 

[OG Eberle]

Walman and Ekholm are both better than Nurse

They all play very different styles of games which is beneficial to us, as we have 3 LD that are all pretty clear top 4 guys with the right partners.

Don't think we can definitively tier any of them. Ekholm was definitely better at one point and still plays at a high level that we definitely need/benefit from. But I don't think anyone is confusing him with his peak in NSH either.

 

[CupofOil]

Ekholm is, walman definitely isn’t.

I think Walman vs. Nurse is very arguable. It's just that the sample size of Walman's is smaller but as of today? I trust Walman more than Nurse tbh. These last few playoffs have really scarred my perception of him tbh so it'll take a bigger sample size of solid play to wash that away.

 

[CupofOil]

Imo hes worth 9 million just because of the growth of the cap.

If I'm wrong it's not by much. With his minutes and with a decent partner he's definitely an 8 million AAV Dman minimum

No he's not worth close to $9m even in a rising cap world.
He's been better this playoffs than the last 2 but that wasn't a high bar to clear. He's more like a $6-7m Dman.

 

[Mr Positive]

No he's not worth close to $9m even in a rising cap world.
He's been better this playoffs than the last 2 but that wasn't a high bar to clear. He's more like a $6-7m Dman.

Orlov makes almost 8. Nurse is at least as good as he is. Nurse plays more minutes and gets more points, and is younger. There's no way his value starts with a 6, and even a 7 is pushing it

 

[CupofOil]

Orlov makes almost 8. Nurse is at least as good as he is. Nurse plays more minutes and gets more points, and is younger. There's no way his value starts with a 6, and even a 7 is pushing it

Nurse is paid in the realm of Josi, Fox, McAvoy, Makar, Pietrangelo (although a bit declined from previous form), more than Heiskanen. Of course, not all these contracts were handed out at the same time so there's a market to consider but he's not even close to any of these guys. Then you go to the 8m club and it's Burns, Trouba, Sanderson, Chabot, Carlson. He's probably better than Burns at this point in his career, Trouba's contracts is terrible, Sanderson, Carlson and Chabot probably are better. Then you have guys like Hughes, Reilly, Orlov a little lower than that. Nurse is in the realm of Orlov, Hughes speaks for himself, Reilly is probably better. I haven't done a deep dive into the other guys. Rising cap should be taken into consideration but I've seen way too much bad Nurse to consider him even close to a $9m player even in the rising cap world. 6 is pushing it but 7-8m at best IMO. It's still one of the worst contracts in the league IMO and has been a crutch for the Oilers for years. He's played well this playoffs though so if he helps bring the Oilers a cup being an impact guy in the run then it'll be worth it.

 

[AddyTheWrath]

Ekholm is, walman definitely isn’t.

All the analytics say Walman definitely is. And so does the eye test, to be honest.