Speculation: Looking back on the Hamilton trade , should the Oilers have gave up Nurse

[Homesick]

Been thinking about this trade the last few weeks and with the addition of Larsson and Nurse not being ready for the NHL yet ( At least last season ) Should Chia have given up Nurse to Boston ?

Klefbom Larsson
Sekera Hamilton

Plus Davidson could be in the top 4 . Mix and Match how you will . I know some fans will come in here and bash Hamilton . Please don't . He a young D who got better as the year when on . He had to get use to a new system , new players . He is a puck moving D that the Oilers could of really used .

As of today you could not trade Reinhart and Nurse for a D with Hamilton upside . So In my opinion we should have bitten the bullet and did the trade .

Opinions ?


Edit : I still think Nurse will end up a good D . Just a different D then Hamilton and I think with Larsson added Hamilton would be the better fit

Doesn't Nurse get the same benefit of the doubt? He was a rookie playing 18-25 minutes a night since Klefbom went down. I'd say he had an even bigger adjustment

 

[Dertell]

He looks like a Dougie Hamilton with a more physical side to his game.

 

[belair]

No.

Hamilton at $6m and Hall at $6m both long-term puts them behind the eight ball when it comes to re-signing the likes of Draisaitl and the rest.

Larsson at $4m, Lucic at $6m, Reinhart and Nurse easing in on the cheap puts the Oilers in a better cap situation long-term and also provides them with a better overall package, not just focused strictly on offense.

 

[gorangers0525]

Are people still judging Hamilton on his relatively shakey start with the Flames? The guy was a beast after that start.

 

[McSuper]

It's frustrating how so many Oiler fans are giving up on Nurse after just one season. He was a 20 year old rookie D man forced to play tougher minutes due to Klefbom being out for 50 games.

What did you expect? Him being a stud right out of the gate? Klefbom struggled in his rookie season too but his 2nd season was much much better. It's too early to panic, if Nurse is struggling in his 3rd year then I'll panic.

As the OP I am not giving up on Nurse . It a matter of a balance D . Larsson is a top pairing shut down D and that is Nurse's ceil . Then there Fayne , Klefbom , Davidson and Sekera all are shut down guys with very little offence .

 

[McSuper]

Are people still judging Hamilton on his relatively shakey start with the Flames? The guy was a beast after that start.

I said as much in my OP . I did not want people bashing on a player in a new system with different team mates getting bash for a slow start . Heck as Oiler's fan we seen this with Sekera

 

[DJJones]

No.

Hamilton at $6m and Hall at $6m both long-term puts them behind the eight ball when it comes to re-signing the likes of Draisaitl and the rest.

Larsson at $4m, Lucic at $6m, Reinhart and Nurse easing in on the cheap puts the Oilers in a better cap situation long-term and also provides them with a better overall package, not just focused strictly on offense.

Hall at $6 million for 4 years is WAY better than Lucic at $6 for 7 years.

Hamilton is 1.58 million more a year than Larsson for the same term.Obviously that helps but it isn't a game changer.

 

[McSuper]

No.

Hamilton at $6m and Hall at $6m both long-term puts them behind the eight ball when it comes to re-signing the likes of Draisaitl and the rest.

Larsson at $4m, Lucic at $6m, Reinhart and Nurse easing in on the cheap puts the Oilers in a better cap situation long-term and also provides them with a better overall package, not just focused strictly on offense.

Well if we only looking at pay 4,000,000 for good D we will not ever contend .

Chicago manager with 2 players at 10.5 , then Hossa , Keith , Seabrook , Crawford at 6 million , Anisimov and more

 

[Blue Goose]

As the OP I am not giving up on Nurse . It a matter of a balance D . Larsson is a top pairing shut down D and that is Nurse's ceil . Then there Fayne , Klefbom , Davidson and Sekera all are shut down guys with very little offence .

The OP is a little flawed because of the "butterfly effect" - I'm convinced that if they traded Nurse for Hamilton, then they wouldn't have traded for Larsson. In your projected lineup, you've got the ideal scenario of Larsson on the top pair, with Dougie on the 2nd pair - but if they traded for Dougie, they would've likely forced him onto the top pair and kept him there no matter what.

I think Nurse is going to be a terrific player - but he just needs to go down and play on the top pair in Bakersfield for a season, rather than being forced into the Oilers lineup. For you and your fellow Oilers fans sake, I hope the team can avoid the injury bug this year.

Honestly though, if you wanted to go back and change the past to shape your D corps of today, then they should have just drafted Ristolainen instead of Nurse. I know hindsight is 20/20, but that one little move could have seemingly changed the course of the franchise (they might not have even signed Fayne if they had Risto).

What team has their top pairing filled with two guys they didn't draft?

Minnesota (Suter-Spurgeon)
Rangers (McDonagh-Klein)
Islanders (Leddy-Boychuk)
Philadelphia (MDZ-Streit/Gudas)
Boston (Chara-Miller)
Detroit (DDK-Green)

Then many teams have one of their top two guys drafted by someone else. It's rare, but it happens.

Don't forget Colorado with Beauchemin/Johnson. Of the 8 d-men projected to be in their lineup this coming season, only Bigras and Barrie were Avalanche draft picks.

 

[Soundwave]

I think Nurse is going to be one of the key identity guys to the Oilers once he develops. He's going to be a pain in the ass to play against.

 

[blankall]

It's a little too early to declare that Hamilton won't be a top pairing guy. He played a top pairing role on many nights near the end of the season and didn't look out of place. He also just turned 23 this summer.

As for a comparison to Nurse, they bring different games. Hamilton is much more offensively orientated. Nurse has more grit. I can see why the Oilers would value grit over adding more offence though.

 

[belair]

Well if we only looking at pay 4,000,000 for good D we will not ever contend .

Chicago manager with 2 players at 10.5 , then Hossa , Keith , Seabrook , Crawford at 6 million , Anisimov and more

The insurmountable difference is that those Chicago guys earned their contracts by winning championships.

There was a time when Seabrook and Keith were in the development stage as well.

Hall at $6 million for 4 years is WAY better than Lucic at $6 for 7 years.

Hamilton is 1.58 million more a year than Larsson for the same term.Obviously that helps but it isn't a game changer.

But Lucic at $6m and Larsson for $4m both long-term is way better than just Hall at $6m. I'll take the better team over the better player.

 

[DJJones]

But Lucic at $6m and Larsson for $4m both long-term is way better than just Hall at $6m. I'll take the better team over the better player.

Last 3 years of that Lucic deal is going to be brutal and Hall plus a $4m dollar UFA defenseman is the comparable not just him alone.

 

[Mr Positive]

The Hall Larrson deal does not go down if we do Nurse for Hamilton--of course you are over looking the fact the Bruins asked the oilers to add to Nurse--they also wanted the Pitts first rounder

I don't see why we couldn't trade for both Hamilton and Larsson. Hamilton isn't great defensively. We would have still needed what Larsson brings.

And as of today, we need what Hamilton brings. All summer we've been talking about a RHD who could bring offense on the power play.

 

[The Nuge]

When it comes down to Hall and Hamilton or Larsson, Lucic, Nurse, and Reinhart, I take the latter all day. Larsson is unquestionably better than Hamilton right now (Hamilton does have the potential to get there), and Hall and Lucic are relatively close. On top of that, you've got 2 good dmen prospects who are able to at least play in a depth role already, and have solid potential. Plus, Nurse is going to be a nightmare for other teams, for a long time

 

[Maukkis]

Don't forget Colorado with Beauchemin/Johnson. Of the 8 d-men projected to be in their lineup this coming season, only Bigras and Barrie were Avalanche draft picks.

...almost perfect list

To look at the other side of the equation, here's the teams who have their top pairing filled with their own draft picks. (or if I'm not sure about the top pair, best LHD and RHD)

Anaheim (Lindholm-Vatanen)
Arizona (OEL-Murphy)
Calgary (Giordano-Brodie)
Carolina (Slavin/Hanifin-Faulk)
Chicago (Hjalmarsson-Keith)
San Jose (Vlasic-Braun)

It can be argued whether or not Pittsburgh has two in Määttä-Letang, but I guess we will have to find out if Dumoulin continues to play with Letang or not.

 

[Flamesjustwin]

When it comes down to Hall and Hamilton or Larsson, Lucic, Nurse, and Reinhart, I take the latter all day. Larsson is unquestionably better than Hamilton right now (Hamilton does have the potential to get there), and Hall and Lucic are relatively close. On top of that, you've got 2 good dmen prospects who are able to at least play in a depth role already, and have solid potential. Plus, Nurse is going to be a nightmare for other teams, for a long time

Ok, tell us how Larsson is unquestionably better than Hamilton? The numbers say you are very wrong.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

He looks like a Dougie Hamilton with a more physical side to his game.

As in a much lesser Dougie with physicality you mean?

Shutdown defensemen are much easier to replace.

 

[Paper]

I don't see why we couldn't trade for both Hamilton and Larsson. Hamilton isn't great defensively. We would have still needed what Larsson brings.

And as of today, we need what Hamilton brings. All summer we've been talking about a RHD who could bring offense on the power play.

Expansion draft probably stops the trade.

Would have to protect Sekera(NMC), Hamilton, Larsson and Klefbom. Probably not the route the Oilers want to go down.

 

[Flamesjustwin]

I don't see why we couldn't trade for both Hamilton and Larsson. Hamilton isn't great defensively. We would have still needed what Larsson brings.

And as of today, we need what Hamilton brings. All summer we've been talking about a RHD who could bring offense on the power play.

This is a myth. Hamilton is above average defensively and high end offensively.

 

[The Nuge]

Last 3 years of that Lucic deal is going to be brutal and Hall plus a $4m dollar UFA defenseman is the comparable not just him alone.

A player who's been way healthier than the NHL average is suddenly going to be done at 32? I mean, it could happen, but I doubt it

 

[Beacon]

Maybe straight across, but Nurse+16 was way too much to give up for a player that can't play top pairing competition like Hamilton.

They wound up with Nurse+Reinhart instead of Hamilton, but they'd be better off with Ham. They also wouldn't need to trade away Hall for Larsson, which was a downgrade in talent due to the desperate need for an RD.

I would definitely take Hall+Ham over Larsson+Nurse+Reinhart.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

He looks like a Dougie Hamilton with a more physical side to his game.

More of a Ladislav Smid with better skating.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Ok, tell us how Larsson is unquestionably better than Hamilton? The numbers say you are very wrong.

The defensive numbers and advanced stats don't.

 

[DJJones]

A player who's been way healthier than the NHL average is suddenly going to be done at 32? I mean, it could happen, but I doubt it

He's a power forward, a good one at that.

That don't have long shelf lives.