McJadeddog
Registered User
It won't shock me either truthfully. I don't think its a high probability or anything, but its not like its a 3% chance either. If I had to bet on it, I'd give it something like 25% chance of happening.
Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | Broberg, Holloway and Ceci are Gone, Do We Add Another D Before Camp?
- Thread starter Bryanbryoil
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It won't shock me either truthfully. I don't think its a high probability or anything, but its not like its a 3% chance either. If I had to bet on it, I'd give it something like 25% chance of happening.
Heavy Dee
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- May 29, 2005
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McShogun99
Registered User
Behind Enemy Lines
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The challenge with Nurse is a rare big, nasty great skating d-man with a wide range skillset to play in all situational play including a more defensive situational role with Ekholm coming onboard. He produces double digit goals and 30 points largely EV production. Unfortunately the gap that comes with big minutes and a more defensive zone hard ice responsibility is his risk element of impulsive play costs this team goals, and because he's trusted in tough situation play, those GA are often magnified in importance. Paired with Ceci who had a similar impulsive breakdown in big minute play, their unpredictability together hurt their partner and team defending structure.
This team needs an upgrade at 2RD. With Nurse's diverse, valuable skillset and quality EV production it could take two forms. A quality shutdown guy with strong processor who locks down home plate defending to help Nurse be a strong puck transporter option who is effective at joining offensive rushes with high slot scoring ability. Or a puck moving d-man with high processor to make quick, efficient zone exits to forwards. But with size and ability to still effectively home plate defend especially in hard grind playoff style of play.
With cap money accruing there's real hope this team finally addresses its longstanding need for a high quality 2RD. With a information driven leadership group with better internal support to evaluate options I am hopeful it gets done.
SupremeTeam16
5-14-6-1
I think a lot of it is going to depend on the teams ability to maintain the team D that they’ve been able to increasingly refine since Knoblauch/Coffey took over, as the season went on and into the playoffs you could see the commitment to that game up and down the lineup. If they can continue that trend, which I expect, then I think that’s going to lend itself to a guy like Emberson’s game and allow him to integrate and perform above expectations.
guymez
The Seldom Seen Kid
- Mar 3, 2004
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Necessity.
Thats why Nurse played those minutes.
Now that the team has a legit first pairing defender in Ekholm...Nurse is where he should have been all along....on the 2nd pairing.
Mr $9.25M is a 2nd pairing dman.
You realize that Mattias Ekholm is 34 years old, right?
You realize that the Oilers just lost the only prospect in their system that had a miniscule chance of overtaking Nurse's role, right?
The argument was never that Nurse is currently the Oilers' top pairing defenseman. The quote was that Nurse is a capable top pair defenseman when he's at the top of his game. Full stop.
No surprise the cap hit is the focus of your argument. If Mr. $9.25m suddenly isn't there, the Oilers are in a while heap of trouble. Because adding an Ekholm caliber defenseman was very costly. And those assets are hard to replenish.
Behind Enemy Lines
Registered User
His usage has changed with Ekholm's arrival but most importantly Bouchard's emergence as an elite offensive weapon. McDavid's line is NHL 99 percentile in offensive zone time which plays into Bouchard' strength and Ekholm's two-way steady mentorship partnership role.
Nurse's role shifted to greater d-zone responsibilities with coaches deployment focusing on the goal suppression side of this game. Even still away from the McDavid inflater effect he's a double digit, thirty point 20+ minute d-man chosen to defend hard game situations like PK, close game play, end of game close out. Unfortunately we see with overplay in heightened competitive situations his impulsive bad decisions are costly. Paired with Ceci whose a 3RD overextended into too many hard ice situational. play and similar impulsive risk decisions didn't work.
Nurse's salary is immaterial. It's not changing. Instead it's incumbent on a modern run organization to utilize better information assessment tools to find a strong, capable 2RD pairing.
The Nuge
Some say…
Why would we want to stop accruing capspace on the off chance a bottom 6 winger might come back for the playoffs?
guymez
The Seldom Seen Kid
- Mar 3, 2004
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No disagreement form me regarding the TOI for Nurse. He does play in excess of 20 minutes per game.
The issue for me is that he is too impulsive and too often makes the wrong read. He consistentlyt ends up in no mans land and/or chases players for no apparent reason.
great physical tools but unfortunately he has a poor processor which makes him poor value for his contract IMO.
guymez
The Seldom Seen Kid
- Mar 3, 2004
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Nurse is capable of top pairing minutes when he has a partner that can compensate for his deficiencies.
Ekholm at 34. or 35. or 36 years old will still think the game better than Darnell Nurse.
That is the problem with Nurses game.
He has the physical tools but he makes too many poor decisions...especially under pressure.
The cap hit matters because this team is quite top heavy needs to extract full valiue from its top 4.
Nurse doesnt and never will deliver full value for his contract.
Yes, because it actually shows you how he performs. Numbers don’t have biases.
I mean, that goes for a number of defensemen in this league. Remove either of the guys on our top pairing and odds are you see their flaws stand out.
The reality with Nurse is that his cap hit doesn't matter. It's there and it's not going to go anywhere. So you have to come to terms with the fact that this is a defender that's going to need to be a significant player for the duration of his contract.
You're taking this discussion to a place that the quote never intended. Live with Darnell. Learn to love Darnell. He's not going anywhere for a long time.
ManByng
Oilers cup 2025
Man it would take a LOT of money
and term for the Bruins to not match any offer sheet given to Swayman!! 
guymez
The Seldom Seen Kid
- Mar 3, 2004
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See...the bolded is where I completely disagree with you.
The ONLY way the Nurse contract wouldnt matter is if this team wasnt completely pushed up against the cap ceiling.
Due to that cap reality trying to shelter a $9.25M dman on the 2nd pairing matters.
BarDownBobo
Registered User
Ugh, that likely means a lot of weird shitty start times to appease the TNT overlords. Get ready for 8:55pm puck drop every other Wednesday!!!
Soli
Supervision Required
- Sep 8, 2005
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If you could make your LTIR overage exceed your possible deadline cap accrual, I’d consider it, assuming we can go into the season not in LTIR.
I don’t have the arithmetic, but on my napkin math in my head I want to say we would have a bit over $4M (a bit under $5M if we swap Pickard for Rodrigue all season, but that’s another discussion all together) by the deadline we if we go into the season accruing capspace, and in this LTIR scenario, potentially $7.5M (Kane and Fast) to exceed in LTIR, assuming neither came off LTIR before the end of the season. (I’m also assuming Fast won’t play hockey this year)
Burnt Biscuits
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- May 2, 2010
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Makar plays a significant role on the PK, Hughes PK time is pretty marginal he averaged 0.6 PK mins per game last season (Bouchard 0.33 PK mins per game) and based on who they signed I'd hazard a guess Hughes PK time is likely to drop further.
As for being worth a big contract I think the standard is always are you producing elite results? against elite competition? able to play significant minutes? If the answer to all 3 is yes, then you are probably worth it and Bouchard is and the cherry on top being he seems to find another level in the playoffs, this past playoffs he played at a level worthy of the Conn Smythe trophy in most years.
I think the biggest legitimate question mark with Bouchard is twice he showed wobble in his game and then D. Keith settled him down and the 2nd time Ekholm got him back on track, for a big ticket player you don't want them dependent on another player to play to an elite level, though I'm willing to chance it, to me we very much have a big 3 and it is very clearly McDavid, Drai, and Bouchard they are the straws that stir the drink and put the team on their back.
The Nuge
Some say…
You don’t get extra capspace from people being on LTIR. If anything, you lose it (you lose any cap you’re short of the limit), and you don’t accrue through the year
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Duke74
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- Jan 13, 2018
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Behind Enemy Lines
Registered User
That's a coaching opportunity/problem with consideration options for:
1. Deployment - (move Nurse to play with Bouchard with McDavid 99 percentile offensive zone time inflater effect) and shift Ekholm into the harder, d-zone goal suppression heavy lifting that Nurse does. Reduce Nurse's toi overall, or reduce his critical game situation play when heightened competitive situations often lead to his poor decision making choices. As coach hope you have adequate coverage for all defending critical moment situations. Utilize Kulak more in third pairing enhanced responsibilities to PK and add more critical game situation play support.
2. Personnel - finally upgrade this team's long held weakness at 2RD. Explore fit options of either strong, structured defensive dman who enables Nurse to pivot to puck transporter and o-zone attacker EV strength of his game. Probably most cost effective and supply option. Or look for a puck mover with size and strong processing skill to help mitigate weighted own zone defending time with efficient puck movement.
The player's baseline is double digit goals, 30 point production, 20+ minute deployment largely in this team's critical situation play. Work smarter and creatively as a management group and coaching staff to harness big strengths and mitigate gaps. He's not going anywhere nor is his established long-term salary.
If the team was trying to shelter that player, they would've done desperate things to keep one of Ceci or Broberg on this roster. He's the driver of that pairing and it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise.
The point is that his cap hit is a reality. It's not going anywhere. So we're left with the player. And that player, when playing well, is a capable top pairing defenseman.
Rumor is that Nashville wants Wanner for Fabbro.
- Oilers now
- Oilers now
