Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | Post Free Agent Frenzy, Will JJ Show His Pimp Hand Again to Upgrade the Defense?

[foshizzle]

Ceci isn't anywhere close to the defensemen I'm describing.

He needs a legitimate top 4 d man with experience playing well against top matchups in a defensive role. Nurse can create breaking out and off the rush if he has skating urgency and a green light to transport. He's f***ing useless if he's supposed to be the defensive conscience opposite a more offensive puck mover. He can't defend whatsoever and he needs to be with someone that can as their primary strength.

Remember rookie Nurse that would rush pucks up ice, play aggressive, physical hockey, but would just be a let down due to rookie defensive error? All the rookie defensive errors are still there, but he's stopped leveraging any of his strengths at all to rush pucks or play physically. Just give me the rookie version.

You’re describing a Nurse that doesn’t exist. He has never ever in his career been able to transport the puck or move it in any sense of the manner. Never. His problems in the defensive zone starts with unsuccessful zone exits. His most successful years have come when he is paired with a d man strong in puck retrievals and zone exits. He is also horrid in zone denials. How many times have you seen him this year try to exit the zone only to give the damn puck away? He needs to play with a puck mover who can retrieve pucks and exit zones. Nurse is good at neither.

Nurse was clearly a top pairing defenceman from 2020-2023.

No, he was never, ever a top pairing defenseman. He was a d man who played on the Oilers top pair- and that’s why those teams weren’t really considered playoff threats. There is a big difference.

 

[foshizzle]

Yeah I have no idea at this point who or what kind of dman will work with Nurse? Puck mover? Defensive stalwart?

I think he really needs to simplify his game but I think hes just too mistake prone regardless.

Hopefully he does some soul searching.

There really is nothing to simplify- he just isn’t a good dman. He is the Nail Yakupov of defensemen. He’s got all the tools, missing the tool box. Having said that- his biggest areas of improvement need to be puck retrievals, zone exits, and zone denials. He is horrendously bad at all 3. If he takes care of zone denials, that would improve his game so much.

 

[Spawn]

I’m what world was nurse ever a reliable top pairing dman? And for years? wtf? He’s also almost 30. Is that young for a defenseman? Looool

When he was playing 24-25 minutes a night and putting up 40+ points a season of almost exclusively 5v5 offense?

 

[CookiesAndMilk]

Kinda sad that we have to look for a babysitter for our 9.25M superstar defenseman.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

I pined for two ex preds for years and they both ended up on the Oilers so I’m going to go back to the well and keep hoping they acquire Dante Fabbro.

Nashville is excellent at drafting premier defensemen but they’ve fumbled Fabbro a bit. Pushing to coax higher offensive upside that likely isn’t there at this level. Probably because he’s such a smart player, high hockey iq, but hasn’t translated offensively in the NHL. He reminds me a lot of Jared Spurgeon just bigger. So smart defensively, reads the play well and a great stick, rarely makes the wrong choice or read.Fabbro has got a good first pass and he can get shots through. He has struggled a bit with rush defending.

Sounds like he could be the odd man out in Nashville and I think he could be a good balance for Nurse. He’s around 300 games, has the pedigree, shown some good flashes in this league and With more opportunity in a defined role he’s likely to round into a reliable second pairing defender.

From my recollection at Fabbro's stats he was excellent with Josi and Ekholm and kind of trash with everyone else, it seems the norm for him is elite d-men can carry him, but he doesn't stand on his own and can't elevate lesser talents. That can change with time, but his WOWY still seems pretty tilted when playing with Josi versus playing with out.

Also why I respect the hot run Nashville had on d-men it's been pretty spotty for the last decade, I think they lost their Midas touch.

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With the subject of Seattle, I see no reason to be toxic to Larsson in any way, we have a lot of people who want people play here thanks to McDrai & Holland, lets not be petty bitches about the few who would rather not (whatever their reasons may be) and on top of that Arvidsson said Larsson gave us a positive review and said it was a good place to play, him and Ekholm combined gave us a big edge on other suitors.

As an aside to that I want Will Borgen, to me he's the more likely spare part and when you factor in likely acquisition cost, cap-hit, and I think his mobility is suited to our style.

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Lastly pouring one out for Capfriendly, I'll very much miss that site.

 

[Tarus]

Nurse was always an exploitable defenseman regardless of what role he played(especially by good teams), but it seems that the zone defense system seemed a particular poor fit for his style of play(chasing players aggressively in man to man was probably easier for him). Maybe he's had a crisis of confidence after the poor start, getting stuck in his head and making bad decisions rather than just reacting instinctively.

He needs a better defense partner, but hopefully a summer reset can get him to calm down a bit.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Nurse was always an exploitable defenseman regardless of what role he played(especially by good teams), but it seems that the zone defense system seemed a particular poor fit for his style of play(chasing players aggressively in man to man was probably easier for him). Maybe he's had a crisis of confidence after the poor start, getting stuck in his head and making bad decisions rather than just reacting instinctively.

He needs a better defense partner, but hopefully a summer reset can get him to calm down a bit.

I personally think that Nurses' incredible physical attributes along with years of poor coaching have left Nurse with lazy brain. You see where he just sometimes checks out.

In the past, he could always wake up from his daydreaming and skate really fast to make up for his lack of focus. It is why he excelled in the "chasing players aggressively in man to man was probably easier for him."

He was able to check out mentally and just go through the motions and still succeed. Now one needs to make plays and think when playing a zone defense. So Nurse needs to learn to focus again. An argument could be made that he needs to learn to learn again. He's relied too much on his physical attributes so far.

Fixable, IMO.

 

[McDNicks17]

Kinda sad that we have to look for a babysitter for our 9.25M superstar defenseman.

The double standard is kind of funny.

We can talk about getting our $12.5/$8.5M best-players-in-the-world centers better wingers(with our GM and head coach included in that we), but talking about getting an actual second pairing defenseman to play with Nurse is out of the question haha.

 

[Spawn]

The double standard is kind of funny.

We can talk about getting our $12.5/$8.5M best-players-in-the-world centers better wingers(with our GM and head coach included in that we), but talking about getting an actual second pairing defenseman to play with Nurse is out of the question haha.

Nurse’s partners over the last five seasons have been Bear, Barrie and Ceci. Bear and Barrie have basically played their way out of the league at this point, or close to it. And Ceci probably isn’t all that far behind. And I like all three of those guys. But they are all very flawed D-men.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Nurse was clearly a top pairing defenceman from 2020-2023.

There's a distinct difference between being a top pairing defenseman and playing on the top pair.

Ekholm lapped Nurse when he arrived here.

 

[Davo Ikinzom]

There's a distinct difference between being a top pairing defenseman and playing on the top pair.

Ekholm lapped Nurse when he arrived here.

Ekholm is a very good defenseman to be fair. Underrated around the league if anything as we've found out.

 

[Ninety7]

Nurse was clearly a top pairing defenceman from 2020-2023.

I’ll give you 2020, but he has regressed terribly since then. To call him a top pairing defenseman in 2022 and 2023 is just flat out wrong.

In 2022 he got worked in the playoffs. Idk how much of this could be attributed to his injury, but regardless he definitely did not play like a top pairing D man.

He was good for the first 3 months of the season in 2022. In January he completely fell off the rails and had an abysmal playoffs, once again.

2023 again, he started the season off putrid, was good for a couple of months after Coffey came, and then after the all star break his game completely crumbled. Like the worst regression. I don’t even want to think of his god awful playoffs.

I guess he ate a bunch of minutes tho so if that’s what you consider a top pairing D man by all means continue to think that.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Ekholm is a very good defenseman to be fair. Underrated around the league if anything as we've found out.

He is, Nashville is great at developing defensemen. But even prior to his arrival he never seemed to elevate his game in the playoffs. That Colorado and Vegas specifically targeted his pairing definitely speaks volumes.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Silly and unnecessary comments. @Spawn was exactly correct. Larsson talked like he was coming back and then screwed the team on the day before the expansion draft signing a cheap deal with the Kraken. Like @Bryanbryoil said, Larsson has the right to sign where he chooses. Fans have the right to remember the high price paid to acquire him, the overall mediocre performance he delivered and the way he screwed the club on the way out the door. I wouldn’t have him back if he begged.

https://edmontonsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/edmonton-oilers/adam-larsson-leaves-edmonton-oilers-for-seattle-kraken

I still remember Stauffer talking on Oilers Now how it was basically a formality and Larsson was deciding on which deal to sign he was offered and it was going to be announced shortly. Then it went oddly quiet and not just for a few days, for about 10 days to two weeks. People on this board were getting pretty antsy about it, then Bob said because Seattle could talk to pending UFAs, Larsson was signing with them and he was essentially the player plucked from the Oilers in their expansion draft.

Then Larsson told Friedman in addition to his dad’s passing, the “the trade is 1 for 1” mantra that continued here during his time never made him get settled and comfortable in Edmonton. That’s what pissed me off, we lost him and essentially Hall for NOTHING. He could have sacked up and told the team after the season was over he wasn’t re-signing so they could have at least dealt his rights and got something back. The Edmonton Hall trade-tree lived and died with Larsson leaving as a UFA.

I totally get the other side of it with his dad’s passing while visiting him in Edmonton and how close they were. That I don’t have an issue with whatsoever, but how he knew deep down he wasn’t re-signing in Edmonton before the extension process was pretty cold in my opinion. Connor is on record saying how he and other teammates were trying to convince him to stay so, what does that tell you. How some people are being willfully blind how Larsson didn’t want to be here just baffles me, and here we are again.

Larsson will never be in Oilers silks again.

 

[Ninety7]

The double standard is kind of funny.

We can talk about getting our $12.5/$8.5M best-players-in-the-world centers better wingers(with our GM and head coach included in that we), but talking about getting an actual second pairing defenseman to play with Nurse is out of the question haha.

Such a lazy take

Watch the guy play. The wounds are self inflicted.

It’s not his partners fault that he can’t make a 10 foot pass to break out of the zone.

It’s not his partners fault that he has exceptionally poor gap control.

It’s not his partners fault that he can’t win a board battle down low.

 

[McDNicks17]

I still remember Stauffer talking on Oilers Now how it was basically a formality and Larsson was deciding on which deal to sign he was offered and it was going to be announced shortly. Then it went oddly quiet and not just for a few days, for about 10 days to two weeks. People on this board were getting pretty antsy about it, then Bob said because Seattle could talk to pending UFAs, Larsson was signing with them and he was essentially the player plucked from the Oilers in their expansion draft.

Then Larsson told Friedman in addition to his dad’s passing, the “the trade is 1 for 1” mantra that continued here during his time never made him get settled and comfortable in Edmonton. That’s what pissed me off, we lost him and essentially Hall for NOTHING. He could have sacked up and told the team after the season was over he wasn’t re-signing so they could have at least dealt his rights and got something back. The Edmonton Hall trade-tree lived and died with Larsson leaving as a UFA.

I totally get the other side of it with his dad’s passing while visiting him in Edmonton and how close they were. That I don’t have an issue with whatsoever, but how he knew deep down he wasn’t re-signing in Edmonton before the extension process was pretty cold in my opinion. Connor is on record saying how he and other teammates were trying to convince him to stay so, what does that tell you. How some people are being willfully blind how Larsson didn’t want to be here just baffles me, and here we are again.

Larsson will never be in Oilers silks again.

There's definitely some revisionist history with how good he was here too. He had a really good first year here and just kept getting worse. The Klefbom-Larsson pairing got absolutely dominated from 2018 to 2020. He had a bit of an uptick in his last year when he basically just PKed at even strength with Kris Russell.

I don't really blame the guy for moving on when he wasn't very good and didn't really fit here.

 

[Davo Ikinzom]

do you cry this much when every player chooses not to re-sign in Edmonton?
blame Holland for mismanaging an asset

You can't seriously be blaming Holland for Larsson leaving.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Silly and unnecessary comments. @Spawn was exactly correct. Larsson talked like he was coming back and then screwed the team on the day before the expansion draft signing a cheap deal with the Kraken. Like @Bryanbryoil said, Larsson has the right to sign where he chooses. Fans have the right to remember the high price paid to acquire him, the overall mediocre performance he delivered and the way he screwed the club on the way out the door. I wouldn’t have him back if he begged.

https://edmontonsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/edmonton-oilers/adam-larsson-leaves-edmonton-oilers-for-seattle-kraken

which isn't Larsson's fault but people constantly bring this up as reason to hate the player

You can't seriously be blaming Holland for Larsson leaving.

no but Holland knew the risk of him not re-signing and chose to keep him anyway

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

He is, Nashville is great at developing defensemen. But even prior to his arrival he never seemed to elevate his game in the playoffs. That Colorado and Vegas specifically targeted his pairing definitely speaks volumes.

I feel like not enough praise is given to Bouchard as to his part in helping to bring this out in Ekholm as well.

He was always a good player, but a #2 defenseman is just a wonderful plus.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I feel like not enough praise is given to Bouchard as to his part in helping to bring this out in Ekholm as well.

He was always a good player, but a #2 defenseman is just a wonderful plus.

They work very well together, they're one of the best pairings in the league.

Unfortunately the Nurse pairing has been a problem for years.

 

[Spawn]

do you cry this much when every player chooses not to re-sign in Edmonton?
blame Holland for mismanaging an asset

It’s fine if he didn’t want to be here. He should have just been honest about it.

 

[Canovin]

The double standard is kind of funny.

We can talk about getting our $12.5/$8.5M best-players-in-the-world centers better wingers(with our GM and head coach included in that we), but talking about getting an actual second pairing defenseman to play with Nurse is out of the question haha.

Comparing Nurse to McDavid and Draisaitl hurts my eyes. Too early in the morning for this

 

[CookiesAndMilk]

The double standard is kind of funny.

We can talk about getting our $12.5/$8.5M best-players-in-the-world centers better wingers(with our GM and head coach included in that we), but talking about getting an actual second pairing defenseman to play with Nurse is out of the question haha.

There is no double standard. Drai and McDavid carried more than enough 4th liners throughout the years and still achieved amazing things.

 

[La Bamba]

The double standard is kind of funny.

We can talk about getting our $12.5/$8.5M best-players-in-the-world centers better wingers(with our GM and head coach included in that we), but talking about getting an actual second pairing defenseman to play with Nurse is out of the question haha.

i wouldn’t compare the McDrai situation to Nurse based off their salaries lol

McDrai actually do their job, Nurse flat out sucks ass. He would still suck ass next to Adam Fox or Cale Makar.

Nurse is like Jeff Skinner when he was making 9m

 

[FlameChampion]

The double standard is kind of funny.

We can talk about getting our $12.5/$8.5M best-players-in-the-world centers better wingers(with our GM and head coach included in that we), but talking about getting an actual second pairing defenseman to play with Nurse is out of the question haha.

You’re not wrong in one sense because hes never played with a top4 dman. But hes also not pulling his weight either. Its too bad he got paid as much as he did but its a dead horse at this point.He basically needs to play with a RD Ekholm. 1) Its an extremely difficult player to find and acquire 2) We don’t have the cap space to acquire it or is very difficult to fit in

Hopefully can find some kind of solution that is an upgrade and is good enough to push us over