Proposal: Seth Jones and Darnell Nurse

[ManofSteel55]

Ya, that's the official story now but I'm not buying it. Well before the expansion draft it was reported that the Oilers and Larsson had come to an agreement on a 4yr extension, they couldn't sign it because of the expansion draft. With the Keith trade and his NMC they had to protect him so they had to wait on Larsson's contract until after the draft. Fast forward -> Larsson gets claimed, he goes to Seattle, he negotiates with Seattle and decides to stay. That wouldn't have played out if he had already extended with the Oilers and they protected him.

Because Oilers media is known for never getting it wrong. It wasn't really reported that it was done, it was reported that the Oilers thought it was a done deal though. The real reason had nothing to do with contracts, but with Larsson wanting a fresh start away from the place where his dad died while visiting. Apparently his mother didn't want to visit in Edmonton either. Larsson has come out and said why he wanted out, I don't know why we wouldn't trust his word on it.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Edmonton takes the deal and runs. I don’t think they will be able to get out of the Nurse deal that easily. There would need to be a decent add on their part.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Edmonton takes the deal and runs. I don’t think they will be able to get out of the Nurse deal that easily. There would need to be a decent add on their part.

What evidence is there that Jones is better? He's shit!

 

[Roof Daddy]

I understand some of the Nurse criticisms - he seems to make a glaring mistake that leads directly to a goal against every 3rd game or so - but at the end of the day the numbers look good, he’s a tough, physical player who eats a ton of minutes against top competition, and a leader on and off the ice. Maybe the numbers are propped up a bit due to supporting cast, but he’s not really put in prime offensive situations (those opportunities go to Bouchard or previously to Barrie).

For Jones, I have no problem declaring him the player with the superior skill set. I’m not sure he’s any better in terms of limiting gaffes though. I look at the numbers and outside of a stellar 2017-18 season, I don’t see any year where the numbers scream that he’s clearly better than Nurse.

What I do know is that Nurse is a cornerstone to the leadership group in Edmonton, whereas Jones is an outspoken wing nut who has alienated himself in locker rooms in the past.

If this is a video game, give me Jones I guess? But this is real life, so I take Nurse all day.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

If this is a video game, give me Jones I guess? But this is real life, so I take Nurse all day.

If this is real life, i would take neither of them at their current bloated caphits / contracts.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Both overpaid but both fine dmen if they were cheaper

 

[Three On Zero]

I understand some of the Nurse criticisms - he seems to make a glaring mistake that leads directly to a goal against every 3rd game or so - but at the end of the day the numbers look good, he’s a tough, physical player who eats a ton of minutes against top competition, and a leader on and off the ice. Maybe the numbers are propped up a bit due to supporting cast, but he’s not really put in prime offensive situations (those opportunities go to Bouchard or previously to Barrie).

For Jones, I have no problem declaring him the player with the superior skill set. I’m not sure he’s any better in terms of limiting gaffes though. I look at the numbers and outside of a stellar 2017-18 season, I don’t see any year where the numbers scream that he’s clearly better than Nurse.

What I do know is that Nurse is a cornerstone to the leadership group in Edmonton, whereas Jones is an outspoken wing nut who has alienated himself in locker rooms in the past.

If this is a video game, give me Jones I guess? But this is real life, so I take Nurse all day.

Nurse is more of a leader off the ice than he is on the ice. They guy is constantly letting his emotions dictate his on ice play, easily gets himself into situations that becomes a net negative for his team.

Nurse is the more athletic player and in the long run I think he will age more gracefully, but for the other aspects of the game I take Jones

 

[Roof Daddy]

Nurse is more of a leader off the ice than he is on the ice. They guy is constantly letting his emotions dictate his on ice play, easily gets himself into situations that becomes a net negative for his team.

Nurse is the more athletic player and in the long run I think he will age more gracefully, but for the other aspects of the game I take Jones

I understand what you’re saying there regarding emotions boiling over and occasionally taking dumb penalties, but I think if you asked his teammates they’d put up with the few that were unnecessary for all the ones that were necessary. It’s a tough evaluation on a number of levels:

Are some roughing penalties after the whistle good leadership or bad? It leads in to the next question - does it set a tone with the other team and mitigate future transgressions or does it have no effect?

At the end of the day, I think I want a teammate that is willing to go over the edge vs be a bystander.

 

[Three On Zero]

I understand what you’re saying there regarding emotions boiling over and occasionally taking dumb penalties, but I think if you asked his teammates they’d put up with the few that were unnecessary for all the ones that were necessary. It’s a tough evaluation on a number of levels:

Are some roughing penalties after the whistle good leadership or bad? It leads in to the next question - does it set a tone with the other team and mitigate future transgressions or does it have no effect?

At the end of the day, I think I want a teammate that is willing to go over the edge vs be a bystander.

I think in this particular case i think it has no effect on what other teams do, we’ve seen what happens when teams walk that line. Does that earn him respect in the locker room? Absolutely

Nurse is a rather interesting character in general. He can be an emotional pylon but at the same time Edmonton needs him to munch the heavy minutes. If they could find the perfect balance for him I am curious to see how he does. Perhaps an entire year of Ekholm will let Woody find they happy medium. If Woody dropped Nurse’s minutes and split the competition more evenly with Ekholm I bet he would look like a different player

 

[Johnnybegood13]

Said who? I seen this debated on TSN and they thought Nurse was the better player. I don't even like Nurse ,he has skills I like but overall he just isn't my kind of D man .

TSN and Sportsnet polish the Oilers knob regularly

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

...

What I do know is that Nurse is a cornerstone to the leadership group in Edmonton, whereas Jones is an outspoken wing nut who has alienated himself in locker rooms in the past.

...

Not that I've closely followed Jones' career, but I've never heard that. Please elaborate.

Also, Oiler fans ... there is a bit of a disconnect in your defense of Nurse (who I do believe gets criticized more than he deserves). He plays the hard minutes against the opponent's top lines, but also regularly makes poor defensive zone plays that end up in the Oilers' net. That suggests maybe he should be playing fewer of those "hard minutes".

Square that circle for me, please.

Edit: Hmmm, maybe @Three On Zero has my answer just above. "If Woody dropped Nurse’s minutes and split the competition more evenly with Ekholm I bet he would look like a different player"

 

[McVespa99]

Yes. The Oilers need the defensive gaffes that Jones will provide less of.

Lets not pretend Jones has been great the last couple of years...

 

[Muffinalt]

All the rest aside, from Chi side we have an abundance of young LDs breaking in who need vet RD guidance, and almost nothing on RD side prospects wise.

So we kind of need Jones.