Speculation: Who would MAYBE want Nurse?

[lanceuppercut75]

The Oilers are going to have to make some big changes if they're serious about becoming a winning team.

Number one, from an on the ice perspective, is adding a goalie. Number two, from a cap and contracts perspective, according to SOME people, is getting rid of Nurse and his big cap hit contract running until 2030.

We've heard before that trading Nurse would be nearly impossible, but some factors have changed. The cap is going to be rising a lot, and the non-playoff teams aren't all the same teams as there were 2 or 3 years ago.

Could there be a fit now where there wasn't previously? Where?

 

[Coffee]

Nashville will take picks

 

[Chainshot]

This made me chuckle because the thread title reminded me of this:

 

[M Ace]

To Sharks:
Nurse
O'Reilly
2nd rounder 2026
1st rounder 2027

To Oilers:
Future considerations

 

[Cup Or Bust]

I would try getting rid of Arvidsson, Kane, and Henrique first. Jeff Skinner's 3 million will be gone also. That's 15 million of cap space that has added almost nothing to the Oilers this season.

 

[Jared Grayden]

He would be the best defenseman on Pittsburgh. Not sure he would waive for them though. Dubas will need futures back too.

 

[shaner8989]

depends what else Edmonton is giving a team to take him

1st and Nurse might get you a late pick

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Nashville is bad enough and has Cap space to absorb Nurse. Plus a goalie in Saros we don't really need during a rebuild. I think the main drawback is just that Barry Trotz doesn't see things that way. So in the real world, he's not going to be looking to make the same kinds of moves that us fans would consider. That makes it just a fun/fantasy exercise more than anything which could actually happen, unfortunately.

 

[MrLunatik]

I would try getting rid of Arvidsson, Kane, and Henrique first. Jeff Skinner's 3 million will be gone also. That's 15 million of cap space that has added almost nothing to the Oilers this season.

Yeah, it is definitely going to be an interesting offseason for the Oilers and it could go either way since it'll be heavily dependent on who is willing to waive their trade protection.

Literally half (9/18) the guys on the roster (on puckpedia) under contract for next season have some kind of trade protection, the only ones without protection and making more than 2m are Eklholm, Walman, Skinner and Kulak.

If Arvidsson and Henrique aren't willing to waive, the Oilers can't even pull a Drury and threaten to waive them, their only options for those 2 may be to either keep them, or buy them out. Kane who you also mentioned, only has limited trade protection but between that and his reputation, he might not be easy to move either.

The Oilers best chance at righting the ship IMO is trading Bouchard, who is likely to get a fairly large contract this summer and is a prime target for an offer sheet.

I'll play armchair GM for a bit...

to Ducks:
► Evan Bouchard - RFA
► Stuart Skinner - 2,600,000
to Oilers:
► John Gibson - 6,400,000

Draisaitl 14,000,000	McDavid 12,500,000	Hyman 5,500,000
Kane 5,125,000	Nugent-Hopkins 5,125,000	Arvidsson 4,000,000
Henrique 3,000,000	Janmark 1,450,000	Tomasek 1,200,000
Jones 1,000,000	Podkolzin 1,000,000

Nurse 9,250,000	Ekholm 6,000,000
Walman 3,400,000	Kulak 2,750,000
Ty Emberson 1,300,000	Troy Stetcher 787,500

Gibson 6,400,000

Pickard 1,000,000

► Forwards (11): 53,900,000
► Defense (6): 23,487,500
► Goal (2): 7,400,000

► TOTAL (19): 84,787,500​

► REMAINING CAP: 10,712,500​

​

If the Oilers could then move Kane, they could go big game hunting and go after Ekblad, Provorov or Gavrikov and still have a a decent chunk to fill the roster with decent depth pieces.

 

[Cup Or Bust]

Yeah, it is definitely going to be an interesting offseason for the Oilers and it could go either way since it'll be heavily dependent on who is willing to waive their trade protection.

Literally half (9/18) the guys on the roster (on puckpedia) under contract for next season have some kind of trade protection, the only ones without protection and making more than 2m are Eklholm, Walman, Skinner and Kulak.

If Arvidsson and Henrique aren't willing to waive, the Oilers can't even pull a Drury and threaten to waive them, their only options for those 2 may be to either keep them, or buy them out. Kane who you also mentioned, only has limited trade protection but between that and his reputation, he might not be easy to move either.

The Oilers best chance at righting the ship IMO is trading Bouchard, who is likely to get a fairly large contract this summer and is a prime target for an offer sheet.

I'll play armchair GM for a bit...

to Ducks:
► Evan Bouchard - RFA
► Stuart Skinner - 2,600,000
to Oilers:
► John Gibson - 6,400,000

Draisaitl 14,000,000	McDavid 12,500,000	Hyman 5,500,000
Kane 5,125,000	Nugent-Hopkins 5,125,000	Arvidsson 4,000,000
Henrique 3,000,000	Janmark 1,450,000	Tomasek 1,200,000
Jones 1,000,000	Podkolzin 1,000,000

Nurse 9,250,000	Ekholm 6,000,000
Walman 3,400,000	Kulak 2,750,000
Ty Emberson 1,300,000	Troy Stetcher 787,500

Gibson 6,400,000

Pickard 1,000,000

► Forwards (11): 53,900,000
► Defense (6): 23,487,500
► Goal (2): 7,400,000

► TOTAL (19): 84,787,500​

► REMAINING CAP: 10,712,500​

​

If the Oilers could then move Kane, they could go big game hunting and go after Ekblad, Provorov or Gavrikov and still have a a decent chunk to fill the roster with decent depth pieces.

I know my plan is just a fantasy more then likely. I doubt guys will willingly just waive to be traded. The one issue with Nurse is Ekholm is going to be 35 and might only have 1 season left, so for better or for worse they might need to keep Nurse so they have someone on the left side defensively, unless they can trade Nurse and find a replacement.

Definitely going to be interesting to see what the Oilers do in the offseason, going to need to make some impact moves if they hope to make any more Cup runs in the near future.

 

[LTIR]

Has a full NMC and won't waive unless McDavid leaves before him.
Oilers cant really afford to lose Nurse. As bad as he seems he is the only top4 Dman the Oilers have with Ekholm out.

 

[Gurglesons]

Nurse + 2027 1st for Jarry.

 

[DJJones]

It's gross to say it but Calgary makes a lot of sense. Plenty of cap space, need a stop gap at #2 LD for two or three years.

They don't really have much assets to attach to him though. Savoie I guess.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

He has a full NMC for 2 more years after this.
He would have to want to go to the team as well

 

[Larry Hanson]

I can't see them moving him. If they retain just to dump him without assets it defeats the purpose since the retention + replacement leaves them in the same cap position with potentially a worse player. If they don't retain they would need to add some assets which they really don't have. I doubt anyone is taking on that contract just to get Savoie or a first round pick 3 years from now, what else do they have to offer?

Better just to keep Nurse and keep him off the top pairing, the jump in the salary cap will cushion the pain at least.

It's gross to say it but Calgary makes a lot of sense. Plenty of cap space, need a stop gap at #2 LD for two or three years.

They don't really have much assets to attach to him though. Savoie I guess.

Hell no, there are 5 years left on that deal. Last thing the Flames need in a rebuild is another long term bloated contract for an under performing player with lots of miles on him.

 

[PuckG]

We still need Nurse. Ekholm is injured and aging.

Or is the expectation that Walman and/or Kulak can munch those minutes?

 

[Mrfenn92]

He’s going to the rangers

 

[JKG33]

Even with the cap increase he'd go unclaimed on waivers. And right now there isnt a worse contract in the league

 

[MrLunatik]

I think we saw with Seth Jones that defensemen has SIGNIFICANTLY more trade value than HF wants to admit. Before the trade so many people were saying exactly the same thing about Jones as they are about Nurse "attach a 1st... etc"... but then with a smaller retention, the Hawks got back an unprotected 1st in 2026 or 2027 and a young goalie that was a recent(ish) 1st rounder and is touted to be one of the best goalies of the future. Without retention, I think the Hawks still get Knight, who I think still has at least 2nd round value.

The way people talk about Nurse, he might be one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL now.

 

[TheNewEra]

Grubauer for Nurse
Laine for Nurse
Duclair+Mayfield for Nurse
Merzlikens for Nurse
Compher+Holl for Nurse

Will need to add picks to balance values but just some basis of blah for blah

 

[miscs75]

We still need Nurse. Ekholm is injured and aging.

Or is the expectation that Walman and/or Kulak can munch those minutes?

Ekholm needs a nurse, not Darnell Nurse.

 

[TheNewEra]

I think we saw with Seth Jones that defensemen has SIGNIFICANTLY more trade value than HF wants to admit. Before the trade so many people were saying exactly the same thing about Jones as they are about Nurse "attach a 1st... etc"... but then with a smaller retention, the Hawks got back an unprotected 1st in 2026 or 2027 and a young goalie that was a recent(ish) 1st rounder and is touted to be one of the best goalies of the future. Without retention, I think the Hawks still get Knight, who I think still has at least 2nd round value.

The way people talk about Nurse, he might be one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL now.

Chicago retained 2.5 million for 4 years. Thats significant retention not small. Plus Chicago was in a position to retain, the oilers are going to try and be competitive while they have McDavid and Leon so they cant really have that much dead cap

 

[Mike C]

depends what else Edmonton is giving a team to take him

1st and Nurse might get you a late pick

Kick in McDavid

 

[KrisLetAngry]

If he waived for Pittsburgh

2 mill retained on Nurse
++

Karlsson 50% retained at 5 million.

Effectively making Karlsson a 7 million guy for 2 years then they eat 2 million retained the next couple of years.

Bouchard would need to be traded as well in this scenario.

 

[MrLunatik]

Chicago retained 2.5 million for 4 years. Thats significant retention not small. Plus Chicago was in a position to retain, the oilers are going to try and be competitive while they have McDavid and Leon so they cant really have that much dead cap

Hence me saying the Hawks wouldn't have gotten the 1st. There is a massive f***ing difference between having to pay a 1st like people were suggesting fro Jones and are for Nurse, and returning a 1st and a promising young player with 2.5m retention.

My point is Nurse doesn't have negative value, despite what the HF braintrust thinks. Don't get me wrong, as a Flames fan, I'd love for it to be true, but he does have some value, even at full price... not a ton, but he does have some. He'd probably return something in teh neighborhood of something with the value of a second rounder.