Player Discussion Darnell Nurse vs Matthew Benning

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

If that's what your using as evidence or as a measuring stick to derive to the conclusion that Nurse has a 10 cent brain then by your metric he must be better than Strome in the ozone. Strome telegraphed and committed to pass before assessing the play and realizing he had a open net in that same game. Ok so I got it nobody ever mess up in the ozone or they are blockhead.

Yeah, I don't quite understand the fascination of looking at a single play or two and attempting to draw an extrapolation from it.

Actually, this is how Toronto fans try to convince themselves that Matthews is a Selke contender so...

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

I think the real question today is Benning vs Davidson

The only thing Benning has over him is his handedness. I know Davidson had a rough night against Winnipeg but there's no reason why he should continue sitting when his body of work, albeit a small sample size, with us has been far superior to Benning's this season.

 

[yababy]

Yeah, I don't quite understand the fascination of looking at a single play or two and attempting to draw an extrapolation from it.

Actually, this is how Toronto fans try to convince themselves that Matthews is a Selke contender so...

Been watching Nurse all year.
My post from early Nov


yababy
Registered User
↑

The love Nurse gets is baffling to me. Every game, I see him make 1 or 2 good plays, and 20 bad ones
​

Watch out man. I also don't see where all the praise about Nurse is coming from...but he's got supporters here who will come down on you now.

 

[Mez]

Been watching Nurse all year.
My post from early Nov


yababy
Registered User
↑

The love Nurse gets is baffling to me. Every game, I see him make 1 or 2 good plays, and 20 bad ones
​

Watch out man. I also don't see where all the praise about Nurse is coming from...but he's got supporters here who will come down on you now.

Im not much for focusing on one specific stat...but for D men +/- is a pretty important stat. Nurse is +13...and he isn't even on the PP. Our Next highest +/- D is Russell at +4. Thats pretty impressive to have on this team.

 

[Alowlyoilersfan]

at this point it is progression versus regression(although maybe the sample size was too small for Benning to say it is regression)

 

[walktheboulavard]

I'm not disputing the fact that Nurse has vastly higher upside, heck I even say that in my post from last season which is on the first page of this thread. I just think people are dogging on Benning hard now because he's been (really) bad this year but are quick to forget that he was actually a pretty solid D for most of last year. I think he's probably a #5D at best and that's the level he was playing at last year, which is more than what Nurse was doing.

I also think a lot has to do with partners. Last year Nurse played a lot with Gryba IIRC, and that's not a very nice pairing. This year he has had better partners (Larsson and Russell) and had an easier time because of it. Benning on the other hand, while struggling mightily on his own, has had some very inconsistent players on his side since we really don't have any left-side d-man this year that has been solid except for Nurse.

Anyway, as I already mentioned previously, I think the best for Benning is to get sent down to the AHL, and really I believe he should've been sent down a few weeks ago already. He's drowning in the NHL right now, he needs to get a reset and find his way back to his game again. He's hurting the team right now.

Actually pre-injury Nurse was killing it last year even with Gryba and this year they were putting together unreal possession numbers before it became undeniable that Nurse was ready for top 4. Russell has been struggling with every partner except for Nurse this year and Larsson/Klef were losing us games to start the year. I would argue that whoever has been partnered with Nurse this year is having an easier time as he's clearly been anchoring the pairing. If Benning is struggling because he needed someone better than Klefbom to play the left port then he must be even worse than I thought.

 

[Mr Positive]

Benning not only is a RHD, the only one we have other than Larsson, but our only offensive Dman.

Nurse is just better than Benning, but I like having Benning around just as a project. Just like how Nurse clicked and became solid, that could happen with Benning and if that happens then he will be a goal scoring threat who will not just hold the blue line but do interesting things back there.

Or maybe, ya know, Chiarelli could actually find a developed OFD from somewhere. I know he's tried (hell, he's even talked about it since his first few months here), but I would like to see a result there. And fix the pk

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Been watching Nurse all year.
My post from early Nov


yababy
Registered User
↑

The love Nurse gets is baffling to me. Every game, I see him make 1 or 2 good plays, and 20 bad ones
​

Watch out man. I also don't see where all the praise about Nurse is coming from...but he's got supporters here who will come down on you now.

Did Nurse run over your dog or something? Your judgment seems to be clouded so I can only surmise he did something horrible to you or your family.

 

[Zaddy]

Actually pre-injury Nurse was killing it last year even with Gryba and this year they were putting together unreal possession numbers before it became undeniable that Nurse was ready for top 4. Russell has been struggling with every partner except for Nurse this year and Larsson/Klef were losing us games to start the year. I would argue that whoever has been partnered with Nurse this year is having an easier time as he's clearly been anchoring the pairing. If Benning is struggling because he needed someone better than Klefbom to play the left port then he must be even worse than I thought.

Except both you and I know Klefbom has been quite bad this year. Hardly a steady and reliable partner. You even mention that he's been losing us games this year, but somehow you expect Benning to thrive with him?

 

[nabob]

My opinion doesn't match yours so its wrong? Big LOL

I just finished giving an example of why I think he's a blockhead. Go ahead and try to justify Nurse turning his back on that rebound with 3 seconds left

I've seen tons of players make the same move. I could point out 20 plays a game where he makes smart moves. You pick out one single point where he didn't know there was 3 seconds left so he opted for the safe play and you judge the entirety of his hockey skill based on that. Your opinion doesn't matter much because it's stupid.

 

[walktheboulavard]

Except both you and I know Klefbom has been quite bad this year. Hardly a steady and reliable partner. You even mention that he's been losing us games this year, but somehow you expect Benning to thrive with him?

True Klef struggled to begin the season, although his game had been trending up before being placed on IR. However, Benning makes indefensible egregious individual mistakes. What's his partner to do when he is consistently targeted by fast forechecking teams, they have assignments of their own. Or beat wide as he gets caught turning like the titanic. Those are individual deficiencies that limit this player.

 

[Stoneman89]

To answer the OP's question. No comparison, really. Nurse is an actual NHL defender, with size, speed, nastiness, and youth, along with his pedigree. Benning is an afterthought, and will likely pan out as 6th or 7th dman. Nurse is way better and getting better all the time. Benning has been bad and is getting worse.

 

[shoop]

Did Nurse run over your dog or something? Your judgment seems to be clouded so I can only surmise he did something horrible to you or your family.

Maybe @yababy is related to Draisaitl?

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Maybe @yababy is related to Draisaitl?

Maybe he is Draisaitl?

 

[joestevens29]

One thing not mentioned was how tough Nurse was on Brown yesterday. I was impressed for the first two periods. He was really standing his ground against a bull in Brown.

I don't know that anyone else outside of maybe Gryba could've stood Brown up like that. Take those plays away and there is a potential that LA has 3 or 4 more real high end scoring chances in the first two periods

 

[aspin3]

Bump

 

[DaGap]

Lol this was a thread?

 

[aspin3]

Lol this was a thread?

What was your stance and were you correct?

Player Discussion - Darnell Nurse - To bridge or not to bridge, that is the question.

 

[booyakasha]

What was your stance and were you correct?

Player Discussion - Darnell Nurse - To bridge or not to bridge, that is the question.

LOL, some very good reading in that thread and this one.

 

[DaGap]

What was your stance and were you correct?

Player Discussion - Darnell Nurse - To bridge or not to bridge, that is the question.

Always was longterm to Nurse. Larsson should be jettisoned

 

[Hockey Nightmare]

Why do you need to pit them against each other, why do you need to create such division

 

[oilexport]

I'm very surprised this is even discussed. I would be extremely flattered if I was Matt...