Pretend that you're McDavid, do you want Nurse or Jones?

[DearDiary]

You're coming down the middle of the ice at 25mph and come across a top pairing of Darnell Nurse and Seth Jones. Which Dman do you choose to deke through and score? Jones is option Z and Nurse is option F

Bonus points (I will personally LIKE your posts) if you rank this pairing top 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 league wide

Click to read more...

 

[PostBradMalone]

Didn’t read OP, would take K.C. Jones over Nick Nurse every time though. Your boy won two chips in three years and had a career win percentage of .643.

Weird question for a hockey board though, is McDavid buying an NBA team?

 

[Buck Naked]

Not even top 30 to be honest.

 

[King Karl]

This feels like more of a reading comprehension test. I'd say top 10 honestly - I think having a bad contract often results in people assuming that since the contract is bad the player must be bad too. Even if they're both overpaid, they're also two legitimate top pairing defensemen, which not a lot of teams can ice.

 

[Evergreen]

Voted F. Top 10 pairing. Just way overpaid.

 

[M88K]

Not top 30.

 

[Buck Naked]

This feels like more of a reading comprehension test. I'd say top 10 honestly - I think having a bad contract often results in people assuming that since the contract is bad the player must be bad too. Even if they're both overpaid, they're also two legitimate top pairing defensemen, which not a lot of teams can ice.

Offensively, I agree with you. Those two guys defensively though. Would been a feast for the opponent.

 

[Bouboumaster]

I misread the premise, I thought it was "who do you think would be better with McDavid" so I voted Jones, but the answer is obviously Darnell "The 9.5M$ Pylon" Nurse

 

[jetsforever]

Nurse but that pairing is probably top-15 at worst

 

[MasterofGrond]

Nurse, maybe like 15th

 

[Mark Stones Spleen]

I feel like McDavid could Deke through one and then go out of his way just to Deke through the other on his way to scoring.

 

[BouchBaby]

Seth Jones would be less likely to punish him physically, If you think Nurse is easy to play against you are wrong.

 

[Iggys Dome]

I thought this thread was if I was McDavid who would I want on my team

 

[majormajor]

Neither. Jones' back skating is famously weak but he compensates by cautiously backing into his zone, which is less fun for McDavid. He doesn't want a free zone entry, he's trying to burn a guy. It's not like other D are stopping his entries anyway. Jones rarely gets burned, by the way, people had no clue about his weaknesses until the analytics came up weak.

And Nurse is just nasty. You'll get around him more but pay for it.

This is the kind of pairing where I could see a big difference between regular season and playoff effectiveness. Jones had great playoffs for the Jackets and I bet Nurse would have been great this Spring if he wasn't hopping on one leg all playoffs.

 

[bobholly39]

Voted option C

To me this pairing is top 10 for sure, arguably top 5.

Neither defensemen individually is a top 5 D in league, but they are both legitimate #1 defensemen. How many pairings league-wide can say they have two #1D on top pairing? I'll be honest I don't know off hand, so maybe it's more than 5 - but imo good chance this pairing is pushing top 5.

 

[Lays]

Nurse. Worse defensively and if I’m McDavid I know him better and can read him

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

If I pretend I’m Mcdavid…. I want a trade

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

the ballot was confusing and I ended up voting for Ralph Nader

 

[loosemoose]

Not a huge fan of Nurse, but Jones is a massive liability in the neutral zone.

 

[North Cole]

Doesn't matter because McDavid will punk anyone he wants to. That said, he likely has a better shot against Jones because Nurse is a better skater, along with being more likely to cross check his ribs when McDavid inevitably goes around him. It's marginal because like I said, McDavid doesn't give a shit.

Duncan Keith was an AFK passenger while McDavid did a 360 no look pass in front of him, and this was when he was still decent.

As far as the bonus, the pairing is probably 8-12 area. Your team would suck ass because you have 20M in two defensemen, but from an ability perspective, you could do a lot worse than have them both on the ice.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Lol Nurses are so much more fundamental to society than Jones soda, nice try OP

 

[SUX2BU]

Nurse’s wallet would aggravate his hip, so Nurse

 

[wetcoast]

Not even top 30 to be honest.

Seriously as a pairing yes they would be top 30 in the league, give your head a shake.

 

[ManofSteel55]

He's more likely to get through Jones. Nurse would be more likely to take the body and has the speed to not get totally burned.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

	2020-21	2021-22
Nurse
Jones

Neither look great in transition defense over the past 2 years, but Jones looks worse than Nurse by a fair bit. Obviously gaining the o-zone isn't exactly the same thing as dekeing through a player, but it can still be somewhat telling. As said before, I think Nurse being a better skater would help him. Jones, as also stated, often lets the opposition get in freely (hence the entry defense microstats being so much in the red) and hopes to kill the play when the opponent is in the o-zone. For a player coming in at McDavid's speed, neither is catching up with him skating backward. I think that, by virtue of being more willing to take risks, Nurse would succeed at breaking the play more often, but if unsuccesful, that would lead to a breakaway; while in Jones' case, he could get deked but not get out of position so much as to allow a breakaway. He's still prone to be over-agressive though, if challenged too much, and overall this could result in better scoring chances for McDavid more often. So, overall, I'd pick Jones' side if I were McDavid.