Alberta_OReilly_Fan
Bruin fan since 1975
I haven't seen Nurse enough to have an opinion on his game but everyone has weaknesses and maybe his is caused by factors such as who his defense-mate is etc. Also the team concept, coaching the aura of champs like Bergeron etc on the bench and as teammates all come into play. I've heard too much good about him to think that this "panicking" will be a career long issue. IMO the Bruins coaching is up there with the best of them, and with mentors like Chara, Miller, McQuaid he would gain a ton of confidence. Also, you can't tell me that being paired up with McAvoy or Carlo would hurt his confidence either. I think that Nurse is the kind of d-man that Neely was talking about after last playoffs when he spoke of upgrades.
what I like about nurse is similar to what I like about guys like pronger and jovanovski early in their careers... and theres been a lot of other big dmen that take time to learn how to play defense.
as I look at history the number of huge dmen that play their best hockey in their first 3-4 years is almost non existent going back to larry robinson… he was 23 and in his 3rd season before he became a contributor in montreal. zdeno chara was 25 before his first season with more than 23 points... chris tanev who a lot of people here like was 24 before his first season with more than 20 mins of icetime averaged... of course our own johnny boychuk didn't make it until 27
darnell nurse just turned 23 in feburary for those who don't read the stats... fluke injuries hurt his first 2 years when he was 20 and 21 years old... holy cow
this year when he was 22 he stayed healthy and got a bit of pp time and put up 26 points... he threw a couple hits per game and averaged a couple blocks... despite playing 22 mins per game on a poor team only had 72 giveaways. got 194 shots on net
this is a guy with offensive upside to his game. this is a 6'4 220 pounder who wants to play physical and can still skate and produce offense too. and averaged 22 mins per night for that horrible oiler team while being an OUTSTANDING PLUS 15.
this is still a growing/developing man child. at worst hes going to be an outstanding 3/4 pair guy for years to come like a adam foote or a Richard matvichuk or johnny boychuk type of guy. but if his offense does develop this could be the next zdeno chara
if there is some way we can get him in here I go for it. this is the snarling beast we wish brandon carlo might develop into. but nurse is already there.
so after giving it some thought... I offersheet nurse for around 7 mill. Edmonton may just match and its as simple as that... we stay status quo
but if Edmonton gives him up... we go with a defense of
McAvoy/moore
carlo/chara
miller/nurse
grezlyck
krug and McQuaid get traded saving us 8 mill cap hit. nurse uses 7 and the 23rd man on the roster using 1 million
maybe nurse and moore would change places? wed have to see... but my guess is we gave more a 5 year deal because we like the idea of his mobility beside McAvoy.
next year when carlo is due his raise... and nurse needs a deal... and McAvoy needs a deal... we probably have to ask chara to take a hometown discount or part company with him. nurse can fit into chara's position as far as the cap hit goes. I wouldn't give nurse 7 mill so theres a danger he could walk unqualified. if nurse walks... we keep carlo. we are still looking ok. but if nurse stays I would probably shop carlo
got to hope McAvoy/moore do ok on the pp and nurse can develop into a decent second unit pp guy.
its a big move... dealing krug but I like the looks of this defense far better come playoff time with big mobile guys.
and an offer sheet has the added bonus of letting neely crap on Chiarelli one more time. im sure he will like that