Darnell Nurse Appreciation Thread

[GMofOilers]

Honestly the overpay isn't even thaaat big of an issue that we can't work around it. It's just the number is big and scares people off. A 3 million dollar being overpaid by 1.5 million seems a lot less scary than a 9.25 million dollar player being overpaid by 1.5 million (which is probably what Nurse is), it's just not as eye popping. But the reality is the 3 million dollar player is far more harmful b/c his on ice play gives us 50% of our money worth while the 9.25 million dollar player gives us 80% of our money worth. It's these mid-tier Kassian esque contracts that ultimately sink teams (which we are still handing out too, absolutely vomit inducing).

Nurse as overpaid as he is still fills arguably the most important role on our team. McDrai are better players, but we rely on Nurse just as much as them if not moreso due to how weak our defense depth is. Darnell Nurse is the one and only player in NHL history whose led the league in even strength+shorthanded minutes and quality of competition in the same year. Lidstrom can't say that. Doughty can't say that. Only Nurse can. He does this while having more #4/5 dmen as his partners like Bear/Barrie/Bouchard/Ceci over the years than true top pairing guys. We probably could've spent 9.25 million dollars better but if we do that we would have a giant gaping hole in our defense that would instantly flood open.


Not to mention he played over 60 minutes in a playoff game and came out on top. He is absolutely capable of showing up in the playoffs as well, just shitty circumstances this year.

It's legit hilarious that people still believe that Klefbom/Larsson were better than him when he wrestled the high quality of competition matchups away from that pairing with... Kris Russell and Ethan Bear as his primary defense partners? This guy makes everyone he plays with look better than they actually are and gives every other defenseman on the team easier matchups. Is he on the level as true elite 1D like Makar/Fox/McAvoy? No, but there are less than 10 guys in the league who are. But is he that tier of strong top pairing dman/passable #1 dman in the tier below that? Absolutely.

Take it one step further some people on this board thought Bear carried Nurse lmao

 

[harpoon]

Nurse has been grossly overpaid ever since his first negotiated contract. No amount of fluffing his performance will change that. 9.25 per year.... That's ROTFLMAO bad for what Nurse has shown to date.

Ceci has been the focus of a lot of negativity on this board. Understandable and mostly deserved. But the fact is that the Oilers entire defense is poor. And it starts with Nurse. The most highly compensated blueliner on the team by a lot, an assistant captain and a supposed leader. His current contract is probably the third biggest mistake on the team (after Campbell and Brown). I completely concur with the quoted post above. It’s rotflmfao bad.

In the past ten games Nurse has been a plus player once. His cumulative +/- over that stretch is -8. He has two assists during those ten games. It’s bad.

He is supposed to be the lynchpin of this team’s defense, and given his salary, he should be able to elevate his partner(s). I’m not seeing any of that from Nurse this season. He spends more time on his knees trying (and largely failing) to play goalie than he does punishing people in the corners or in the paint. His work on PP2 (albeit in limited opportunities) is weak af. His shot selection is suspect and he still runs himself out of ice on those rare occasions that he does rush the puck. I’m struggling to find anything really positive about his game this season. He’s a shadow of the player I thought he would become.

So sure … Ceci needs to be better. But relative to salary, tools and expectations, Nurse’s season has been every bit as bad imo. We cannot afford this kind of performance from a guy making $9.25. Especially when our other defenders are Ekholm (definitely slower and less effective this year), Ceci (having his worst season in Edmonton by some margin), Desharnais (playing over his head on almost every shift), Bouchard (I credit with a big step forward this year, but no real defensive stalwart yet) and Kulak (who quietly goes about his business and may be the best value for money on the blue line even if he does top out as 5 or 6).

It’s just not a SC winning dcorps by any means. Stecher will help, but let’s get real. He’s a 6 or 7 at best.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I really have no clue what we are appreciating him for. He’s not even the best defenseman on the team. He might not even be the second best.

 

[Ninety7]

Someone just needs to bonk him in the head again.

 

[Stoneman89]

Someone just needs to bonk him in the head again.

And wake him up for the start of games.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Nurse has 1 goal in the last three months and is barely in the plus at the moment, and since the streak ended he has 4 assists and is a -9.

Other than "He plays lots of minutes" I don't know what this guy does well. It's not offense and many games it isn't defense either.

And this game he was probably the worst defenseman on the ice for the Oilers. Maybe it's something he does off the ice, but on the ice he's just sorta there.

 

[Spawn]

Nurse has 1 goal in the last three months and is barely in the plus at the moment, and since the streak ended he has 4 assists and is a -9.

Other than "He plays lots of minutes" I don't know what this guy does well. It's not offense and many games it isn't defense either.

And this game he was probably the worst defenseman on the ice for the Oilers. Maybe it's something he does off the ice, but on the ice he's just sorta there.

He's not even playing a lot of minutes anymore.

Nurse was about $2M overpaid when he was playing ~25 minutes taking on all of the difficult matchups and scoring at a ~45 point pace while coming out ahead against other teams best players.

Now he's playing ~22 minutes a night, is splitting the difficult matchups fairly evenly with the other pairings, is on pace for fewer than 30 points. You could get what he provides from a $5-6M d-man no problem.

Between Nurse and Campbell this team is wasting about $9M in cap space right now.

 

[Gnome17]

This dude is going to play 82 games, score about 28 points, and end up +/- 0 on a team about to end +50.
For 9.25m per. In his prime. With 6 years left on his contract.

 

[bellagiobob]

Change appreciation to depreciation in the thread title for a more accurate title.

 

[guymez]

He's not even playing a lot of minutes anymore.

Nurse was about $2M overpaid when he was playing ~25 minutes taking on all of the difficult matchups and scoring at a ~45 point pace while coming out ahead against other teams best players.

Now he's playing ~22 minutes a night, is splitting the difficult matchups fairly evenly with the other pairings, is on pace for fewer than 30 points. You could get what he provides from a $5-6M d-man no problem.

Between Nurse and Campbell this team is wasting about $9M in cap space right now.

IMO you just outlined the biggest problem with this team. I said at the time if Nurse gets over $7 then its a mistake. Well...here we are.
Now add to that the Campbell contract.
That amount of completely wasted cap space is really difficult if not impossible to overcome.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It’s kinda strange that this thread was created a few months after Vegas humbled him in the playoffs.

He exists, I’ll grant him that.

 

[Broberg Speed]

please change the title of the thread

if only we listened to raab

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

Have someone take a shot at his head in warmup again. That should fix him, right?

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Have someone take a shot at his head in warmup again. That should fix him, right?

Woof, edge lord bumping for lolz and this nonsense.

Nurse was terrible last night and has to be a lot better. This is also why I suggest the Oilers exploring moving on from Nurse in the offseason.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Change appreciation to depreciation in the thread title for a more accurate title.

He may as well be nicknamed Lincoln Continental with the rate of his depreciation.

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

Woof, edge lord bumping for lolz and this nonsense.

Nurse was terrible last night and has to be a lot better. This is also why I suggest the Oilers exploring moving on from Nurse in the offseason.

There’s 5 other posts before mine.. not sure why I’m getting singled out.

I mean he was absolutely trash last night. There’s no denying that. He’s been garbage for a long stretch now.

 

[ManofSteel55]

It never fails, every time Nurse has a bad game, these threads make their way to the top.

 

[K1984]

It never fails, every time Nurse has a bad game, these threads make their way to the top.

Lately that has been at a cadence of about once per week.

 

[bone]

It never fails, every time Nurse has a bad game, these threads make their way to the top.

Considering it was dormant from Summer 2022 until last month and then again until last night, I'd say that's a bit of an exaggeration.

 

[VerdadII]

I have argued for years that Nurse is a cancer at the core of this team. He more than other player will deprive McDavid and Edmonton of a Stanley Cup.
Holland should have been fired after wasting $9 million on him.
He should have been flushed out of Edmonton two years ago.
And he just gets worse.
Most infuriating is that he plays if he was some kind of significant offensive threat. He is not. And as for defence he is simply inadequate.
At best, a 3rd pairing defenceman.
When does the media and blogosphere concede that everything I been saying about him is true.
Last night was just the perfect validation of how cancerous he is to this team.
No team can waste $9 million of cap space.
A good morning to fire Holland. And put Nurse on waivers. ( and if he brings up no movement, just say no one wants you playing defence for the Oilers)

 

[Ninety7]

Aside from two stretches of hockey in his career where he played fantastic, he’s pretty much back to where his baseline is.

his contract has largely handcuffed this team in its prime years.

It was a ludicrous contract the day it was signed.

 

[Dieseloil]

I have argued for years that Nurse is a cancer at the core of this team. He more than other player will deprive McDavid and Edmonton of a Stanley Cup.
Holland should have been fired after wasting $9 million on him.
He should have been flushed out of Edmonton two years ago.
And he just gets worse.
Most infuriating is that he plays if he was some kind of significant offensive threat. He is not. And as for defence he is simply inadequate.
At best, a 3rd pairing defenceman.
When does the media and blogosphere concede that everything I been saying about him is true.
Last night was just the perfect validation of how cancerous he is to this team.
No team can waste $9 million of cap space.
A good morning to fire Holland. And put Nurse on waivers. ( and if he brings up no movement, just say no one wants you playing defence for the Oilers)

Sad but true

 

[bobbythebrain]

A guy getting paid 9mil should be able to make that pass to Nuge yesterday. Nuge did a tremendous job of turning a 2 on 2 into a 2 on 1. Then Nurse just flips it into the goalie
If you've watched Nurse from day 1, you'd realize that wasn't just bad luck. The amount of times he skates low and flips it into a nothing play or to the other team is astranomical.

To top it off, him just standing still now on d to d passes is more frustrating stuff. Getting paid 9mil to have pucks die on your stick constantly is absurd

 

[bone]

I have argued for years that Nurse is a cancer at the core of this team. He more than other player will deprive McDavid and Edmonton of a Stanley Cup.
Holland should have been fired after wasting $9 million on him.
He should have been flushed out of Edmonton two years ago.
And he just gets worse.
Most infuriating is that he plays if he was some kind of significant offensive threat. He is not. And as for defence he is simply inadequate.
At best, a 3rd pairing defenceman.
When does the media and blogosphere concede that everything I been saying about him is true.
Last night was just the perfect validation of how cancerous he is to this team.
No team can waste $9 million of cap space.
A good morning to fire Holland. And put Nurse on waivers. ( and if he brings up no movement, just say no one wants you playing defence for the Oilers)

I don't think it's fair to say he's a 3rd pairing dman considering he is top 3 in minutes on a team that's top 5 in many defensive metrics. But he's most certainly not a first pairing dman (or at best a very low tier first pairing dman).

When he keeps the crazy out of his game, he's useful (not 9.25 useful but useful). Problem is too often he embraces the crazy

 

[guymez]

I don't think it's fair to say he's a 3rd pairing dman considering he is top 3 in minutes on a team that's top 5 in many defensive metrics. But he's most certainly not a first pairing dman (or at best a very low tier first pairing dman).

When he keeps the crazy out of his game, he's useful (not 9.25 useful but useful). Problem is too often he embraces the crazy

Well put.
Nurse is most definitely not a useless player but the problem is that he just isnt a reliable player.
A player that eats up $9.25M of cap space aboslutely must be a reliable player.