Value of: Darnell Nurse for Top 6 winger Pre-Expansion Draft

FreeMcdavid

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Dec 30, 2019
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Nurse also isnt a 25 point defenseman.

Hes more gifted then Bieksa

Bieksa had 3 40+ season and 2 seasons with 10+ goals.

Nurse has had 1 season of 40+ points and 1 season of 10goals or more


I wouldnt be so quick to say that Nurse is more gifted offensively than Bieksa especially if you factor in the goal scoring era were in now and the fact that Nurse has 2 - 100 point players on his team
 
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DropTheGloves

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Seth Jones being available next summer is someone the Oilers should definitely look at.

They have the cap room to go after him and his brother plays for the Oilers.

On the one hand I live the idea, on the other his price tag (9 mill? 10?!) makes my ass pucker.
 

Soundwave

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On the one hand I live the idea, on the other his price tag (9 mill? 10?!) makes my ass pucker.

The Oilers can offer that actually next summer. Not blowing our load this off-season may work out quite well in the longer term because next year's UFA crop looks a lot better.
 
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GOilers88

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Dec 24, 2016
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Canucks got Nate Schmidt for a 3rd

Avs got Towes for 2 2nds.


2021-2022 UFA Dmean include

Seth Jones
Morgan Rielly
Parayko
Leddy
Ekholm
Ristolainen
Lindholm
Dougie Hamilton
David Savard
Montour
Oleksiak
Edler

just to name a few
You don't really believe Nate Schmidt is actually worth a 3rd round pick do you?

Vegas desperately looking to dump one of their best defensemen to make room for Petro hardly sets the market for anyone. I find it quite humorous when one GM can go out and make a deal the other 30 won't, and people pretend like it's set the market for the rest of the league.

Like Peter Chiarelli set the market cost on elite, top line wingers at a 2nd pairing defenseman. Or how GMJR set the market on middle six wingers at first round picks plus.

Crazy how we didn't see #1 defensemen being traded like wildfire when St. Louis set the market on a #1 stud at Eric Brewer and a couple of throw ins.
 

snipes

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The Oilers can offer that actually next summer. Not blowing our load this off-season may work out quite well in the longer term because next year's UFA crop looks a lot better.

If we can afford him, the Oilers should be doing a full court press to sign Seth Jones. Hopefully Caleb is in his ear about potentially playing together.

That would be a major signing and the best D man we’ve had since Pronger.
 

snipes

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Imagine one team getting both Reilly and Parayko. Hello top pair D, that’s maybe the best in the league.

That UFA crop is absolutely stacked on D. Some guys will obviously re-sign but there will some serious marquee guys available.

For teams that are close to going all in and need a top pairing D to put them over the top (like the Oilers) while having cap space to do it should be salivating at that list.
 

DingDongCharlie

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Pens got Marino for a 4th so I mean it’s definitely more than a one off

I just think if you believe Nurse is getting full value right now you’re ignoring a lot of factors in the market

Zadorov had more team control and I’d judge him similarly in terms of value as a result and he brought back one year of Saad

Don’t think most teams are moving a top-6 winger for Nurse, maybe a team like Jersey considers moving a UFA for him if they think they can resign him

Marino hadn’t even played a single nhl game and thought he’d get no chance and wanted out of Edmonton. Unfortunate for us but understandable at the time.
 
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zar

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Maybe it would help if you gave specific example of which top line winger you think a team would be willing to trade Nurse for.

You said Boeser, I can tell you with confidence that the Canucks wouldnt do that deal, they already have a hole in the top 6 with Tofolli leaving so no chance they move Boeser. Even so, they already have Hughes and Edler on the left side.
Boeser is also RFA controlled and Nurse is an Unrestricted Free Agent after 2022.

so which other top line winger do you think would be available for Nurse?

RE: bias

Yes Oilers are division rivals, and I've lived in Edmonton/went to Macewan University/ worked in Edmonton and have many Oiler friends and its always good ribbing that goes on.

You can call me biased all you want, but I've seen hundreds of Oiler games in person and on TV over the last few seasons. I would never say things like Mcdavid or Drai are terrible etc.


My opinion on Nurse is that he is a #4 Dman who has plenty of physical tools but lacks the thinking part of the game which really holds him back.

He had a lower zone exit passing than Benning and Russel. Just think about that for a second.

He is a fabulous skater but his decision making or lack or decision making gets the Oilers in trouble a lot of the times.

I think for a forward return, at value it would be a 4-9 forward.

but if you have a different opinion that fine, i wont be calling you biased for it

So you are saying there are 93 better defencemen in the NHL today? That's just a dumb statement. I won't say he is a true first pairing Dman today but he is going to be your best dman on a 2nd pairing on many teams and would be a solid 1st pairing Dman if he were partered with a better dman than himself (which is the case for many first pairing #2 dmen). If Nurse played with a true 1st pairing RHD like a Weber/Pietrangelo/Letang/Doughty.Parayko/Jones/etc. ... you would never be able to argue that Nurse isn't a #2 dman because he would have more support.
 
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zar

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So this is what the Canucks top 6 would look like it they traded Boeser for Nurse

Miller- Pettersson- Virtanen
Pearson- Horvat- Eriksson

I will give you that Nurse is tough and eats minutes but you also said skilled? what is he skilled with? Maybe we have a difffernt definition of skilled Dmen. When you say that I think of Dmen like , Hughes, Makar, Heiskanen, Doughty, Josi, or lesser extents like Dunn, Girrard.

Nurse is a good skater but I will disagree that he is skilled.

He had a passing zone exit percentage lower than Tyler Myers.

What's Boeser skilled at? Boeser has a good shot but I would disagree that he is skilled.
 

snipes

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What's Boeser skilled at? Boeser has a good shot but I would disagree that he is skilled.

Cement boots Brock. He’s a poor skater and not really a playmaker. He’s a one trick pony, he doesn’t have a fantastic shot though I’ll give him that.

Vancouver adds substantially, plus D >>W.

Not to mention Nurse is straight up the better player. Didn’t like his play-in play too much after the Covid lay off, but him and Bear were very good this year for us.

Nurse is pretty comfortably a 2/3 D man who is a very good PK player (the Oilers had the #2 PK this year and he was relied on in many big defensive moments).

Nurse isn’t a #1 and I’m not sure he every will be. But, he’s a bonafide top 4 D man and closer to a #2/3 than he is to a #4. He’s still a young man, I anticipate he’s going to keep improving and will grow with Bear as his D partner.

The organization is really high on Nurse, I highly doubt he gets moved. Certainly not for a middle six winger.
 
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zar

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He scored 40 points in 2018-19 and paced for 38 this past year.

In terms of 5v5 points, he's 7th in the entire league over the past 3 years behind Carlson, Josi, Burns, Karlsson, Rielly, and Barrie.

Exactly... with very little PP time. If he is playing on the PP, it is PP2 playing with the likes of Haas, Ennis, Neal, Chiasson, Yamamoto, etc.
 

WetcoastOrca

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What's Boeser skilled at? Boeser has a good shot but I would disagree that he is skilled.
Boeser has his warts but so does Nurse and I think many Oiler fans would acknowledge that.
Nurse makes far too many bone headed plays to be a top 2 on a strong team. He’s at best a second pairing guy.
If Boeser was to be moved it would be for a younger D with higher upside than Nurse imo.
 

wintersej

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I don't agree with the last point, the advanced metrics show Nurse is extremely high end at skating/carry the puck out of the defensive zone.

The NHL’s Top Puck Movers and Puck Transporters

While he may not have the greatest outlet pass, when he has the puck on his stick he is a horse skating it out, by far the best Oilers D-Man in those areas.

0.48 PPG the last two years for a d-man is not "flashes of an offensive game" ... that means if he got the top unit PP time and loaded up on McGravy points you're probably talking 45-50+ points.

How Klefbom only managed 0.5 ppg despite getting most of the top unit PP time and Nurse is only at 0.48 ppg (barely behind him) and even has more goals scored the two last years is hard to ignore.

Nurse's main issues are when play breaks down in the zone he can get himself out of position or in bad positions defensively at times and a lack of creativity offensively. When a situation is predictable and by the book he more or less knows what to do, but when multiple things break down quickly he can get himself into trouble. But you can the same for many d-men. He's not terrible but that's where his decision making sometimes suffers. When the puck is on his stick though that's not a problem. He has a good capability to carry the puck out.

He is a more old school type of d-man (90s/2000s era) with high end skating ability. That type of player can still play though.

Id like to see what Nurse zone exits look like without McDavid’s speed getting the other team cautious for 50% of Nurse’s TOI.
 

zar

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Id like to see what Nurse zone exits look like without McDavid’s speed getting the other team cautious for 50% of Nurse’s TOI.

Right, because McDavid is the only player in the league that opens up room for other players on the ice.

I am tired of people talking this crap... the Oilers basically have to play with no McDavid, no Draisaitl before any player's true value can be judged. People used to say this about Drai all the time... some still do... even though he just won the Hart, Art Ross and Lindsay... much of the season centering his own line.

Sorry, that's just weak.

How about how much better Nurse could be with better support on his right side? Bear will get there but he was a rookie last season.
 

Scintillating10

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Looking at the upcoming Expansion draft, if the Oilers wanted to go 7-3-1, are there any teams looking to secure a top 4 LD in exchange for a top 6 winger?

Obviously this contingent on a lot of things happening (Klefbom's shoulder is healed, Caleb Jones shows he's capable of top 4 minutes, Nuge re-signs, Puljujarvi/Benson showcase super skills requiring protection).
 

Barnaby

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He’d be a good fit on the Rangers. Buchnevich is probably the closest in terms of value, but I doubt Edmonton does that. Maybe Buchnevich and another piece, but I don’t know why Edmonton would move him with the uncertainty around Klefbom absent an overpay.
 

Skolman

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I’m a big time Canuck fan, and would trade BB for Nurse. I think Benning would too, but I don’t think the Oilers would. Top pairing, all situation, minute munching, skilled, and tough D are pretty valuable. BB is a really good player too, of course. I just value the top pair D more.
Boesser is meh, I wouldn't be looking forward to paying him in a couple years.

I personally think he's overrated
 
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BAM

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Right, because McDavid is the only player in the league that opens up room for other players on the ice.

I am tired of people talking this crap... the Oilers basically have to play with no McDavid, no Draisaitl before any player's true value can be judged. People used to say this about Drai all the time... some still do... even though he just won the Hart, Art Ross and Lindsay... much of the season centering his own line.

Sorry, that's just weak.

How about how much better Nurse could be with better support on his right side? Bear will get there but he was a rookie last season.

The line LD spent the most time on last year at ES was with Kassian and McDavid 36.2% of the time. His most frequent line after that was with RNH and Yamamoto at 27.4%.
 

snipes

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He’d be a good fit on the Rangers. Buchnevich is probably the closest in terms of value, but I doubt Edmonton does that. Maybe Buchnevich and another piece, but I don’t know why Edmonton would move him with the uncertainty around Klefbom absent an overpay.

Buchnevic isn’t even close to equivalent value not even getting into D >>> W positional value either.

Rangers add substantially.
 

Homesick

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If Klefbom misses this season I don't see the Oilers protecting him.

There's going to be 30 legit 2nd pairing defenseman available in the expansion draft. Why take the risk on a lower end 1st pairing guy with an extensive injury history?
 

TheUltimateOiler

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Oct 21, 2019
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Bieksa had 3 40+ season and 2 seasons with 10+ goals.

Nurse has had 1 season of 40+ points and 1 season of 10goals or more


I wouldnt be so quick to say that Nurse is more gifted offensively than Bieksa especially if you factor in the goal scoring era were in now and the fact that Nurse has 2 - 100 point players on his team

Didn't Bieksa as well ? The Sedin sisters ?
 

ManofSteel55

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Aug 15, 2013
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Pens got Marino for a 4th so I mean it’s definitely more than a one off

I just think if you believe Nurse is getting full value right now you’re ignoring a lot of factors in the market

Zadorov had more team control and I’d judge him similarly in terms of value as a result and he brought back one year of Saad

Don’t think most teams are moving a top-6 winger for Nurse, maybe a team like Jersey considers moving a UFA for him if they think they can resign him
Marino was a depth prospect. Was probably our 4th best defense prospect and he saw that and wasn't going to sign because of it. He was a nobody. Not nearly the same as an emerging #3 defenseman.
 

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