He has his moments. His physical tools are phenomenal. But as a whole I don't think he's been good at all. That doesn't mean I have an agenda. I'm being honest in my assessment. He should have been in the AHL most of last year and I still think he should be splitting time between the NHL and AHL this year.
Player Discussion Darnell Nurse - Why all the hate?
- Thread starter WaitingForUser
- Start date
He has his moments. His physical tools are phenomenal. But as a whole I don't think he's been good at all. That doesn't mean I have an agenda. I'm being honest in my assessment. He should have been in the AHL most of last year and I still think he should be splitting time between the NHL and AHL this year.
walktheboulavard
Registered User
- Jul 8, 2016
- 9,173
- 11,268
I can understand if your argument was that he makes defensive mistakes once in a while and he hasn't been at his best every game, but to say that he hasn't been good at all and should be in the A is not factual. He's been a star on a couple of games, solid on many others and is currently leading our team in points (all ES) from the back end. He has been good.
His +/- is also twice as bad as anyone else on the back end. When Nurse is on the ice the team is getting wildly outscored. You can't just sweep "defensive mistakes" under the rug when they're consistently ending up in the back of the net.
walktheboulavard
Registered User
- Jul 8, 2016
- 9,173
- 11,268
+/- is less indicative on an individuals performance than it is the 5 man unit. Brent Burns has been - player the last two years, TJ Brodie is a - 10 just to name a few; it means nothing when judging the performance of an individual. And everybody makes defensive mistakes, Nurse was Doughty's man when he snipe showed all on the Kings, is Doughty a terrible defender because he let Nurse gain the zone and gave too much gap? There isn't a defender in the NHL that doesn't make a mistake, let alone a 21 year old sophomore with less than 90 NHL games.
Nurse is a fire-drill in the defensive zone.
He's getting better on the breakout but he'll probably never be the go-to defensively on his pairing.
McFlyingV
Registered User
Don't really agree with that. Some games he looks dominant in the defensive zone, some game he looks shaky. Playing with Gryba certainly isn't going to make any partner look better in the D zone, especially not one as young as Nurse. The consistency will come. Everyone should be pretty pleased with progress he's made already from last season.
Stoneman89
Registered User
- Feb 8, 2008
- 27,476
- 21,933
Inexperience.
Give it time. Most defenceman in this league don't come out of the box into it as polished defensive players. Even last years top candidate for rookie of the year in Philly is struglling badly and has been demoted. Defencemen need time. We need patience with them. He's got the tools. And as others have said, he's playing with a slow footed guy that wasn't even expected to be on our team this year, let alone playing big minutes. No looking up at Drew Doughty or Shea Weber as your partner when you get in trouble. Tough spot to be in, but he is definitely swimming.
Bryanbryoil
Pray For Ukraine
- Sep 13, 2004
- 86,212
- 34,696
He has all of the tools necessary to be a high end defensive player. My worry was his offensive game and he has been chipping away at my concerns game after game. He is starting to once again look like a high end young player in the making IMO.
Loved the goal against LA but realistically that's probably a 1 in 100 shot for him to make. He does seem to be a lot more confident with the puck; seeing a lot of spins and dekes and that kind of thing to break out and even when he's in the ozone. The main thing is that he looks way way better than last season. Nurse at 25-30 is gonna be a complete creature of nightmare.
walktheboulavard
Registered User
- Jul 8, 2016
- 9,173
- 11,268
I think I know what play you're talking about, he gained speed with a couple of crossover strides from the blue line and it took like one stride to get from the redline to the other blue line
Honestly the guy is just a phenomenal skater.
Bryanbryoil
Pray For Ukraine
- Sep 13, 2004
- 86,212
- 34,696
I think I know what play you're talking about, he gained speed with a couple of crossover strides from the blue line and it took like one stride to get from the redline to the other blue line
And he has added lots of mass and strength since being drafted as well. Many guys lose something skating wise after bulking up, Darnell so far has not.
McFlyingV
Registered User
If you go about it properly it doesn't have to hurt your skating and explosiveness. Its when you pull a Jake Virtanen and put on almost 20 pounds in one offseason that it causes skating issues.
Stoneman89
Registered User
- Feb 8, 2008
- 27,476
- 21,933
Plus Virtanen is a Canuck. That is a heavy ball and chain around your neck right there.
walktheboulavard
Registered User
- Jul 8, 2016
- 9,173
- 11,268
Yeah I agree with this, there are tons of exercises that are functional while adding mass. In fact exercises like squats and deadlifts can improve explosiveness if done right; of course they have access to all that kind of information and more given their line of profession. Genetics is also a big factor, his father was a wide receiver a position in which you practically have to be freaky athletic (fast) to be successful.
Bangers
Registered User
- May 31, 2006
- 3,919
- 868
IMO, he just doesn't have the shot to ever be considered a real threat in the offensive zone. it's kind of hard to think of a comparable for him; I think his upside is as a great skating, hard as nails D man who can pass the puck and skate it out of his own zone, is good (not great) defensively, and engages in a lot of the rough stuff around the crease.
charliolemieux
rsTmf
- Apr 1, 2010
- 9,715
- 53
ohheyhemsky
Regehr DooDoo
Aerchon
Registered User
- Jul 20, 2011
- 10,527
- 3,728
Brent Seabrook upside but still seems somewhat unlikely to reach those heights. Who is a great #2 guy imo.
Most likely to become a solid #3.
His low end tho is a solid #4 tho imo which does not suck. He has gone from a #8 in training camp this year already to a #5 in 20 games. Able to anchor our bottom pairing with fewer and fewer gaffs. Pretty impressive.
Edit: Dispite the development he has shown and praise I actually still think he would benifit from heavy minutes in the ahl.
Aceboogie
Registered User
- Aug 25, 2012
- 32,649
- 3,896
Sooooo anybody want to talk about that one play where Nurse tracked and followed Hossa to the top of our zone and got in a battle to push Hossa and the puck out of our zone and then pushed Hossa down, won the battle, duck the puck out and cleared our zone with control
Doing this against arguably the best possession winger in the game
That play blew my mind
Doing this against arguably the best possession winger in the game
That play blew my mind
McTrashBoat
Show me the deed
- Nov 28, 2014
- 9,536
- 3,078
That was a beauty, I'll try to post it
Update: 15:51 left in the 3rd
This is just after it right?
3m20s in:
Edit2: Best I could find now
Last edited:
Aceboogie
Registered User
- Aug 25, 2012
- 32,649
- 3,896
Yup! that was the tail end of it. I totally forgot it led to the rush where Kassian ringed it off the post. Even better. IIRC the play started at middle circle by the boards and Nurse was tracking Hossa and eventually got to like 4 feet from blueline and Nurse started shoving Hossa towards the blueline and hossa was giving it back to stay inside the zone and evtnaully Nurse pushed him over. Then the puck was sitting on the blueline and he just chipped it out to the forward who started that
McTrashBoat
Show me the deed
- Nov 28, 2014
- 9,536
- 3,078
Ad
Upcoming events
-
-
-
Gold Medal 2024 IIHF WORLD CHAMPION - PICK ONLY ONE TEAMWagers: 7Staked: $36,600.00Event closes- Updated:
-
-