Player Discussion Darnell Nurse

[nabob]

Cause something couldn't happen to have him change his mind?

Another player sleeping with his gf... The Oilers finishing poorly the following years... A significant change is staff/roster that Nurse strongly disagrees with. Another GM poached him. He decides he wants to play for his home town team...

hahaha maybe climate change will melt all the ice on earth too by then and ice hockey won’t be a thing anymore!!!

 

[Mr Positive]

Was hoping for a third year if he broke 5mil but the way salaries are going I can live with it.

Yup, salaries are going up. Nurse gets all the minutes he does for a reason. He only has 24 points, but that's decent considering he doesn't get a lot of PP time.

Also, he plays a lot with Bear, and Bear as looked great. I have to believe that Nurse has been a help to him. Rookies, and especially rookie Dmen, can easily fall into bad slumps. Bear has had slumps but overall has looked solid

 

[Zguy370]

delete

 

[oobga]

This deal is basically what the result of Nurse going to arbitration would be. Only, they did it without having to fight in front of an arbitrator.

Should be an interesting couple years. Nurse will be #4 max on the depth chart for PP time when Bouchard comes up (Bouch, Bear, Klef ahead of him). He may not be happy about his opportunity to rack up points for what he hopes will be his big UFA payday. And Broberg or Samorukov could be knocking on the door for LHD ice time in a couple years.

 

[duul]

This deal tells me that Holland is planning on signing a big name winger this offseason...

 

[LTIR]

Good enough deal. Gives us a couple years to see what we have in Broberg, Jones, Samurai

 

[replacement]

Looks official, 2 years $5.6m per.

Regardless of how you feel about Nurse, this gives the Oilers some cost certainty moving forward and gets us maybe 1-1.5 million dollars in extra flexibility. That's potentially a little term on a Bear deal?

More work needs to be done to clear cap space if they want to make a bigger splash, but this give Holland some different options.

 

[CupofOil]

I don't mind the 2 years but you need to get a discount if you're taking him straight to UFA. This is far from a discount. Now, he's going to cash in on an even bigger long term deal 2 years from now compared to what a long term deal would cost now.

Also, this isn't much cap savings compared to what a long term deal would cost, it's a 1m or so cap savings so I'm not sure what the team has to gain by doing this outside of not seeing him as a core member long term and buying a year or so for a prospect to make Nurse expendable then trading Nurse as a rental essentially.

Personally, I don't like it. It doesn't give them much cap flexibility and leaves more uncertainty regarding his future here.
I saw three options. Commit to him long term, trade him if his demands are too rich or get him on a cheapish short term deal. This is none of these.

 

[guymez]

This deal is basically what the result of Nurse going to arbitration would be. Only, they did it without having to fight in front of an arbitrator.

Should be an interesting couple years. Nurse will be #4 max on the depth chart for PP time when Bouchard comes up (Bouch, Bear, Klef ahead of him). He may not be happy about his opportunity to rack up points for what he hopes will be his big UFA payday. And Broberg or Samorukov could be knocking on the door for LHD ice time in a couple years.

That is what I find fascinating about this deal. The PP time I dont think is an issue because Nurse just isnt any kind of solution on the PP. He would be easily surpassed by a player like Bouchard.
Its almost as if Holland still wasnt sure of what Nurses ceiling was (even after 334 NHL games) and also wanted to see how players like Jones and Samorukov develop.

Its a gamble for sure but there are problematic elements in Nurses game.
His decision making is head scratching sometimes. Even more so than a younger player like Bear and Nurse has played 261 more NHL games than Bear.
That gives me reason to pause on Nurse.

 

[McXLNC97]

These are the exact reasons why this seems crazy to me. There is going to be major price inflation in 2 years for top 4 D men, and all other top end roster players. So, when we go to lock him in long term at that stage, the overall deal will probably be an extra 15-20% provided 0 performance improvement. What he is getting paid in what would be years 3-8 of this contract is going to be a lot higher than it would be if signed today.... Hope its worth it in the short term.

The team needs to start pushing forward now. We can't wait for two years to be pushing for a Stanley Cup. The 1-1.5m saved now on Nurse for these two upcoming seasons can help in the upgrading of other positions on the team.

 

[guymez]

The team needs to start pushing forward now. We can't wait for two years to be pushing for a Stanley Cup. The 1-1.5m saved now on Nurse for these two upcoming seasons can help in the upgrading of other positions on the team.

It does give the team some cost certainty for the off season...valid point.

 

[SDig14]

We also don't need to wait the 2.5 years until this contract is over to sign him longer term. We can negotiate early and likely get him signed before the cap goes up due to Seattle revenue. I think if he signs for 7 or 8 years next contract for anything that starts with a 6 AAV then it's a good idea.

 

[Magnum23]

Good deal! Wouldn't want to commit to him to a 7 year deal now.

Have so many prospects in the pipeline and things can change a lot in a few years.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

I'm ok with this...I guess

he will have the leverage of UFA in 2 years so I'm intrigued what the price tag will be...he's still not a top pair d-man yet and there's question marks he will ever get there

having said that, it's clear he's part of the core here and he wants to be here so that's exciting...plus he bring some grit and toughness that is always welcome

 

[McDoused]

I'm happy with this deal for three reasons.

1. The Oilers are in cap hell. Even if Nurse was willing to sign a reasonable deal long term, we dont have the money to give it to him right now.

2. Nurse needs to prove he can earn the contract. Nurse is betting on himself and needs to show he can be a top pairing guy if he wants anymore money. I'll feel better giving him a higher AAV in 2 years if he keeps putting up 40 points and learns to be better defensively.

3. He wants to be here. I dont think it will matter if he is a ufa or a rfa at the end of his contract. I dont see him going anywhere. If he does it will be because hes underperforming or has been replaced by Broberg.

 

[Bangers]

Meh, don't see the big deal here.

Is Nurse worth $5.6 on the current market? Yep.

Negotiations between the Oil and Nurse seem cordial, so this looks like the team giving Nurse a fair deal to keep him happy, and then negotiating a new deal with him in a year's time when the team frees up cap space (aside from extending Nuge, Bear, and possibly Yamo, the Oil will clear up close to 20 mil by then).

 

[LTIR]

1yr arbitration would have been better.
Ideally we lock up Bear for longer at cheap cap hit and he outshines Nurse by a mile.

Would bring Nurse's value to the team down and Bear could be used as a comparable.

7M per for Nurse long term could be worse than Lucic/Phaneuf deals

 

[Chef de Cuisine]

Not looking forward to seeing how much we give him in 2 years.

 

[Navx94]

I honestly prefer this. In two years we won’t need nurse rather spend that cap on forwards. Our window relies on our ELC dmen not 8M nurse.

 

[Throttlehead]

I honestly prefer this. In two years we won’t need nurse rather spend that cap on forwards. Our window relies on our ELC dmen not 8M nurse.

You dont win anything with entry-level contract dmen.

Reboots on the next one is getting a little old and tired. It would be nice to win something one day, which would require some experienced veteran players.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

It's the right move. But people are talking about automatically extending him long term at contract's end in 2022, but I don't know that's the concrete plan of Holland.
Big picture, Bouchard, Broberg, Bear, Jones, Samorukov, Laggeson, etc. All very young defensive prospects that are in development stage, and projected future of Edmonton's defenders.

I think this is the final audition, and that Nurse would really have to prove he's a true top pairing NHL defenseman, before locking him up at 27 yrs old to a long term big money deal with a significant affect on the salary cap.

Or maybe he himself decides he doesn't want to stay in Edmonton his entire prime and walks. That also could be a hidden motive, people are assuming that he absolutely loves being an Oiler and that he'd never leave McDavid, but I wouldn't be so sure. He'll hold all the cards, at 27 yrs old, with at least half the league sending him roses and offers.

Predicting Darnell Nurse will be traded at the 2022 trade deadline in February. But happy we'll still have him for the next 2 yrs, in his prime, and in McDavid's prime. Great signing for everyone

 

[Akrapovince]

Here’s the thing, if he shows that he is worth 8.5 million in the next two years I would be glad to give it to him.

This is another 2 years to see what we have in a player. People are so scared of the monster contract he’s going to demand... if he shows he’s worth it then sign him. If not, let him walk.

 

[LemmyUlanov55]

I like this deal a lot.

 

[Raab]

Length of this deal is an issue. We’ll see what the next two years bring but usually at this point guys would be locked up long term. Kind of concerning that it didn’t get done.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Happy about the amount unhappy about the length but l the trade off is better than him at 8×8 right now