How will The Oilers handle the Darnell Nurse contract? Buy -Out? Trade? Keep him?

[UrbanImpact]

Oilers are only in year 2 of his 8 year 9.25mil AAV contract.... A Massive AAV that is crippling the Oilers roster construction.

Nurse has a NMC and can veto a trade until 2027 at which point it becomes a 10 team no trade list for the last 3 years of his contract.

What is the best way the Oilers can handle this situation? Mcdavid and Drai being UFA's in 2-3 years will also play a role in this as the Oilers will feel pressure to win in that window.

Nurse gets paid more than : Q Hughes, Makar, Josi, Heiskanen, Pietrangelo etc....

These are the constant decisions that Nurse makes on the ice on a daily basis. Just very very low Ice-Q plays.

Click to read more...

 

[DearDiary]

The worst is how his go to defensive move is to lay on his stomach and pretend he's a starfish.

 

[Hodge]

He's maybe overpaid by $1.5M/year at most and that will only become less significant as the cap increases. They just need to limit him to second pairing minutes.

 

[Mr Kot]

Needs to take a knock to the head and maybe he will play well like he did during the first time he got bonked on the head.

 

[UrbanImpact]

He's maybe overpaid by $1.5M/year at most and that will only become less significant as the cap increases. They just need to limit him to second pairing minutes.

I disagree. 1.5 mil less is Q Hughes money. Thats obviously a great contract but i still dont think Nurse is a 7.5 mil Dman.

I honestly think he is a 3-4-5 Dman that should be getting paid around 6mil.

He cashed in during a crazy Covid season and Holland fell for it.

I'm just not sure how Edmonton can get out of it.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Hes awesome, deserves a raise and should be playing 30 minutes a night

 

[82Ninety42011]

They're stuck with him to be honest. He's not a bad player just not a 9 million dollar one. Put him with a reliable defense first guy and you have a great 2nd pairing. As the cap rises becomes less and less of an issue.

 

[NeverForget06]

He won't be bought out, he won't be traded, we just have to live with him.

At least we have Hyman and Nuge at decent value.... such is life.

 

[34]

trapped

 

[Breakers]

 

[bossram]

They're stuck with him to be honest. He's not a bad player just not a 9 million dollar one. Put him with a reliable defense first guy and you have a great 2nd pairing. As the cap rises becomes less and less of an issue.

Yep. He would be solid on a 2nd pair, in a less difficult role. If he were paid $5-6M to do that, there would be no issues.

It's not his fault that he was given an insane contract and that Holland has constructed a roster that leaves him overtaxed.

 

[Dieseloil]

The worst is how his go to defensive move is to lay on his stomach and pretend he's a starfish.

He just hampers his goalie, screens, deflects.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Brutal contract.

But he's still a good enough defenseman to have in your top 4. I wouldn't buy him out. His physical attributes are great, but the brain fades are a bit extreme from what I have seen in the playoffs.

 

[User1996]

He's maybe overpaid by $1.5M/year at most and that will only become less significant as the cap increases. They just need to limit him to second pairing minutes.

2nd pair defencemen make $8m? Seems like he’s overpaid by much more than that, even given your standards.

 

[Hodge]

I disagree. 1.5 mil less is Q Hughes money. Thats obviously a great contract but i still dont think Nurse is a 7.5 mil Dman.

I honestly think he is a 3-4-5 Dman that should be getting paid around 6mil.

He cashed in during a crazy Covid season and Holland fell for it.

I'm just not sure how Edmonton can get out of it.

You can't compare a contract that buys 7 UFA years to a contract that buys 1 UFA year.

Nurse's cap hit will be less than 10% of the salary cap before Draisaitl even hits free agency. The Nurse contract is well down the list of Edmonton's issues.

 

[UrbanImpact]

Brutal contract.

But he's still a good enough defenseman to have in your top 4. I wouldn't buy him out. His physical attributes are great, but the brain fades are a bit extreme from what I have seen in the playoffs.

He is 29, what happens when his physical diminishes in a couple of years and there is 4 years left of his contract? His physical tools are barely keeping him in the top 4 right now.

 

[Hodge]

2nd pair defenceman make $8m? Seems like he’s overpaid by much more than that, even given your standards.

They do when they have Nurse's rare combination of size and skating ability and are on contracts that cover 7 UFA years. Not to mention we will enter a world where $8M is legit 2nd pair (i.e., the ~60th highest defenseman cap hit) within the next few years due to projected cap growth.

 

[serp]

He's a 9 year veteran that still way too often has the decision making of a totally green AHL callup in his first pro-season . Incredible physical tool with not quite no toolbox but a pretty broken one .

 

[NeverForget06]

He is 29, what happens when his physical diminishes in a couple of years and there is 4 years left of his contract? His physical tools are barely keeping him in the top 4 right now.

Well I think this whole thread can be summarized by saying Mr. Nurse is not worth his contract, and for that very reason he will be difficult to move. So what happens? Bad things I guess. Is that what you're looking for?

 

[AlwaysSunnyInDetroit]

i wouldn't take nurse for free even with 50% retention

 

[User1996]

They do when they have Nurse's rare combination of size and skating ability and are on contracts that cover 7 UFA years. Not to mention we will enter a world where $8M is legit 2nd pair (i.e., the ~60th highest defenseman cap hit) within the next few years due to projected cap growth.

They quite literally don’t though. He’s really the only example of one getting paid that much.

Sure, we will see some start to get that, but not for a bit. Reality is he’s paid 1D money as a 3/4D for at least half of his contract.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

He's maybe overpaid by $1.5M/year at most and that will only become less significant as the cap increases. They just need to limit him to second pairing minutes.

Yeah, no.

I don’t think any teams would be signing him to an 8M contact for the next 6 years with NMC and buyout proof, to boot

 

[KrisLetAngry]

I disagree. 1.5 mil less is Q Hughes money. Thats obviously a great contract but i still dont think Nurse is a 7.5 mil Dman.

I honestly think he is a 3-4-5 Dman that should be getting paid around 6mil.

He cashed in during a crazy Covid season and Holland fell for it.

I'm just not sure how Edmonton can get out of it.

He had great numbers. Every other defensemen was getting paid and said I will take that.

What do you do your #1 defensemen just asked for his pay day after a bridge. Either he gets paid or you let him walk. Letting him walk would be disastrously bad.

I remember seeing a graph and he really is a 7 to 7.5 million dollar defensemen.

So he's overpaid by 2 million. Lots of UFAs get overpaid.

Quinn hughes Gave up 1 year of UFA. The other 5 years RFA. No where near comparable.

Quinn Hughes today would be a 12 million 13 million defensemen if he was up for a contract. Vancouver didn't bridge smart move by Benning.

 

[bossram]

i wouldn't take nurse for free even with 50% retention

That's pretty ridiculous. Every team in the league would take Nurse at sub-$5M.

 

[God]

The right coach can change a lot... and I don't even think Nurse is that bad. Players have shit games sometimes.