What to do with Nurse?

[Throttlehead]

Does nothing about the past bloody decade plus remind people how difficult it is to find and retain quality D?? Nurse isnt perfect, but he is a good middle pairing D with a load of intangibles and a ceiling he still likely hasn’t quite reached. The *****in’ and moanin’ about him is stupid.

The same pissing and moaning was happening with Petry and Schultz, man I wised we still had them both.

 

[BudBundy]

The same pissing and moaning was happening with Petry and Schultz, man I wised we still had them both.

Petry for sure. Schultz was just so shattered by the end he really did have to go. My kingdom for better management at the time.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

I bet ,during this stretch without Klefbom, Nurse will impress us and will play good. He plays better when he has more time on the ice. It's how he played in junior. Also, yes he often makes stupid mistakes on the ice and even I hate him sometimes, but he's also 4 points behind our leading point producer on Defense and he leads us in goals by a Defense men. So let's see what he does. It's his opportunity. It's up to him to make a difference

It's certainly in Nurse's personality to try and step up to the challenge, though with the amount of minutes Klefbom was playing we'll need 2 guys to step up (defense by committee).

 

[McSpecial DraiBlend]

Nurse is still developing. It's about time we exercised a little more patience especially with Dmen.

 

[GOilers88]

He's shown vast improvement every year since he was drafted. He was one of our best players all year last year. Now because of a 26 game stretch we should do something with him?

For an organization that has rushed every kid to the bigs and expected them to right the ship then traded them at their lowest, you'd think the fans would show a little more patience. Especially for a kid who has been one of the bright spots for the last few seasons.

 

[walktheboulavard]

Trade him for a 3 round pick and redeem some value for this poor player. Let's dump him onto the Maple leafs, or the Flames, I hear they eat their young there.

 

[CycloneSweep]

He's shown vast improvement every year since he was drafted. He was one of our best players all year last year. Now because of a 26 game stretch we should do something with him?

For an organization that has rushed every kid to the bigs and expected them to right the ship then traded them at their lowest, you'd think the fans would show a little more patience. Especially for a kid who has been one of the bright spots for the last few seasons.

Except Nurse wasn't our best defensemen all of last year. He looked good for around 25-30 games and then after the winter break he looked like current Nurse and by almost all metrics he was our 5th best defender last year behind Klefbom, Larsson, Benning and Russell, 2 of those had bad years as well. This year by most stats he is our worst regular defender. Only worse is Wideman and Garrison.

 

[McFlash97]

Why the f*** are some idiots bitching and moaning about Nurse ? He's the least of our worries.

 

[CycloneSweep]

This season for Oilers defenders with 20+ games (5 of them) Nurse is...
(Lower the worse)

4th in Shots Against/60
4th in Shots For/60
3rd in Goals For/60
5th in Goals Against/60
3rd in Scoring Chances For/60
5th in Scoring Chances Against/60
5th in High Danger Chances For/60
5th in High Danger Chances Against/60
5th in On Ice Save%

Now I will do his numbers relative to teammates and competition...(lower the worse)

4th Corsi%Rel
5th in Fenwick%Rel
5th in Shots%Rel
5th in Goals%Rel
5th in Scoring Chance%Rel
5th in High Danger Chance%Rel

Long story short his offense is better than expected but his defense is the worst out of our regular defenders.

What this highly points to, even when healthy is that Nurse is playing too high in the lineup and should be on the third pairing.

 

[Ninety7]

All the tools in the world. But I really do question his IQ on both sides of the ice. What’s concerning most for me is that he leaves his assignment in front of the net or gets caught puck watching far too often.

 

[CycloneSweep]

All the tools in the world. But I really do question his IQ on both sides of the ice. What’s concerning most for me is that he leaves his assignment in front of the net or gets caught puck watching far too often.

It's strange to me because these are mistakes that NHL defenders shouldn't be making and should be ironed out of his game by now, which worries me.

 

[snipes]

Why the **** are some idiots *****ing and moaning about Nurse ? He's the least of our worries.

Exactly. Sometimes I swear man.

Nurse is a massive part of this team both now and in the future.

 

[nabob]

Seeems like the whipping boy torch has been passed from Drai to Nurse.

 

[JayE]

I thought Nurse had a strong game given what he was asked to do.

 

[Tyrolean]

Nurse had a ok game. Never going to be a superstar so live with what you have.

 

[Zenos]

The same pissing and moaning was happening with Petry and Schultz, man I wised we still had them both.

It is eerily similar. Like Schultz and Petry before him, I think a lot of it has to do with expectations vs. reality. All three defenders were (at least at times) hyped-up beyond their abilities. Many posters on here for instance truly believed that Nurse had top-pairing potential. Just look at the old Nurse vs Klefbom discussions. Most people were pegging Darnell to be our best defender by now.

While he's still youngish and somewhat untapped, I doubt he ever reaches that sort of peak. He's still a very valuable asset and (should be) a big part of the team going forward though. Just because he likely won't be that number-1 defensemen we all hoped for, doesn't mean we should cut bait and sell low on him. I just hope that the organisation has learned from their past mistakes.

 

[nabob]

I thought Nurse had a strong game given what he was asked to do.

He was our only defenseman that created anything offensively all night. He was also playing 30 minutes playing shutdown duties against one of the best offensive teams in the league. Fans expect him to be perfect in every aspect it seems, but guess what, even Norris trophy winners make some mistakes every single game.

 

[Kaniac]

Why are we bitching about Nurse? The dude has 2 goals in the last 2 games. He's playing consistent hockey. Is he a #1 dman? No, but without Russel and klefbom he's all we got. Hopefully he can keep his head above water long enough so atleast one can get back. He's the last of our problems.

 

[Giggli G]

Why are we *****ing about Nurse? The dude has 2 goals in the last 2 games. He's playing consistent hockey. Is he a #1 dman? No, but without Russel and klefbom he's all we got. Hopefully he can keep his head above water long enough so atleast one can get back. He's the last of our problems.

People saying he has no elite upside are actually completely wrong in my opinion. He could be as good as Klefbom sometime this year and the sky is the limit for him. He's on pace for over 10 goals too

 

[Quinteoilers]

The entire DCorp needs to be intact-including Sekera and then he needs a proper partner, that compliment each other. IMO when he’s trying “too hard” that’s when his game unravels. You have to use the Detroit model and evaluate after 400 games.

 

[NeverForget06]

People who want to trade Nurse are insane. Everyone rags on Chia all the time, but I really fear what would happen if some of you were allowed to call the shots.

Nurse is 23 years old, he still has plenty of time to develop. Be patient.

Also, who is replacing Nurse on the back end?? Those of you who think Sekera will step back in and be anything but a shell of himself, especially initially, are out to lunch.

 

[Stoneman89]

I think Nurse has really embraced his enhanced role, and I really think these injuries will be a blessing in disguise for him. He still loses his man in his own zone at times, but it seems to be less and less. He is becoming much more assertive and aggressive carrying the puck now and moving it up ice. With his size and skating, it really is nice to see.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

I bet ,during this stretch without Klefbom, Nurse will impress us and will play good. He plays better when he has more time on the ice. It's how he played in junior. Also, yes he often makes stupid mistakes on the ice and even I hate him sometimes, but he's also 4 points behind our leading point producer on Defense and he leads us in goals by a Defense men. So let's see what he does. It's his opportunity. It's up to him to make a difference

Hitch agreed with you in todays post game, said the more he plays the better he plays talking about 25 mins a night might be closer to ideal for him and this is on top of Hitch saying previously that the floor for Klefbom is 25 mins, sounds like bad news for Gravel he might be on the underside of 10 mins fairly regularly if Hitch holds true to his takes on both of Klef and Nurse.

 

[oobga]

Hitch agreed with you in todays post game, said the more he plays the better he plays talking about 25 mins a night might be closer to ideal for him and this is on top of Hitch saying previously that the floor for Klefbom is 25 mins, sounds like bad news for Gravel he might be on the underside of 10 mins fairly regularly if Hitch holds true to his takes on both of Klef and Nurse.

He does seem like one of those guys that needs that pressure and responsibility to really fully motivate himself. Some guys seem to just be like that, the challenge and being put on the spot is the great motivator.

 

[Multigrain]

Send Nurse, Wideman and one other to Chicago, STL or Kings.