Are Darnell Nurse’s days with the Edmonton Oilers numbered?
The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and there wasn’t much noise around Nurse’s name. Oilers GM Stan Bowman did add on defence with the addition of Connor Murphy, but didn’t appear to consider any larger moves that would subtract from the team outside of Andrew Mangiapane.
Yet, in the days following the deadline, a new report from NHL insider David Pagnotta suggests that Edmonton considered moving Nurse last week. It obviously didn’t happen, but he says it could be something to keep an eye on this summer.
“Don’t shoot the messenger, but the Edmonton Oilers discussed the possibility of moving Darnell Nurse,” Pagnotta wrote on Sunday. “I can’t pinpoint how deep trade talks actually went, but that’s a name to watch this summer, NMC and all.”
Trading Nurse would represent a massive move for this Oilers club. For the past decade, he has been considered part of this current Edmonton-core and seemed nearly untouchable for the majority of his career. He is a former first-round pick of the team back in 2013 and has played his entire 780-game NHL career in the Alberta capital.
Nurse is the fourth-highest scoring defenceman in franchise history with 320 points, although Evan Bouchard is bound to pass him soon as he sits with 311. However, he’s had a few underwhelming seasons of late, and his massive $9.25-million cap hit could be seen as a bit of a hindrance.
Making this type of deal would not be easy for the Oilers. Outside of the fact that Nurse has four years left on that massive deal, he also has a full no-movement clause that will run through next season. That means that Nurse will have the power to veto any trade involving him, drastically limiting Bowman’s options.
That NMC is set to become a 10-team no-trade list in the summer of 2027, which could help facilitate a deal at a later date.
There are bound to be NHL teams interested in trading for Nurse, despite the high cap hit. He is still highly regarded as a decent top-four defenceman, and the NHL’s cap limit is expected to rise by $18 million in the next two seasons, which should soften the blow.
The only question will be if the Oilers can find a move that Nurse will agree to, and if they can dump the entirety of the contract without retaining any salary.
While it’s an interesting prospect, Nurse will remain with the team for what he hopes is another long playoff run this spring. If this is truly his last dance with the Oilers, he’ll surely want to end it as best as he can.