Insider Reveals Oilers & Darnell Nurse “Headed for Breakup”

With the Edmonton Oilers hoping to become a more competitive team next season after a disastrous end to their 2025-26 campaign, one thing seemed to be certain, at the end of the season the team needed to move Darnell Nurse. 

In a recent article from Mark Spector, he revealed that the Oilers and Darnell Nurse are headed towards a breakup. 

Spector writes: “Conversations with several current and former employees all lead to the same place: the Oilers are ready and willing to trade Nurse as soon as they are able.” He continued: “Sources confirm that Oilers GM Stan Bowman will be speaking with Nurse in the coming days about his wishes.”

Spector also mentioned that the Oilers considered healthy scratching Nurse during the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, but ultimately opted against it, writing: “There were discussions around healthy-scratching Nurse during the 2024 Final, when the Florida Panthers defeated Edmonton 2-1 in Game 7, Sportsnet has learned.”

The Oilers played him significantly less, as Spector mentioned, writing: “In the end, it was deemed that scratching a veteran and alternate captain would prove too much of a distraction. Instead, the coaching staff limited Nurse’s ice time to the point that he ranked last among the seven Oilers defencemen who played in that series, averaging just 15:51 of ice time per game.”

It seems as though it’s a matter of when, not if, the Oilers trade Nurse, but Spector did mention that Nurse could block a deal to remain a member of the Oilers for the 2026-27 season, writing: “If Nurse, 31, says he wants to be an Oiler for another season, then trade talk will be shelved and the team will welcome him back for one more year. When he realizes that a trade is imminent, however, two sources have told Sportsnet that the Oilers’ preference would be to move Nurse before the start of next season.”

Nurse Will Have Interest From Around the League

The reality is, Nurse is not a terrible defender, but his contract is detrimental for a contending team. A player with playoff experience and leadership who can play top-pairing minutes is always going to be valuable, but not at $9.25 million annually. It doesn’t help that former coaches of Nurse questioned his ability, sometimes.

On that, Spector wrote: “One previous coach from earlier in Nurse’s career described him best, when he said, I felt that he was receptive with the info that I was giving him at the time, but it never transferred into his play during the games. Especially when pressure was ramped up. He always gave you the feeling that he saw himself more as an offensive defenceman and would make some terrible reads with and without puck at critical times in games. Hockey sense was always a concern for me.”

With those concerns in mind, Spector did discuss some of the positives in Nurse’s game, mentioning his physicality and skating ability as part of his strengths, as well as having a bit of an offensive side to his game.

There will be teams looking to bring in a new defender this offseason, and specifically those that can play big minutes and provide leadership to a younger team. The San Jose Sharks seem like a perfect fit, considering they are on the verge of making the playoffs as soon as next season, but in any trade with any team, it may require the Oilers to attach assets to make a deal work, especially if they want to shed most of Nurse’s salary.

As the 2025-26 postseason moves along, be sure to continue following The Hockey Writers as your source for news, updates, and more from around the NHL and the hockey world.