Oilers Will Be a Worse Team Without Darnell Nurse

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware of the fact that it sounds like Darnell Nurse’s tenure with the Edmonton Oilers is nearing its end. Management was hoping to trade the 31-year-old, and he gave the organization its blessing by requesting a trade earlier in the month.

Nurse by no means had to do this, as he still has one more season with a full no-movement clause on his contract. It seems that the constant scrutiny and countless trade speculation has gotten to him, however, and now he’s making life easier on the Oilers by making it clear he’s more than open to being dealt.

As you would expect, most Oilers fans are ecstatic about this news. Nurse has been a very criticized player throughout his tenure in Edmonton, due largely to the eight-year, $74 million deal he signed ahead of the 2021-22 season. Many point to his $9.25 million cap hit as the reason why Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have yet to win a Stanley Cup.

There’s no argument to be made over Nurse’s contract. He has the 11th-highest cap hit of all NHL defencemen while being best served as a second-pairing option on all 32 teams across the league. In other words, he’s a good, not great player who is overpaid by $3 million or so. Thanks to having only four seasons left on that deal, teams will be interested, especially if the Oilers are willing to retain. That said, those wanting to move him just for the sake of moving him may want to be careful with what they wish for.

Oilers Rely Heavily on Nurse

Due to all the flack Nurse receives, there seems to be a perception that he’s one of the worst defencemen in the NHL. It serves as a good purpose as to just how much a player’s value can fall in the eyes of fans when they are on a bad contract.

The Oilers as an organization would be able to tell you that Nurse has been a valuable member of their roster, even with his contract being less than desirable. This is a defenceman that has averaged north of 20 minutes per game for the last nine straight seasons. In fact, prior to 2025-26 where he averaged 20:58, he hadn’t averaged below 21 minutes in a season since the 2016-17 campaign.

Nurse averaged the second most minutes of all Oilers defencemen this season, trailing only Evan Bouchard. His 19:14 average of even-strength time was just one second short of Bouchard. He also logged 1:30 per game on the penalty kill. In other words, he’s wearing a lot of different hats for this Oilers team.

What also gets forgotten when it comes to Nurse’s game is his offence. He’s never going to wow fans like Bouchard, but has surpassed the 30-point mark seven times in his career. That’s solid contribution for a defenceman, and would be missed by the Oilers.

More than the offence, however, the Oilers would simply miss the heavy minutes Nurse provides. This is a team who already has a shaky blueline. What on earth would it look like when removing a minute muncher like Nurse? It’s a scary thought to envision.

Though Nurse is prone to blunders, he doesn’t get enough credit for how much he plays. There are going to be mistakes made with that much ice time, but fans need to realize that without him, mistakes would only increase as other defencemen would be forced to play higher minutes.

Can’t Trade Nurse Without a Replacement

The biggest thing when it comes to trading Nurse is that the Oilers need to have another plan. They can’t move him and not replace him with another defenceman they feel would be able to give similar minutes. If they do have some players in mind and think they can land them for cheaper, then of course that is the right path to take. That said, if there are no sure-fire ideas of replacing him, they need to think long and hard before honouring his trade request.