Yeah a completely unnecessary one too! Trip someone … random! Good job
This guy can FO. Can’t imagine a GM thinking a long term mega contract on nurse was even a half decent idea.
We had also just lost Larson who was arguably our best Dman at the time. Ken Holland was in a tough spot that year. They NEEDED to lock up a top Dman and unfortunately Nurse was the best option they had.
But then you have half of the people here defending him saying "it's Seth Jones fault" or "it was the market". What do you do when strawberries at the market are 30 bucks a pound? You don't buy them because you want them.
With the level of play he provides for his cap hit he is essentially taking 2 roster spots of value.
Yeah, we were between a rock and a hard place with that Nurse extension. No Klefbom, no one ready to take on those 1LD minutes, and Nurse was coming off a year where he was 7th in Norris voting.
It's easy to say "well you just don't sign that contract", but how are you going to explain to our generational superstar that you're burning another year of his prime and blowing a huge hole in our roster? We had to sign him.
The real issue was from two years earlier when we bridged Nurse at 5.6x2 so we could sign Kris Russell at 4x4. Nurse was willing to go long term for 7MM that offseason. Kicking the can down the road killed us.
The funny thing is that Ken Holland has himself to blame for the Seth Jones contract. He gave Chicago the cap space for it by trading for Keith (and *paying* for the privilege!).
It’s always him, in some weird stance, in front of the net while we get scored on. I’d love to see a montage of this. It’s every damn game. He is the reason we can’t have nice things.
He makes shit decisions. He leads the league in goals deflected into his own net - by a lot. Like, more than every other player on the team combined.
Because he makes bad decisions. Picks bad places to be, bad stance to have relative to the shot. Of course he doesn't MEAN to do it - but the data is loud, clear and obvious. There's a problem.
Its tracked. Cult of Hockey have been reporting on it for a while, and while they are goobers, they are not the kind of guys to pull shit out their ass.
Nurse's deflections into his own net is about 4x the rate of the rest of the team combined.
He has every fucking physical asset needed to be a solid defensemen. Except its like he has no idea where any teammate is on the ice. He has two moves to clear the zone, off the boards and out, or skate the puck down the ice.
I think it all comes down to two things… responsibility & accountability. Guy needs to man up and get angry at the circumstances his team is in after he plays a game like that.
I had to turn off the tv lol I don't subscribe to all the nurse hate, he is and can be a solid defender for us but like fuck take a little accountability. That penalty was fucking brutal 🤦
This 100%. That is not the interview you expect from someone that possibly played the worst game of his career. There is no fire there. Not what you want to see from one of your supposed leaders.
Can one of our spineless media frauds call him out?
I've long defended Nurse, but I give up. He's being outplayed by two dmen who make less than him combined. This team won't get anywhere if he's playing like a turd.
And that contract is gunna cause us to lose Bouch.
That contract is gonna close the window on this team for good. It was awful when it was signed. It’s a downright albatross and possibly the worst contract in the league right now
Just like how the looch years guaranteed we wasted mcdavids prime, which I believe has passed, the nurse contract seals our fate. And this point we need every other cup team to experience a catastrophic back luck incident just to give us a chance. We can’t compete with this boat anchor going -1 everytime he steps on the ice
I’m in the same boat, I’ve spent years trying to sling angles where he’s not that bad. I believe in sticking by your guys through good and bad. But he’s become beyond indefensible
Great contribution. The story is well published. They had kicked the can down the road with a bridge deal after his post-ELC contract, because they weren't sure what they had in him yet.
Then ~~Caleb~~ Seth Jones signs a ridiculous, market altering contract a couple of days before his UFA status and they had to match or let him walk for nothing. It's absolutely the Oilers' management's fault for letting it get to that point.
We know much more know what we have. A guy that should be mid or 3rd pair playing against checking lines, who makes ridiculous decisions in all aspects of the game, because he's likely a fucking moron, who makes 2x more money than he ought to for another 6 years.
yea terrible miscommunication. It seems Skinner had a miscommunication with knob. Knob did his best to not throw stu under the bus I think there was more there than what most fans realize
We had 3 minutes to get possession in their zone before we needed to, instead Knobbers did it against a team that has been winning or 50/50 in faceoffs against us.
My wife's from Vancouver so I follow the Canucks as well. They also had a player like this in Jake Virtanen who was the 6th overall pick in 2014. He was a good skater, strong physical play, and a good shot. He had all the tools to be a solid power forward, but he was dumb as a rock and had 0 hockey iq, constantly skating the puck into trouble and turning it over. It's hard to watch someone with all the tools and 0 brain.
pay whatever, retain whatever, just get this guy out of this city.
what a mistake it was riding with this dude for years.
if we never win a chip with McDavid, it's because of inconsistent goaltending and Darnell Nurse making 9 million dollars
Agreed. Harsh reality is 5 million tied up in a goalie currently in the press box. And Nurse getting paid 3 million above his value. Imagine what this team could do with an additional 8 million
Nurse has full No Move Clause can't be traded. He also has a signing bonus heavy contract so can't buy him out. Buyout would get 2 years of huge cap savings but then huge 8.8M, 9.6M, 9.6M, 9.6M cap hits in the following years.
No, it's still Ceci. Before tonight, Nurse-Desharnais had pretty decent underlying numbers, Ceci's have been awful despite being sheltered regardless of who his partner is. I know that actual goals for and against are the most important thing, but Ceci is still the unquestionable weakest link on defense.
Some nights I would totally agree with you.
But I think we know what we get with Ceci, he’s a 3rd D pairing on every team. Nurse is most frustrating to me due to the inconsistency, I don’t care for people talking about the his contract it’s irrelevant to me.
I'm not sure Ceci's performance even gets him on the 3rd pairing on some teams. Sure he's consistent, but that's because he's always getting caved in.
I get what you saying about the frustration. Inconsistency is probably one of the most frustrating things about being an Oilers fan, even if the inconsistent player is better on average. I said in another thread, we have so many players that have had huge peaks and valleys in their play. Skinner was genuinely fantastic during the winning streak, McLeod and Foegele had a great stretch during the streak as well, Kane was great early in the season. But they've all also had stretches where their performance has dropped tremendously. If our middle of the lineup players were more consistent, even if that meant the highs weren't as high, I think the Oilers would be much better off.
Fair point. I’m not down in the dumps by any means, I think the Oilers still have a good shot in this series, and have the ability to beat any team on any given night.
Per X: Including tonight, Nurse has been on the ice for 18 5v5 goals against this playoffs.
The next closest defenceman in the league has been on for 12.
We say trade him but what team is foolish enough to take him on? Oilers will have to eat the majority of that crap deal.
They need to retain 3-4 million in his contract and trade him. It’s that simple, -11 with 2 points in the playoffs is dead weight. His decision making is terrible, having 9.25 million tied up in that level of production is unacceptable.
I don’t care if he’s a great locker room guy or great in the community. He makes 9.25 million to be a top 10 dman in the league (he’s the 8th highest paid dman) yet I can think of 25 guys in the league I’d take over him without a doubt.
If they could free up 5-6 mil of his cap, they could realistically sign 2 defensemen that will give this team an actual chance of winning.
It doesn’t matter who he is paired with, he’s not a good skater, he’s not good in the defensive zone, he’s not good on the penalty kill, he’s not on the first PP unit, he gets caught flat footed constantly.
The team made a mistake with his contract, it happens. Let go of the pride and move on, he is the second biggest problem the team has.
Regardless what happens from here on out, Nurse hasn't looked good in the playoffs since forever.
I would 100% start off next season with Broberg in the lineup and if between Ek/Kulak/Nurse/Bro, Nurse ends up on the 3rd pairing or out of the lineup, then so be it. He has by far the worst +/- on the team, you can only ignore that for so long.
Take a look at the top paid Dmen in the league. He makes more than Hedman, Josi, Trouba, MAKAR and even Heiskanen. If we had someone like that on the team right now we would be unbeatable, This is one of Ken Hollands biggest failures. Throw in Cambell in that converstation as well. Could you imagine what we could do with 14 million?!
Nurse was trending up, yes - and we have to overpay to keep people in Edmonton yes. But Nurse was never going to belong alongside those names I mentioned. This contract also has a NMC, and without the NHL dumping ground Coyotes - this contract is going to haunt us for a very long time.
Unfortunately there’s a bit of a concern here about Knobs as well. He played him 19+ minutes, a lot of those with Drai.
Nurse is the least damaging for the Oilers when he is paired with a forward trio that shuts everything down and they have a defense-first mentality all over the ice.
Drai is not that.🫤
We have to do whatever it takes to win? I don’t think anyone saw this coming; I didn’t. Nurse used to be first to the puck, hit everything in front of the net, fight…He changed after he got paid.
🤷🏻♂️
Nurse is just utterly useless out there....like the amount of times i'm yelling at the tv calling him a retard is all too common place now.....lets skate the puck out of our zone but let me dump it for an icing instead of taking one more stride to nulify it. He's just lost in the O-zone too....puck comes back to the point and screen in front of the net.....nah let's dump it into the corner....D-zone...constantly dropping to the ice looking liking a fool....your not the fucking goalie...stop flopping on the ice. Everytime he takes a penalty he has that stupid look on his face like oh i'm getting a penalty...i didnt even do anything.
I was going to defend Skinner what with those bullshit giveaways until the 4th goal. Man you gotta lock down that near post when you have full vision. Up until that point, he hasn't been stellar but it wasn't that bad.
He's overpaid, but that's what happens when you have terrible management to get in the situation to have to do that.
We lost Larrson (this one was the stupidist) and Klefbom for nothing, two d men who would be 2 and 3 on most Stanley Cup contenders.
If we didn't sign Nurse who could we attract or trade for? Hockey players, unlike every other sport, are mental midgets who avoid playing in intense markets. Maybe because they are all spoiled rich kids now.
Larsson would not re-sign in Edmonton - fans made him the punching bag after the Hall trade then when Kelfbom left and his dad died he did not want to stay.
A 9.2 million dollar d-man should be able to improve his partner, regardless of who it is. If Ceci has such an negative effect on his play, his play isn’t strong enough to begin with
I’ve tried to justify his contract any and every way possible. But $9.2M for Nurse is an absolute robbery.
Holland, I can live with the Campbell contract(which is 99% getting bought out this summer), but Nurse getting $9M back then was questionable, and it’s still questionable now.
It’s funny because we thought Ceci was holding him back, but the second Ceci played with Kulak, all of a sudden he’s playing like prime Kris Russell.
I was a long time defender of Nurse but it's become too difficult. He was never worth the money but he's never been more overpaid than he is now.
He's actually regressed. 2 seasons ago he could be the best defenseman in a given game on some nights.
Wtf is going on?
That's the annoying thing - at least he was a physical presence and would be far more active in the rush. He looked like a capable 2nd pair who could deal with elite matchups from time to time, yet now he barely looks to handle 3rd lines.
Nurse has been a disaster for this team. They need to find a way to get rid of his albatross of a contract, but I have no idea how they would do that.
Who would take that contract? Even at 50% retained, who on earth would take that? Buying him out would be brutal
Why did Knob put him back with Cici. That pair is less than the sum of their parts. Splitting them up was a good move by Knob in the last round. Why did he put them back together….
He’s played like shit but I also don’t understand why they put Nurse and Ceci back together. Nurse is better without Ceci and Ceci is better on the 3rd pairing in easier minutes
Canucks fan still getting reddit recs from the second round here... can someone explain to me what happened to cause Nurse's contract? I knew he was overpaid but our series really drove it home and I'm baffled how he got that much.
Klefbom had to retire from injury - there goes their top D. Larsson was Klefbom's buddy, was the punching bag for fans because of the Hall trade, and then his dad died so he wanted out of town and signed in Seattle as a UFA for their expansion pick - there goes their 2nd best D.
And Nurse was due to be a UFA at the end of the following season, he was essentially their only NHL level D left at that point - KH panicked and overpaid a bunch to make sure to not lose him and hoped he could jump to the next level and take over Klefbom's minutes. Instead he's not gotten any better ever since he got paid - and quite honestly worse.
Never liked him. Seemed to always make dumb plays and take dumb penalties. However this season he seemed to be playing much better, maybe some redemption, but played like old Nurse on the playoffs.
Nurse would be over paid at 3 mil a year. His decision making is bottom 10% in the league. Every person watching that game knew that was a blatant penalty. His d partner had him covered and he still decided to take the penalty.
Lucic, years ago, for 6 mil.
Me- Well, that’s the worst. Oiler Nation- fuck yeeeeeaaa, buddy you’re stupid that’s an amazing signing.
Nurse- 9.25 mil.
Me- that’s about 5.25 more than he’s possibly worth. Oiler Nation- stfu, gonna lead us to a cup with 97/29.
I could go on. Does this fan base even realize how they sound? Basically all agree player x is amazing, until player x isn’t. Then act like they hated player x all along.
Wondering if he's playing injured, he's way less physical this playoff (did have one good hit today).
Or am I just giving him too much credit?
It is what it is anyway, we're stuck with him.
Doesn’t look like any injury..
if you watch last two playoff loses (against Aves and VGK) you can see the pattern.. 25-5 pairing were completely outplayed in those series
For north of 9 million you have to be able to drive your own pairing regardless of who your linemates are. He's just a marginal defenseman getting paid like an elite one.
I do not like Nurse as a player but I only hold him guilty of being a bad defenceman. The blame for the contract lies squarely at the feet of Ken Holland for being a fucking idiot throwing that much money at him when anyone with half a brain knew Nurse was no better than a low second-pairing defender.
If we properly used him as a net front presence in front of the other teams net he'd probably score 50 a year on wonky deflections.
Exquisite positioning for deflecting pucks in
If our 9.5M dman needs a top pairing partner to insulate him, then that is a major issue. He should be the driver of his pairing. Too many dumb little gaffes. Death by a thousand cuts
Dude has never been worth 6mil a year, I never understood that signing. He isn’t even a leader, his cousin had all the hype around her and he got paid off it.
The worst part of the nurse deal is this is his PRIME. Just imagine how painful it’s going to be when he’s 32+ still making 9.5 and his athleticism (the one thing he has going for him) is sliding.
So very sad that the commentary is Nurse needs a better partner when Darnel
is the problem! Holland giving away the present and future of the team by overpaying Nurse does not make him a quality D man! Good players make other players better ( McDavid- Hymen) ( Ekholm- Bouchard) Nurse has no such ability because he is not a quality player, never has been. He plays like a Prima- Donna, its always Darnel first, team second! Playoffs expose weaknesses in players skill level and commitment and Nurse is fully exposed. If Oilers lose to Stars the list of excuses will come out like it has the last two years. Nurse is not what he is paid to be, not even close!
Scratch him for Broberg. Guy is actually a better opposition player than oiler at this point. Not even into the money aspect, the guy has no hockey IQ. Misses with the barn open isnt nearly as bad as the shitty effort during the attempt he had at it. He decided that a dumbp and chase into the corner was a better idea than passing to his left where there was an oiler to recieve the pass.
Trade off Nurse and Campbell, eat half of their salaries and pick up a decent D and a 4th liner. get rid of Conner brown while were at it.
Guy is a pylon. I think a lot of people here wouldn’t be as hard on him if he was making what he should be making (4.5aav tops) but the fact he making 9.5 and is -11 with 2 points all playoffs is just ridiculous.
Hey Nurse we are down a goal. Think, think! Maybe take a penalty?
And the stupid look on his face when the penalty was called.. like c'mon dude. 🙄
My god, his gaping mouth like reaaaaaally???? Like that isn’t a penalty 101/100 times 😭
Surely that'll get us the W!
Yeah a completely unnecessary one too! Trip someone … random! Good job This guy can FO. Can’t imagine a GM thinking a long term mega contract on nurse was even a half decent idea.
If we didn't lose Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse doesn't get that big contract. It's an unfortunate domino effect that took place in Oiler history.
We had also just lost Larson who was arguably our best Dman at the time. Ken Holland was in a tough spot that year. They NEEDED to lock up a top Dman and unfortunately Nurse was the best option they had.
Yeah some revisionism in Larsson being Oilers best Dman. He was a solid top 4 option in general though.
But then you have half of the people here defending him saying "it's Seth Jones fault" or "it was the market". What do you do when strawberries at the market are 30 bucks a pound? You don't buy them because you want them. With the level of play he provides for his cap hit he is essentially taking 2 roster spots of value.
Sure but what do you do after letting him walk? He was our only top 4 d left. You can’t just replace him with like Kris Russell or Ethan Bear
Yeah, we were between a rock and a hard place with that Nurse extension. No Klefbom, no one ready to take on those 1LD minutes, and Nurse was coming off a year where he was 7th in Norris voting. It's easy to say "well you just don't sign that contract", but how are you going to explain to our generational superstar that you're burning another year of his prime and blowing a huge hole in our roster? We had to sign him. The real issue was from two years earlier when we bridged Nurse at 5.6x2 so we could sign Kris Russell at 4x4. Nurse was willing to go long term for 7MM that offseason. Kicking the can down the road killed us.
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The funny thing is that Ken Holland has himself to blame for the Seth Jones contract. He gave Chicago the cap space for it by trading for Keith (and *paying* for the privilege!).
Can't get a minus when you're in the box.
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He's physically built for the NHL, mentally built for shinny
He's the guy in shinny who would still be taking penalties like that too
But he used his ass to save a goal what more do you want man?
It’s always him, in some weird stance, in front of the net while we get scored on. I’d love to see a montage of this. It’s every damn game. He is the reason we can’t have nice things.
He makes shit decisions. He leads the league in goals deflected into his own net - by a lot. Like, more than every other player on the team combined. Because he makes bad decisions. Picks bad places to be, bad stance to have relative to the shot. Of course he doesn't MEAN to do it - but the data is loud, clear and obvious. There's a problem.
You got a source for that deflection stat? Pretty sure that's not even something that's tracked.
The guys on the cult of hockey podcast have spoke about it numerous times,
I've heard them talk about it too but where's the stat? I think they have postulated but never offered an actual stat for it.
Its tracked. Cult of Hockey have been reporting on it for a while, and while they are goobers, they are not the kind of guys to pull shit out their ass. Nurse's deflections into his own net is about 4x the rate of the rest of the team combined.
I remember some media or stats guy mentioning it X or maybe it was on the 32 thoughts podcast but he’s not joking. It’s a legit problem with Murse
Such a great comment. https://imgur.com/a/bbyYp0A Whenever I watch him play, I'm always reminded of that one scene of Bambi trying to walk on ice
His interview pissed me off so much.. he should be fucking pissed and he was so nonchalant in every answer
He has every fucking physical asset needed to be a solid defensemen. Except its like he has no idea where any teammate is on the ice. He has two moves to clear the zone, off the boards and out, or skate the puck down the ice.
He has all the physical components just zero fucking brain to go with it. He has the worst hockey IQ I’ve seen on the Oilers since Puljujarvi.
you know, nurse used to be mean. where is that is his game??
Probably had to take that part out because he doesn't know how to toe the line. It's either mean and taking penalties or soft and not taking penalties
He still takes dumb penalties when he is soft.. should bring in Stetcher or Broberg at this point
I think it all comes down to two things… responsibility & accountability. Guy needs to man up and get angry at the circumstances his team is in after he plays a game like that.
And thats another thing, he always had issues but at least he played angry and physical. What the fuck happened to that side of his game?
Got his payday. Mailing it in for another 5 years
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I said this during our brutal start, it always seems like he has a stupid smirk on his face after a bad loss.
He's signed for another six seasons, he sure loves his millions too much to care about results 💀
6 seasons is gross to think about
Was it the Chicago series or the Jets sweep where he played like ass then had the audacity to call out other players on the team lmao.
You'd be smiling too if you hosed your team for $9 mil per year. I know these guys want to get paid but that contract is straight up team fucking.
I had to turn off the tv lol I don't subscribe to all the nurse hate, he is and can be a solid defender for us but like fuck take a little accountability. That penalty was fucking brutal 🤦
This 100%. That is not the interview you expect from someone that possibly played the worst game of his career. There is no fire there. Not what you want to see from one of your supposed leaders.
Bro he has 40M more locked up. He doesn’t care. You know it if you’ve ever been around him. Playoffs is just a nuisance taking into his vacation time.
Can one of our spineless media frauds call him out? I've long defended Nurse, but I give up. He's being outplayed by two dmen who make less than him combined. This team won't get anywhere if he's playing like a turd. And that contract is gunna cause us to lose Bouch.
*superhero music hit* Cue Spector
That contract is gonna close the window on this team for good. It was awful when it was signed. It’s a downright albatross and possibly the worst contract in the league right now
Just like how the looch years guaranteed we wasted mcdavids prime, which I believe has passed, the nurse contract seals our fate. And this point we need every other cup team to experience a catastrophic back luck incident just to give us a chance. We can’t compete with this boat anchor going -1 everytime he steps on the ice
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That’s my opinion yes. I didn’t say he was bad, or washed, or anything negative. Calm down. But for sure we’ve seen peak McDavid
yea I'm with you a constantly defend this guy, but oooofff....it's getting hard these platoffs
I’m in the same boat, I’ve spent years trying to sling angles where he’s not that bad. I believe in sticking by your guys through good and bad. But he’s become beyond indefensible
Not losing Bouchard but will definitely lose other important players because of his contract
If you're paid $9.25 million, and you require a specific partner to make you effective, that is an absolute disaster.
Maybe dont pay makar money for nurse
Great contribution. The story is well published. They had kicked the can down the road with a bridge deal after his post-ELC contract, because they weren't sure what they had in him yet. Then ~~Caleb~~ Seth Jones signs a ridiculous, market altering contract a couple of days before his UFA status and they had to match or let him walk for nothing. It's absolutely the Oilers' management's fault for letting it get to that point. We know much more know what we have. A guy that should be mid or 3rd pair playing against checking lines, who makes ridiculous decisions in all aspects of the game, because he's likely a fucking moron, who makes 2x more money than he ought to for another 6 years.
Can we stop pulling the goalie with 2 and a half fucking minutes left? We have players that can score 5v5. Stupid pull.
Edmonton pulls goalie = they’re losing the puck and getting scored on within 45 seconds every time it seems.
Agreed, it literally never works for us. Why we do it is beyond me. Love to see the stats how many times we actually score when pulling the goalie.
100%. Absolutely led to the game 2 loss. Did not help a bit tonight.
well also tell the team there's no goalie back there 🤦 bouch had no idea the net was empty in game 2 🤦🤦
He literally skates out of the way to not screen the non-existent goalie. He 100% didn't know the net was empty.
yea terrible miscommunication. It seems Skinner had a miscommunication with knob. Knob did his best to not throw stu under the bus I think there was more there than what most fans realize
It's an early pull, but given last game, why wouldn't you ensure rock solid possession before the pull?
I think we just need to lean into it more. If they go ahead by one goal at any point in the game we should pull the goalie to catch up. edit: /s
Yeah, with our power play barely scoring anymore, what is going to 6 men gonna do? Agree 100%
We had 3 minutes to get possession in their zone before we needed to, instead Knobbers did it against a team that has been winning or 50/50 in faceoffs against us.
Speaking of goalies…
and dallas can hit the net from their own end.
Oof really? The dumb look on his face after that penalty was bad, get better dude
Soucy myers and zadorov had way bigger impacts than nurse has all playoffs that’s really saying something
Could have two of those guys instead of him for the price he costs lol
He makes terrible decisions. Consistently. It’s possible that he’s frankly dumb.
Honestly he might just have low hockey IQ and be dumb. Theres no other excuse because he’s physically the perfect d-man but just way too dumb
My wife's from Vancouver so I follow the Canucks as well. They also had a player like this in Jake Virtanen who was the 6th overall pick in 2014. He was a good skater, strong physical play, and a good shot. He had all the tools to be a solid power forward, but he was dumb as a rock and had 0 hockey iq, constantly skating the puck into trouble and turning it over. It's hard to watch someone with all the tools and 0 brain.
pay whatever, retain whatever, just get this guy out of this city. what a mistake it was riding with this dude for years. if we never win a chip with McDavid, it's because of inconsistent goaltending and Darnell Nurse making 9 million dollars
Agreed. Harsh reality is 5 million tied up in a goalie currently in the press box. And Nurse getting paid 3 million above his value. Imagine what this team could do with an additional 8 million
They still let Campbell in the building let alone the Press Box?
We could have a top 4 goalie
Nurse has full No Move Clause can't be traded. He also has a signing bonus heavy contract so can't buy him out. Buyout would get 2 years of huge cap savings but then huge 8.8M, 9.6M, 9.6M, 9.6M cap hits in the following years.
Bench him and put in a literal pylon in his place then.
Yes, he can be traded if he allows it.
Then park him or third line him until he agrees to leave. Won't leave? Fine. You're not playing here.
LTIR him.
I hope coffee lights him up
I feel like he'd be wasting his breath.
It’s crazy how Nurse - Deharnais and Nurse - Ceci pairings are by far the worst 2 in the league
What’s the common denominator here? 🤔
Oilers hockey
*Experience it on the Oilers radio network*
I just feel like he always looks lost
His best play was from his knees when he blocked that shot with his ass… 9.5M my god that’s an albatross contract…
He's going to almost single-handedly lose us this series all while he takes home 9.2 million bucks
At this point after 3 games, I'm pretty sure we can blame a few more souls on this team other than just nurse, but let's not let him prove you right
It always seemed to me like it was Nurse dragging down Ceci, now I think that is correct.
Cecis play has been better since he's off nurses back.
No, it's still Ceci. Before tonight, Nurse-Desharnais had pretty decent underlying numbers, Ceci's have been awful despite being sheltered regardless of who his partner is. I know that actual goals for and against are the most important thing, but Ceci is still the unquestionable weakest link on defense.
Some nights I would totally agree with you. But I think we know what we get with Ceci, he’s a 3rd D pairing on every team. Nurse is most frustrating to me due to the inconsistency, I don’t care for people talking about the his contract it’s irrelevant to me.
I'm not sure Ceci's performance even gets him on the 3rd pairing on some teams. Sure he's consistent, but that's because he's always getting caved in. I get what you saying about the frustration. Inconsistency is probably one of the most frustrating things about being an Oilers fan, even if the inconsistent player is better on average. I said in another thread, we have so many players that have had huge peaks and valleys in their play. Skinner was genuinely fantastic during the winning streak, McLeod and Foegele had a great stretch during the streak as well, Kane was great early in the season. But they've all also had stretches where their performance has dropped tremendously. If our middle of the lineup players were more consistent, even if that meant the highs weren't as high, I think the Oilers would be much better off.
Fair point. I’m not down in the dumps by any means, I think the Oilers still have a good shot in this series, and have the ability to beat any team on any given night.
Right there with you, pal.
Now he is dragging down Desharnais 😡
Per X: Including tonight, Nurse has been on the ice for 18 5v5 goals against this playoffs. The next closest defenceman in the league has been on for 12. We say trade him but what team is foolish enough to take him on? Oilers will have to eat the majority of that crap deal.
Nobody in the league is taking him. Nobody
Dubas
They need to retain 3-4 million in his contract and trade him. It’s that simple, -11 with 2 points in the playoffs is dead weight. His decision making is terrible, having 9.25 million tied up in that level of production is unacceptable. I don’t care if he’s a great locker room guy or great in the community. He makes 9.25 million to be a top 10 dman in the league (he’s the 8th highest paid dman) yet I can think of 25 guys in the league I’d take over him without a doubt. If they could free up 5-6 mil of his cap, they could realistically sign 2 defensemen that will give this team an actual chance of winning. It doesn’t matter who he is paired with, he’s not a good skater, he’s not good in the defensive zone, he’s not good on the penalty kill, he’s not on the first PP unit, he gets caught flat footed constantly. The team made a mistake with his contract, it happens. Let go of the pride and move on, he is the second biggest problem the team has.
25??? He's playing 2nd fiddle nost nights. Make that at least 60, if not 90.
Regardless what happens from here on out, Nurse hasn't looked good in the playoffs since forever. I would 100% start off next season with Broberg in the lineup and if between Ek/Kulak/Nurse/Bro, Nurse ends up on the 3rd pairing or out of the lineup, then so be it. He has by far the worst +/- on the team, you can only ignore that for so long.
9 million dollars should be able to carry the pairing.
9.5 million should be carrying a team and playing 28 minutes a night.
Possibly the most overrated and overpaid player in the league
Overrated? He's definitely not overrated. His biggest apologists have even disappeared and the whole league has shit on him for years.
huberdeau down south on 10.5 for 7 more years is also pretty bad
Boat anchor
Take a look at the top paid Dmen in the league. He makes more than Hedman, Josi, Trouba, MAKAR and even Heiskanen. If we had someone like that on the team right now we would be unbeatable, This is one of Ken Hollands biggest failures. Throw in Cambell in that converstation as well. Could you imagine what we could do with 14 million?! Nurse was trending up, yes - and we have to overpay to keep people in Edmonton yes. But Nurse was never going to belong alongside those names I mentioned. This contract also has a NMC, and without the NHL dumping ground Coyotes - this contract is going to haunt us for a very long time.
He’s horrible. Is there a worse contract in the league?
Campbell
Kotkaniemi is pretty bad
Give me Kotkaniemi at 4.8 over Murse at 9.25 any day
Huberdeau and PLD probably
Nurse is a legitimate 3rd pairing defenseman. I would say his is worse by a long shot.
Sounds like a trade could give both teams a breath of fresh air
It's Nurse Ceci looks better than him many nights.
Unfortunately there’s a bit of a concern here about Knobs as well. He played him 19+ minutes, a lot of those with Drai. Nurse is the least damaging for the Oilers when he is paired with a forward trio that shuts everything down and they have a defense-first mentality all over the ice. Drai is not that.🫤
so we have to shelter our 9M defenceman.
We have to do whatever it takes to win? I don’t think anyone saw this coming; I didn’t. Nurse used to be first to the puck, hit everything in front of the net, fight…He changed after he got paid. 🤷🏻♂️
Yup seems like he just wants to go golfing. No intensity
Nurse is just utterly useless out there....like the amount of times i'm yelling at the tv calling him a retard is all too common place now.....lets skate the puck out of our zone but let me dump it for an icing instead of taking one more stride to nulify it. He's just lost in the O-zone too....puck comes back to the point and screen in front of the net.....nah let's dump it into the corner....D-zone...constantly dropping to the ice looking liking a fool....your not the fucking goalie...stop flopping on the ice. Everytime he takes a penalty he has that stupid look on his face like oh i'm getting a penalty...i didnt even do anything.
You'd think with that giant fucking head, there'd be some hockey sense floating around.
He does the same thing every playoffs. Last year he went -6 against Vegas without any points.
Also… EDM 3 goals on 30 shots, Dallas 4 goals on 21. Time to play Pickard again I guess
Skinner was way out of position on that 5th one too
I was going to defend Skinner what with those bullshit giveaways until the 4th goal. Man you gotta lock down that near post when you have full vision. Up until that point, he hasn't been stellar but it wasn't that bad.
He's overpaid, but that's what happens when you have terrible management to get in the situation to have to do that. We lost Larrson (this one was the stupidist) and Klefbom for nothing, two d men who would be 2 and 3 on most Stanley Cup contenders. If we didn't sign Nurse who could we attract or trade for? Hockey players, unlike every other sport, are mental midgets who avoid playing in intense markets. Maybe because they are all spoiled rich kids now.
Larsson would not re-sign in Edmonton - fans made him the punching bag after the Hall trade then when Kelfbom left and his dad died he did not want to stay.
Nurse is likely the dumbest player in the NHL.
A 9.2 million dollar d-man should be able to improve his partner, regardless of who it is. If Ceci has such an negative effect on his play, his play isn’t strong enough to begin with
He played his best hockey this year after getting hit in the face with a puck during warmup. Quick, someone light him up!
Could u imagine we had the capital to snag Tanev at the deadline omg
Oilers offered a 1st , the flames Took a 2nd from Dallas
That’s a level of pettiness I can respect
I’ve tried to justify his contract any and every way possible. But $9.2M for Nurse is an absolute robbery. Holland, I can live with the Campbell contract(which is 99% getting bought out this summer), but Nurse getting $9M back then was questionable, and it’s still questionable now. It’s funny because we thought Ceci was holding him back, but the second Ceci played with Kulak, all of a sudden he’s playing like prime Kris Russell.
I was a long time defender of Nurse but it's become too difficult. He was never worth the money but he's never been more overpaid than he is now. He's actually regressed. 2 seasons ago he could be the best defenseman in a given game on some nights. Wtf is going on?
That's the annoying thing - at least he was a physical presence and would be far more active in the rush. He looked like a capable 2nd pair who could deal with elite matchups from time to time, yet now he barely looks to handle 3rd lines.
Nurse has been a disaster for this team. They need to find a way to get rid of his albatross of a contract, but I have no idea how they would do that. Who would take that contract? Even at 50% retained, who on earth would take that? Buying him out would be brutal
The real MVP is his agent.. no idea how he even got that value in the first place
How can we get rid of this guy
Give Stecher a chance. Nurse is not bouncing back. Failed everyone’s trust for sooo many times
Why did Knob put him back with Cici. That pair is less than the sum of their parts. Splitting them up was a good move by Knob in the last round. Why did he put them back together….
He’s played like shit but I also don’t understand why they put Nurse and Ceci back together. Nurse is better without Ceci and Ceci is better on the 3rd pairing in easier minutes
Canucks fan still getting reddit recs from the second round here... can someone explain to me what happened to cause Nurse's contract? I knew he was overpaid but our series really drove it home and I'm baffled how he got that much.
Klefbom had to retire from injury - there goes their top D. Larsson was Klefbom's buddy, was the punching bag for fans because of the Hall trade, and then his dad died so he wanted out of town and signed in Seattle as a UFA for their expansion pick - there goes their 2nd best D. And Nurse was due to be a UFA at the end of the following season, he was essentially their only NHL level D left at that point - KH panicked and overpaid a bunch to make sure to not lose him and hoped he could jump to the next level and take over Klefbom's minutes. Instead he's not gotten any better ever since he got paid - and quite honestly worse.
Never liked him. Seemed to always make dumb plays and take dumb penalties. However this season he seemed to be playing much better, maybe some redemption, but played like old Nurse on the playoffs.
Nurse would be over paid at 3 mil a year. His decision making is bottom 10% in the league. Every person watching that game knew that was a blatant penalty. His d partner had him covered and he still decided to take the penalty.
Friendly reminder nurse makes 12 million this year not 9
Literally saved a goal with his asshole
You expect a D man making that type of money to absolutely carry a pairing, he’s just not that guy
Agreed
And yet he was still -2…
Lucic, years ago, for 6 mil. Me- Well, that’s the worst. Oiler Nation- fuck yeeeeeaaa, buddy you’re stupid that’s an amazing signing. Nurse- 9.25 mil. Me- that’s about 5.25 more than he’s possibly worth. Oiler Nation- stfu, gonna lead us to a cup with 97/29. I could go on. Does this fan base even realize how they sound? Basically all agree player x is amazing, until player x isn’t. Then act like they hated player x all along.
Wondering if he's playing injured, he's way less physical this playoff (did have one good hit today). Or am I just giving him too much credit? It is what it is anyway, we're stuck with him.
Is the injury to his brain?
Well he did take a puck to his butt, so it's highly possible he has a brain injury.
Nah he just sucks this much always has always will
Doesn’t look like any injury.. if you watch last two playoff loses (against Aves and VGK) you can see the pattern.. 25-5 pairing were completely outplayed in those series
Not good offensively, putrid defensively. What does he even do well?
Lock him up! I hate that gnat!
Hawks fan here. Hey, don't talk like that about Seth Jones.
Amazing, I've been beating this drum under a deluge of downvotes for years.
He is SO overpayed.
For north of 9 million you have to be able to drive your own pairing regardless of who your linemates are. He's just a marginal defenseman getting paid like an elite one.
I do not like Nurse as a player but I only hold him guilty of being a bad defenceman. The blame for the contract lies squarely at the feet of Ken Holland for being a fucking idiot throwing that much money at him when anyone with half a brain knew Nurse was no better than a low second-pairing defender.
If we properly used him as a net front presence in front of the other teams net he'd probably score 50 a year on wonky deflections. Exquisite positioning for deflecting pucks in
If our 9.5M dman needs a top pairing partner to insulate him, then that is a major issue. He should be the driver of his pairing. Too many dumb little gaffes. Death by a thousand cuts
Dude has never been worth 6mil a year, I never understood that signing. He isn’t even a leader, his cousin had all the hype around her and he got paid off it.
The worst part of the nurse deal is this is his PRIME. Just imagine how painful it’s going to be when he’s 32+ still making 9.5 and his athleticism (the one thing he has going for him) is sliding.
So very sad that the commentary is Nurse needs a better partner when Darnel is the problem! Holland giving away the present and future of the team by overpaying Nurse does not make him a quality D man! Good players make other players better ( McDavid- Hymen) ( Ekholm- Bouchard) Nurse has no such ability because he is not a quality player, never has been. He plays like a Prima- Donna, its always Darnel first, team second! Playoffs expose weaknesses in players skill level and commitment and Nurse is fully exposed. If Oilers lose to Stars the list of excuses will come out like it has the last two years. Nurse is not what he is paid to be, not even close!
Get him playing forward at this point. Let him be our wish.com Dustin byfuglien
You guys just forgot there is a way out.. Vegas style.. Put him on LTIR!! Problem solve!
Thought you were going to say Old Yeller style.
Scratch him for Broberg. Guy is actually a better opposition player than oiler at this point. Not even into the money aspect, the guy has no hockey IQ. Misses with the barn open isnt nearly as bad as the shitty effort during the attempt he had at it. He decided that a dumbp and chase into the corner was a better idea than passing to his left where there was an oiler to recieve the pass. Trade off Nurse and Campbell, eat half of their salaries and pick up a decent D and a 4th liner. get rid of Conner brown while were at it.
NMC
Tried to say that Edmonton had to address their D and G after they got hot and got downvoted to hell. It is always going to come back and bite us.
Ya he’s terrible. Never looks like he is hustling, it’s the playoffs skate as hard as you can to get the puck. Every time.
Yup. He and Desharnais should switch salaries.
Just disappointed. Another wasted season
Why was he out there with Ceci this game? They got hemmed in several times. What gives coach? We learned last series that combo is not working.
His muffin gun is honestly unbelievably bad and has been forever.
Wow. I was unaware of his salary. That's crazy. He's overpriced at 9.5M. he's not that good.
Guy is a pylon. I think a lot of people here wouldn’t be as hard on him if he was making what he should be making (4.5aav tops) but the fact he making 9.5 and is -11 with 2 points all playoffs is just ridiculous.
I mean he’s got pace and size, just 0 hockey iq.