Three Potential Trade Destinations For Oilers' Darnell Nurse
Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse has reportedly requested a trade. Let's look at three NHL teams that could be a good fit for him.
Video Transcript
Covering him in Edmonton, I mean, the-- I feel like his name has been coming up in trade rumors for years now at this point.
And n- and now it's, it's got a little bit more finality to it.
So looking at potential fits, not just for him, but who would have the kind of assets to get a trade done that Edmonton would be interested in.
you know, what, what would make sense for a trade for him this summer?
Sure.
Well, on one hand, this surprises me, and on another, it doesn't really.
Darnell Nurse, the surprise part of this is that he was part of that core group, McDavid, Drysdale, Zach Hyman, you know, Evan Bouchard now.
They all wanted to win together.
So this was a team that was trying to keep all those pieces in place.
so that surprises me a little bit that he would request a trade.
What doesn't really surprise me is that I don't think he's been terribly happy over the past couple years.
Every time we talk to him and when we're in that locker room, he seems like he's frustrated, like he's maybe the guy who was a scapegoat for a lot of the problems that have happened in Edmonton over the last little bit.
I think he has sort of let that out in some of his interviews, and you can tell by his body language and his attitude that he just is probably tired of it.
So the, the part of this that really changes the equation for me is that if he wants out, I think McDavid, Drysdale, and those other guys are probably good to go, "You know what?
Let's let him do what he wants to do."
And if that's something that he's comfortable with, that that changes our mentality about trading him.
So the fact that that is now a request on his part changes everything, because the Oilers are not gonna be upset that he wants to go, and I don't think McDavid and Drysdale are gonna be upset anymore that maybe he wants a fresh start.
So, as for teams that are gonna be interested in him, I mean, San Jose has been linked to them for quite some time.
I heard the other day that Philadelphia Flyers are dancing around this a little bit to see if there's a possibility there.
I don't know how serious those conversations are, but if he's got three to five teams on his list, one, I would suggest he's probably looking at an opportunity to play maybe a smaller market where it's not so much that he's kind of the guy everybody's watching, and that contract of his, 9.25 million, is not viewed as, you know, the albatross that it is viewed as in Edmonton here.
so I don't, I don't know what all three, five teams would be on there.
Contenders are probably in play here.
whether Toronto wants to mix it up and go with something different on their blue line, which we've heard.
I'm not sure how much appealing Toronto would be to him, considering the market he's leaving at Edmonton if he is moved.
But I think this request trades, or request changes a lot of the narrative here.
so I won't be shocked if it happens this summer.
