The Edmonton Oilers can’t afford to just give away Darnell Nurse in a trade. I find when fans and some media discuss trade rumours, they only focus on the weaknesses in a player’s game, but overlook what he does well. I understand some can’t look past the $9.25 million AAV contract (four more years), but Nurse has value.

Nurse played the most minutes of any Oiler at five-on-five in the playoffs with 121 minutes. Mattias Ekholm skated 99:43 and Jake Walman logged 92:27. Nurse was on for three goals against, tied for the fewest with Ty Emberson (71 TOI). Nurse was plus-4 (7-3) at five-on-five while his partner, Connor Murphy, was plus-3 (7-4).

I realize Nurse has limitations to his game. He doesn’t make the best reads, and at key times, his positioning and decisions in front of the goal are less than desirable. But he’s also a very good skater who contributes offensively at even strength, is tough, and is a vocal leader on the team.

Nurse ranks 29th in even-strength points (EV) among D-men the past five seasons, and it isn’t just because he plays on a team with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Of course, that helps, but during three seasons (2022-2024) Nurse produced 91 points at even strength and played 58.8 per cent of his minutes with McDavid and/or Draisaitl.

The past two seasons, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm played more minutes with the top two stars, and Nurse played 44.6 per cent of his EV time with McDavid and/or Draisaitl and produced 51 points. His points did go down — 91 points in 234 games (0.38 EVP/GP) to 51 points in 158 games (0.32 EVP/GP) — but his points/game dropped 0.06, while his percentage of time with McDavid and Draisaitl dropped 14.2 per cent.

I keep reading how the Oilers will have to add something in a trade just to get a team to take him and his salary. If that is the case,........

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