How did it come to this for Darnell Nurse and the Edmonton Oilers? Since Sportsnet’s Mark Spector sounded the train whistle to whisk the career Oiler out of town, it’s more of a reality than ever that Nurse has played his last game with the team that drafted him.

When I think back to the time when Nurse signed that contract in the summer of 2021, I distinctly remember the successful season he had prior.

The Good: Puck touches in a contract year

I remember how every time he touched the puck, something positive happened. He was contributing to the flow of play, where it seemed like he could do no wrong. This is just my memory, but I was running the defence at the University of British Columbia at the time, and my fellow coach, Oilers alum Sven Butenschon, a lanky left-handed defenceman himself, would use clips of Nurse often with our own players. From the story here on Oilersnation when he signed:

“He scored 36 points over 56 games while logging 25:38 per night. Nurse’s strong season resulted in him finishing seventh in Norris Trophy voting for the league’s top defenceman.”

This clip in particular stuck out to me.

Impressive! Particularly since, according to Spector, Nurse at least partially defines himself by his ability to put up points. Points are good, points mean goals, goals mean wins. Move the puck, and the offence will follow.

The Bad: Dougie Hamilton

I also remember questioning why a defenceman who didn’t play on the first-unit power play was worth that much. Normally I’d rather jam lemons into my eyes instead........

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