Edmonton Oilers Talk: Nurse’s New Deal is All the Ammo the Ultras Need to Run Him Out of Edmonton

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

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Cult of Hockey

It’s official: Edmonton Oilers sign Darnell Nurse to 8-year extension at $9.25 million AAV

While some will question the wisdom of Nurse carrying a heavier cap hit than Draisaitl, who has Hart, Lindsay and Ross trophies in his cabinet, the circumstances of their signings were entirely different. Draisaitl was signed to an 8-year, $8.5 million pact in the summer of 2017 at the end of his Entry Level Contract, with that term, evenly split between RFA and UFA years.
For his part Nurse signed a pair of two-year bridge deals, with Annual Average Values of $3.2 million and $5.6 million respectively, then proceeded to outperform the first three years of those pacts.
…make no mistake, it’s a huge bite, largely driven by a market that has exploded this summer for blueliners. Nurse is set to become the fifth defender to sign a 6+ year pact for $9+ million in just the last couple of weeks.
With this announcement Nurse has committed the first 15 years of his professional career (2015-30) to Edmonton.

BLH’s Thoughts: I love that the Oilers are drafting and developing some of the most impactful players in the NHL and it’s funny considering they’re all first rounders picked in the top-10. Add to that notion the fact that Philip Broberg, Evan Bouchard, and Dylan Holloway are coming and the core of this team is quite set and by the time McDavid and Draisaitl’s deals are close to expiring, we’ll know where Edmonton’s next wave of players stands.

Oilersnation (Cam Lewis)

The Edmonton Oilers have signed Darnell Nurse to an eight-year contract extension

Nurse’s new deal will put him towards the top of the league in terms of cap hits among defenders. Erik Karlsson is the highest at $11,500,000, followed by Drew Doughty at $11,000,000. After that is a handful of defenders who also inked new deals this summer, Zach Werenski at $9,583,333, Seth Jones at $9,000,000, and Cale Makar and Dougie Hamilton at $9,000,000.
Back before he signed his most recent two-year pact, Nurse’s camp was using the seven-year deal worth $8,000,000 annually that Jacob Trouba signed with the New York Rangers as a comparable for what he was seeking on a long-term contract. Given the season he just had and the contracts being handed out this summer to top-pairing defenders, Nurse’s cap hit of $9.250,000 really isn’t much of a surprise.
The Oilers now have all of Nurse, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman locked up for the next four seasons.

BLH’s Thoughts: I’ll be honest, there’s not too much more to say on the Nurse contract. Now all we can do is speculate on whether or not he’ll be able to live up to it. So, we wait and whilst we wait, we enjoy what’s being built in Edmonton.

Edmonton Sun (Rob Tychkowski)

Oilers sign Darnell Nurse to eight-year, $74M contract extension

Darnell Nurse bet on himself during his last two contract negotiations, agreeing to a short-term bridge deal when he could have easily ground the Edmonton Oilers for more money and a longer term.
The $9.25-million annual salary is a substantial bump from the $5.6 million he’ll make this season in the final year of his existing two-year pact. It’s a big ticket, no question about it, but Nurse held all the cards in this hand and, after biding his time with short-term deals, pushed the Oilers all in.
Players like him are hard to replace, which is why they’re pulling down $9-million deals. He’s a big part of what the Oilers are and what they hope to become. His salary pushes the ceiling on where he ranks among the best defencemen in the game, but he played himself into a strong bargaining position and took advantage.
He now has to live up to the contract for the next nine years. It won’t be easy, but being a top-pairing defenceman in the NHL never is.

BLH’s Thoughts: How long until Darnell Nurse goes from fan-favorite to scapegoat. That contract is all the ammo the ultras need to run him out of town. It wouldn’t be the first outstanding hockey player to leave Edmonton because of the extremists in the Oilers fanbase…

The Daily Goal Horn

NHL Rumors: Jack Eichel saga takes some bizarre twists

Yesterday, Jack Eichel started a Twitter account.
Eichel’s agent says it is a fake.
UPDATE: Eichel confirms it’s his account.
Steve Valiquette made wearing a Spider-Man goalie helmet famous with the Rangers caused a stir on the bird app today. The MSG TV Analyst, and close friend of GM Chris Drury tweeted that his spider senses were tingling on Jack Eichel and the NYR.
- “Curiously, Drury has been telling agents this week that Rangers have never been seriously interested in Eichel,” – Larry Brooks (NY Post)
Scott Laughlin of NHL Radio made a great point. The NFL’s Buffalo Bills just extended QB Josh Allen to a monster deal worth $258 million. He mused, wouldn’t it makes sense to make the trade now and minimize the media scrutiny?