I got a late night message from one of my sources regarding the Darnell Nurse negotiations and boy you’re going to fall off your chair when you read what I was told.
Scroll down to check it out.
Preface: As usual, I don’t expect you to believe a rumor you hear from a site called “Beer League Heroes” but as with anybody back in Canada, you probably know someone who knows somebody that works for an NHL team and you hear things. Well, I’m in the same boat and I simply have permission to share what I’m told.
This could be me being used for disinformation by my source or as a way to put pressure on the agent or it could be some guy just having fun with me. I’m not sure if I’ll ever know the answer to that unless a family member of Nurse gets in touch with me like other players’ brothers who have played for the Oilers have. Not naming names or anything. *Cough* Smetry *Cough* Smaroon *Cough*
Whether this rumor is true or not, only time will tell us that answer and 99% of the time something changes and a deal is pulled off the table anyhow.
So I urge you to take this as nothing more than water cooler banter and entertainment. If it comes to fruition or more information comes to the light of day, great. If not, no skin off of our backs.
This is the message I was given,
Darnell Nurse’s agent is asking for an 8 year contract at $5M aav AT LEAST! That’s insane! I smell a trade coming!
So for those of you that don’t know who Darnell Nurse’s agent is, his name is Anton Thun. He also represents players like Bryan Little, Reilly Smith, Andrew Cogliano, and a host of minor leaguers. He’s not much of a player on the agent scene.
Yesterday, Jim Matheson had a piece up on the Edmonton Sun’s website where he interviewed Nurse’s agent and got the latest on the contract negotiations.
“At the end of the day, Peter (GM Chiarelli) and (cap specialist) Bill Scott control their cap space and their decisions,” said Thun. “They bought out Eric Gryba to add another player (50-man protected list) which cut into their cap and they signed the European goalie (Mikko Koskinen) for two-million and change, and that did the same to their cap space.”
Doesn’t sound like Thun is a fan of what Peter Chiarelli has been doing this offseason eh?
“If they’ve got $5 million in cap space (now), it’s not going to be a long-term deal,” said Thun.
So obviously Thun isn’t interested in doing a long-term deal for under $5M and that is not going to fly. I mean, to date, what has Darnell Nurse done to earn $5M a season for the next 8 years? What indicators are out there that he’ll be able to produce at a level similar to Torey Krug, Hampus Lindholm, or Morgan Rielly?
My Take
I don’t think right now that Nurse is worth what Klefbom and Larsson are making (a tad over $4M) and definitely not worth as much as what Andrej Sekera is making ($5.5M). To me, he’s worth a shade over $3M and on a bridge deal because he doesn’t bring the production nor do I think that the Oilers will ever put him in a position to produce points at a rate a player who makes over $5M a year does but he will be a great two-way defenseman in his prime due to his physical attributes.
I’d say he’s going to lean to the shut-down dman part of that two-way tag too because of his skating ability and his physicality. He performed that role well with Adam Larsson last year and that pair played quite a bit with McDavid when Klefbom wasn’t Larsson’s partner.
Of course, you’re going to have your Andrew MacDonalds, Zach Bogosians, and your Marc Methots. But to me, Nurse will fit in with a group of players like Alec Martinez, Mattias Ekholm (this is the deal he should be signing), or Travis Hamonic.
Interesting to note that Anton Thun along with fellow agents Rich Winter and Kurt Overhardt have been accused of attempting to undermine the NHLPA. (source)
#Yikes…
Parting words from my source,
F*cking kid isn’t even proven whatsoever. Now he wants $5M AAV? Trade his ass and bring in a scoring winger.
What do you think Oilers fans? Would you give Darnell Nurse what $5M plus over 8 years or would you trade him for a scoring winger?
Nurse for Jason Zucker anybody? Not sexy by any means but Zucker is 26 and scored 55 goals over the last two years.
Another rumor that’s been passed on to me is that Tyson Barrie is interested in playing for the Oilers and he’s obviously the guy Bob Stauffer has been talking about recently with his “Expect the unexpected… in June of 2020” hints.
I have to wonder though if these demands from Nurse’s agent might see him traded to Colorado in a deal for Barrie sooner than later. I imagine a lot would be riding on what Cale Makar decides this summer but Nurse would fit right in with Zadorov, Cole, and Girard on the Avs left side.
Then again, since the Avs just signed Ian Cole, maybe they’ve done themselves a disservice on the Nurse front.
Thoughts? Leave ’em in the comments below or hit me up on the Twitter machine (@beerleagueheroe)
