If you’ve been living under a rock since yesterday you probably already know that Darnell Nurse has flown home to Toronto until a new contract can be agreed upon between his agent, Anton Thun, and the Edmonton Oilers.
I woke up to this news and made the mistake of checking Twitter to see how the Oilogosphere was taking it…
#TireFire
So many people blaming Chiarelli for giving that little extra on contracts to Cagguila or Russell or Koskinen or Strome.
Look, here’s the reality of the situation and if you cannot grasp it, that’s on you.
The Oilers could sign Darnell Nurse the very second you’re reading this sentence. How you ask? Well, he’d just call up Anton Thun and say, let’s do this. Whatever you’re asking, let’s get it done. I’ll sort out the cap issues after we’re done.
The Edmonton Oilers actually have $3.9M in space available to them RIGHT NOW! And I’m guessing the Nurse camp is asking for $4M but the Oilers are only willing to give between $3.25M and $3.5M.
How much space will they have when ‘Rej is put on the LTIR? What kind of trade might be made to expedite the process of getting Nurse under contract? Or might a trade be made involving Darnell Nurse?
I did hear that the Oilers have sent their scouts out to get an early look on some trade targets and one of the names I heard they’re looking at rhymes with Myson Harry.
The bridge to gap is minor and I can’t begin to tell you what Chiarelli could be thinking in this scenario. I guess I’d begin by telling you that this isn’t the first time he’s been through this process with a client of Anton Thun’s.
Torey Krug, Reilly Smith holdouts on first day of Bruins training camp
Back in 2014, the same thing happened with Reilly Smith and Torey Krug. They both went the entire month of September (nearly) before signing 1-yr deals.
Boston Bruins finally sign Torey Krug, Reilly Smith to cap-friendly deals
The SI link above is probably a good indicator of what is going to happen here in Edmonton because it’s almost scary how identical the situation is with Marc Savard needing to go an LTIR back then and Andrej Sekera need to go on LTIR this year.
MY THOUGHTS
I know, it sounds silly that both camps can’t find a way to see past a few hundred thousand dollars. The Oilers have been down this path with other players in the past but Darnell Nurse and his agent can’t honestly think that he’s worth $4M per year right now. He’s just coming out of his ELC and he has no arbitration rights. What kind of comparables would he be using IF he did have arb rights?
If I were the Oilers I’d 100% sign him to a 1-yr deal and risk him exploding offensively this season because I don’t think Nurse has it. No disrespect to Darnell but I don’t see him as that kind of player. To me, he’s going to be a high-end shut-down defender. That’s Adam Larsson dollars to me (on a long-term deal) unless he can really pick up his game and move into MA Vlasic territory.
If Nurse wasn’t interested, I’d ship him out. No time for that kind of bull shit ego on this team.
AS IT IS
The Oilers have signed two more left-handed dmen this summer as well. So it’s not like the team is bereft of depth on D. The quality of that depth you can question and Jerabek and Gravel aren’t Nurse but nevertheless, they can play. At least Jerabek can. And didn’t Kris Russell play quite a few 2nd pairing minutes last season? What’s to stop the Oilers from running a Russell/Jerabek 2nd pairing or a Russell/Benning pairing until Nurse is signed?
Not to forget about Evan Bouchard, Caleb Jones, or Ethan Bear either…
Nothing is ideal here but it’s not the end of the world. Put your pitchforks and torches down.
It sounds like Scottie Upshall’s knee is buggered up, so that’s probably one less contract Chiarelli has to worry about which is a shame too. Probably why Chiasson was brought in. I’d bet he’ll stick around though like Chris Kelly did and work out with the team until he’s either healthy, there’s cap space, or another team signs him.
ERIK KARLSSON
Boy, the Pacific division is stacked isn’t it? Karlsson, who I thought was going to Vegas, goes to the Sharks for a handful of depth players? I don’t mind the draft picks but why on Earth did Pierre Dorion agree to Tierney and DeMelo as the roster players being sent over? Norris, Balcers, and the draft picks are fine but I would’ve gone for Braun, Donskoi, or Melker Karlsson.
They’ve got too many damned Karlssons now!
I want to say that I’m now starting to grow pessimistic about the Oilers playoff chances since the Pacific has added the following players:
- Neal/Hanifin/Lindholm (CGY)
- Pacioretty/Stastny (VGK)
- Karlsson (SJ)
- Kovalchuk (LA)
- Galchenyuk (ARI)
But I’m not really to be honest.
San Jose has always been billed as a playoff team this year and I have no qualms with the Oilers finishing behind them this season. James Neal played for Vegas last year and the Oilers didn’t have any issues with the Golden Knights. Stastny isn’t anything to write home about with regards to his offensive threats and Pacioretty still has to show us, in the same vein that Milan Lucic does, that last year was a one-off. I’ve never been seen Alex Galchenyuk as a player that should be highlighted as a dangerous player, so why should I be worried that because he plays for Arizona that he’s going to be the factor that puts the Coyotes over the Oilers. Ilya Kovalchuk is 35 years old… Meh.
What will be said when one or more of those teams above don’t make the playoffs? Because it’s going to happen, guaranteed.
We’ve got Connor McDavid. I feel fine about the Oilers chances this year.
