If Nurse Can’t Elevate His Partner, Oilers Only Option is a Trade

The $9 million (and change) question is should Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse be good enough on his own to elevate any defenseman the team puts with him? Or, is it the responsibility of the Oilers as an organization to find him the right partner? And, if Nurse can’t do the former, do the Oilers need to make a trade to fix the problem?

That was a debate the cast of Got Yer’ Back podcast got into on Thursday’s show, with TSN’s Ryan Rishaug suggesting the Oilers aren’t helping Nurse if they don’t find him a better playing partner than what the team has going into the season. Meanwhile, Rob Brown suggested it’s up to Nurse to be the defenseman the Oilers signed for big money. In fact, Brown suggested that if the Oilers can’t rely on Nurse to be that good, the team made a huge mistake giving him that kind of salary.

Who Are the Choices For Nurse Right Now?

Heading into training camp, it appears the Oilers are set to place newly acquired defenseman Ty Emberson with Nurse. He’s been getting the early reps and speculation is the organization thinks highly of Emberson based on his history with head coach Kris Knoblauch and his underlying numbers coming from the abysmal San Jose Sharks. But, there’s still an element of uncertainty with Emberson, seeing as he’s played only a total of 30 NHL regular season games.

He could be a great fit, or he could be a bust.

The alternatives appear to be Josh Brown, Troy Stecher, or Travis Dermott (who technically doesn’t have a job based on his PTO status). None of those players scream top-four defenseman.

So if none of these players, do the Oilers need to go out and get someone? There is Justin Schultz, Kevin Shattenkirk, Mark Giordano, Tony DeAngelo, or even Tyson Barrie who is in Calgary on PTO that Edmonton could technically sign and would be open to joining the Oilers. None are currently locked in with an NHL club and all will come cheap.

But, as Jason Strudwick pointed out, how many of them are actually huge upgrades?

Nurse Has a Responsibility to Be The Star Of His Pairing

When an NHL player earns $9.25 million, certain expectations come with that salary. For Darnell Nurse, it means logging heavy minutes, being dependable, and forming an effective partnership with any NHL-caliber defenseman.

Maybe that’s too easy to say and not as easy to do. It didn’t seem to consistently work with Cody Ceci, who was traded to the San Jose Sharks in the Emberson deal. So what is the solution? For now, Knoblauch says it’s to find the best defenseman available on this team, and then from those players, find the best fit for Nurse.

But, at the end of the day, Nurse needs to become his own version of Mattias Ekholm — someone who makes others around him better. Ekholm has done wonders for Evan Bouchard, and Nurse needs to figure out how to become that steady presence that any defense partner can count on.

Should Nurse not be able to do so, the Oilers need to seriously consider a trade — which will present significant challenges on its own.

Next: Trusted Insider Says Swayman Trade Talks from Bruins Surfacing