|
Nurse To The AHL: Probably Not For Long |
|
|
|
|
|
The Oilers sent Darnell Nurse to the Bakersfield Condors earlier today. They also sent Pakarinen, Gernat, and Moroz, but the story is Nurse. While the other 3 had been injured and unable to show their stuff at camp, Nurse had shown up to play.
Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, I never thought Nurse would start the season because there are just too many ugly contracts in the way. That said, I think on merit alone Darnell Nurse should be in Edmonton’s top 6.
Unfortunately for Nurse, you cant just make unwanted contracts disappear. The facts are that the Oilers have to do something to try to salvage the 4.5 Million going to Nikitin and the 3.25 Million going to Ference this year and the next. If they didn’t have this problem then I think he would still be neck at neck with Reinhart for the last spot on Defense.
Nurse’s talent is obvious to anyone who watches him play. He is an incredible skater, a physical force, and he isn’t afraid of the puck. None of that even scratches the surface of his competitiveness. There’s a reason he was named the Captain of his OHL club and the Captain of the Oilers at the rookie tournament.
He simply does not back down and when he establishes himself at the NHL level it’s not going to be enough to just play here. He’s going to be a leader. He is everything that the Oiler blueline needs. He’s mobile, tough, smart, and talented.
The biggest criticisms of Nurse up to this point have been that he’s trying to do too much. This is a critique that has haunted him since he was snubbed by Team Canada a couple of years ago. I can see why people make that assessment of him. He does do a lot when he’s out there. He gets involved physically, he tries to stand people up in the neutral zone, and he joins the rush relatively frequently. While many people look upon those things negatively with young defenders, I see them as weapons he’s just learning how to use.
What the Oilers want for Nurse when he goes down to Bakersfield isn’t for him to learn HOW to do these things, but rather WHEN to do these things. And like Oscar Klefbom who rose through the ranks of the AHL team quickly before him, Darnell Nurse has NHL level skating. It begins and ends with skating in the NHL and Nurse is not lacking in that department. It allows him to be aggressive in both the offensive and defensive zone.
The other thing that Nurse does that will endear himself to old school hockey types is that he will drop the gloves when required. He seems to have no problem fighting men who are bigger or smaller than he is. With his temperament and the role he wants to carve on this team, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Nurse fight quite a bit early in his career.
Ultimately with Nurse the decision to send him to the AHL was made to make sure he continues to play a ton of minutes. He will be a 20-25 minute a night player for the Barons whereas he would be struggling to hit 17-18 minutes a night in Edmonton. He’s going to be on their top pairing, I have no doubts about that.
As McLellan said today, “Darnell has to play a lot, lead that team, so when he gets the call, and he will, he'll be ready.”
I’m not backing down from my prediction that Nurse will still play 40+ games in the NHL this year. The Oilers have a questionable defense with aging or injury prone veterans still in prominent positions. It’s only a matter of time for Darnell Nurse. He remains the future of the blueline in Edmonton. He has everything this club needs. I think in many ways he’s ready for them, but the team just isn’t ready for him.
Let’s see what the Oiler defense looks like in December, because I have a feeling it will be nigh impossible to keep him off the roster by then.
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»