Nurse has evolved into a real horse on blue line
Darnell Nurse is a hockey player, not a hockey fan.
“The playoffs are the last thing I want to watch. I don’t like to watch other guys play because the jealousy kicks in,” said the Edmonton Oilers defenceman, who will travel to Denmark later this week along with teammates Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to play for Canada at the world hockey championship.
“No hockey for me. Basketball playoffs.”
Nurse, who has played only 197 National Hockey League games — well under what most coaches and GMs think is the barometer number of games to get a true read on a defenceman — averaged 22:14 of ice time in 2017-18, playing all 82 games. He had the second best plus-minus on the team (plus-15) to McDavid’s plus-20.
“I think I made strides,” said Nurse, who saw lots of work against other teams’ top lines when he was paired with Adam Larsson for a good part of the season. “I’m looking forward to taking another step. I want to grow my offensive side (26 points). I can take that to another level. I believe I should be a two-way threat, night-in, nightout.”
He scored 10 points in 69 games in 2015-16 and 11 in 44 games last season when was hurt.
He looks like he could be a shutdown defenceman, with just enough offence to be dangerous.
Playing over 22 minutes a night was no sweat to Nurse.
“They’re heavy minutes against the other team’s top lines, but it’s a challenge I love to take on,” he said.
Nurse’s contract is up but he’s got extra insurance to guard against injury. How much his new deal will be for, and for how long, is the big question. He may get a two-year bridge contract rather than a seven-year deal like Oscar Klefbom. Maybe it’ll be in the $3-million range for one year and $3.75-million the second before he looks to go longer.
Again, he’s yet to play 200 NHL games and no one’s exactly sure where he fits on defence. “We’ll see how it turns out over the course of the summer,” said Nurse, not tipping his hand one way or the other — long-term or otherwise.
Nurse was in New York when his sister Kia, the University of Connecticut and Canadian national team basketball star, was taken 10th overall in the WNBA draft by the hometown Liberty.
“For the whole family to be there and support her was really special,” said Darnell, who is Kia’s big brother. “We’re never going to forget this. There’s always an adjustment period you go through when you turn pro, but she has a lot of people she can rely on, lots of people she can go to.”
GOALTENDING CHANGE?
If the Oilers do sign six-foot-seven Finnish goalie Mikko Koskinen, who played for his country in the Olympics, to a two-year free-agent deal to back up Cam Talbot as reported by broadcasters Elliotte Friedman and Bob Stauffer this past weekend, he’s not coming for the same $1.062-million that current backup Al Montoya makes. It could be in the $2-million-aseason range.
Koskinen, who turns 30 this summer, has played only four NHL games and another 47 in the AHL before going overseas, where he’s starred the last five years for SKA St. Petersburg.
The Oilers can bury Montoya’s contract which has one year left in Bakersfield with minimal NHL salary cap problems. Teams get relief of $650,000 (minimum NHL salary) plus $375,000. So it would be about $40,000 on the cap.
While having Montoya on the farm would give them another NHL option if injuries creep in, it would also cut into the progress and playing time of young farmhand Nick Ellis unless the 33-yearold Montoya was loaned to another NHL team’s farm club.
The Oilers may not qualify goalie Laurent Brossoit, so he’ll be an unrestricted free-agent July 1.