OILERS SIGN NURSE
Two-year bridge deal worth $6.4M
If you’re taking the temperature of the Edmonton Oilers’ blueline, having Darnell Nurse back in the fold means everything is cool once again.
With Nurse’s impressive body of work last season, the Oilers bumped the defenceman’s salary from $863,333 to $3.2 million a year on a two-year bridge deal Monday.
The deal came one day after fellow restricted free-agent blueliner Josh Morrissey agreed to two years and $6.3 million with the Winnipeg Jets.
That was the best comparison for Nurse.
Same age (23). Same points last year (26).
Same sort of a defenceman. Neither a true shutdown guy, but neither an offensive weapon either.
Morrissey is smaller but smooth and a better passer than Nurse. Nurse is tougher and he can lug the puck out of trouble with his powerful strides.
Both are top three defencemen on their respective teams. Morrissey teamed with partner Jake Trouba for 773 even-strength minutes for the Jets last year while their most expensive D -man Dustin Byfuglien was their offensive driver. The Oilers plan to match Nurse with perhaps Matt Benning as their second pairing behind the top two of Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson.
Nurse, who flew back home to Toronto to wait out the negotiations, missed four on-ice practice sessions. But he wasn’t getting antsy and he’s happy it didn’t drag out until the Oilers’ overseas trip in late September with an exhibition game against Calgary in Cologne, Germany and the start of the regular season Oct. 6 against the New Jersey Devils in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Morrissey, Nurse and Shea Theodore in Vegas all missed the start of camp looking for new contracts and it seemed Morrissey and Nurse’s camp might have been waiting for one shoe to drop before the other signed. But Nurse, whose agent Anton Thun was pursuing a deal in the $3.5-million-a-year range, wasn’t worried.
“Even without Morrissey signing, we were getting pretty close. I didn’t see it lasting much longer,” said Nurse, who averaged 22:14 minutes a game last season, second only to Klefbom in ice-time on the Oilers’ defence.
“I don’t see myself as just a shutdown defenceman, although I think I’m confident playing against some of the best players in the league,’’ said Nurse. “I think the coach has trust in me to do that.
“At the same time, I think there’s another level to get to with my offensive side. I showed that last year 5-on-5 (with 26 points). Obviously to up your offensive production, you need to get points on the power play. I’m sure if I keep progressing, there will come a point that’ll I’ll be able do that. I guess I’d like to be known as a two-way defenceman.”
Morrissey has 46 points in 164 career games including 13 goals. Nurse has 47 points in 197 games including 14 goals.
Nurse has played with Benning a fair bit in a lefty-righty combination. “It’s nice to have a steady partner. To be familiar with each other, to get a sixth-sense of where each other is on the ice but I know things change. Five games in last year, I changed partners and got to play with Lars (Larsson),” said Nurse.
Nurse will be at practice Tuesday and says he’s ready to play when coach Todd McLellan taps him on the shoulder.
“I could play tomorrow (in Vancouver against the Canucks). I haven’t been at home sitting on the couch. I’ve skated with junior and university teams,” said Nurse.
“I came to Edmonton in the fall to work and be on the ice but I didn’t have a contract and it made more sense to go home to see my family, be familiar with my trainer,” he said.
Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli, who said that Morrissey’s deal helped move things along, feels Nurse certainly has room to grow.
“He can skate and transport pucks and he’s learning to be an effective shutdown guy and the ability to do both means he’ll log some minutes as he did last year. There’s a lot of value to being a two-way defenceman,” said Chiarelli.
The $3.2 million in money to Nurse this year pushes the Oilers cap to within $778,834 of the $79.5 million ceiling but they also have Andrej Sekera’s $5.5 million to play with if he goes on long-term injury reserve because of a torn Achilles.
“We have our existing cap space plus some significant money (Sekera), so we have some flexibility,” said Chiarelli. “To go out and spend $5.5 million on a D -man right now wouldn’t be prudent, but let’s see how things unfold (during the season).”
Kris Russell figures to be the No. 5 Oiler defenceman with the competition wide open between Jakub Jerabek and Kevin Gravel, both signed after finishing last year in Washington and Los Angeles respectively, for the 6-7 slots. They also have first-round draft pick Evan Bouchard and veteran Jason Garrison, here on a tryout in the mix. Farmhands Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones, Keegan Lowe and Ryan Stanton could also be considered.