Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse spoke with reporters for the first time since he was injured on Saturday via a hit from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves.

Reaves was suspended for five games after delivering a crushing blow to Nurse’s head during Saturday’s contest. Nurse was down on the ice for several minutes, before being assisted off the ice. Reaves was assessed a match penalty for the hit.

Although Reaves reportedly went over to the Oilers’ locker room to give a ‘face-to-face’ apology during the third period of that game, Nurse was understandably not too pleased with the hit from the enforcer.

“He came after and apologized,” he said to reporters Thursday after the morning skate. “In situations like that, there’s an onus on the player with the puck to be aware of where everyone is on the ice. With that said, even if you put yourself in a bad spot, there is lots of body on a six-foot-four hockey player to hit. Not one piece was touched, other than my head. You can argue about the intent. But there are certain guys in the league that every shift they go out there, they go out to try and inflict pain. I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on there.”

Nurse added that the decision on when he will be cleared to return to the lineup is not entirely his call, but he felt he was getting better and hoped to be back as soon as he can.

The hit from Reaves certainly got his teammates irate after the game when they shared their displeasure for the dangerous collision that came at the expense of one of their top blueliners. The majority of both Leafs and Oilers fans felt the hit was suspension-worthy at the time it occurred and felt the right call was made to issue the enforcer a match penalty, even if there wasn’t a clear consensus on what people felt the length of it should have been.

When Nurse reflects on the infamous play, he acknowledges that he could have handled it a bit differently if he had more awareness of what was happening but also feels Reaves should have done the same.

“There’s an onus on me to be aware of where everyone is. I don’t know if I was aware enough,” he said. “There’s also an onus on the person that’s throwing the hit to hit the body. It’s one thing if my head is in between my knees, but I was in a skating posture.”

The blueliner was unavailable for the remainder of the Oilers’ road trip and is unlikely to be available for tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild. On a positive note, the team does not expect he will be out for long though it remains unclear when he will be ready to return. The interim has given Edmonton a chance to assess their internal options but Nurse’s absence will likely further reinforce the notion that they will need to bring in a defenceman at some point.