logo
OilersNation has no direct affiliation to the Edmonton Oilers, Oilers Entertainment Group, NHL, or NHLPA
Oilers free agent targets: Jamie Oleksiak would be a great replacement for Darnell Nurse
Seattle Kraken Jamie Oleksiak
Photo credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jun 27, 2026, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 27, 2026, 02:28 EDT
Comments
It seems like it’s a “when not if” situation regarding a Darnell Nurse trade.
You more than likely know the story by now. Last week, Nurse requested a trade after over a decade in the Edmonton Oilers organization. It’s the last season he has all the leverage, as his full no-move clause becomes a 10-team no-trade list following the 2026-27 season.
Who knows what the eventual trade looks like, but with Nurse’s departure, they’ll be a hole on the Oilers’ defence core. Jake Walman is a good bet to fill in as the second-pair, left-shot defenceman, but the Oilers are losing a hard-hitting defenceman.
Enter free agent Jamie Oleksiak.

Jamie Oleksiak’s fit in the Oilers’ lineup

Oleksiak, 33, ranks as Daily Faceoff’s 37th-best unrestricted free agent in their latest top 50 list, with the publication noting that the team outperforms opposition when the left-shot defenceman is in a depth role. Standing at 6’7”, 252 lbs, he has a long reach and is physical.
In terms of size and physicality, Oleksiak is a great replacement for Nurse. The long-term Oilers defence stands at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, notching 104 penalty minutes and 137 hits in 82 games this season. Oleksiak didn’t sit in the box for nearly as long as Nurse did (36 penalty minutes), but he did finish the season with 112 penalty minutes over 78 games.
Oleksiak doesn’t quite have the offensive prowess that Nurse does, scoring a career-high nine goals and 25 points in 75 games with the Seattle Kraken. Last season, he scored five goals and 15 points in 78 games, the fourth time in five seasons that he finished with 15-17 points.
Comparatively, Nurse hit the 30-point plateau every season from 2018-19 until 2024-25. This past season, he scored seven goals and 24 points, his worst point total since his 44 games in 2016-17.
What Oleksiak lacks in offence, he makes up for defensively. With the left-shot defenceman on the ice during five-on-five play last season, the Kraken out-scored opposition 45 to 41 last season. 
Last season, Nurse was a key figure on the Oilers power play, for better or for worse. He spent 122:30 of action on the penalty kill, the lowest total ice time on the PK he’s registered since 2016-17. Last season, he killed 130:40, which is well down from 196+ minutes in from the 2021-22 season until the 2023-24 season.
Oleksiak played a similar number of minutes on the penalty kill last season for the Kraken, finishing with 129:19 minutes of penalty kill time. Like Nurse, that was down from the past few seasons, as the Kraken leaned heavily on him the last three seasons, with Oleksiak never playing fewer than 215 minutes in the last three seasons.
Whenever the Oilers trade Nurse, they’re losing a physical defenceman who eats minutes on the second pairing. Last season, he played a little over 1,720 minutes of ice time, the third consecutive season he played 1,700-1,800 minutes. Oleksiak doesn’t quite play that many minutes, totaling just 1,320 minutes in all situations last season, and never playing 1,700 minutes in a single season.
That said, if the Oilers were to sign Oleksiak, he wouldn’t have quite the same role as Nurse, as it seems probable that Walman would jump up to be the team’s second-pairing left-shot defenceman. Oleksiak would play third-pairing minutes, killing penalties, eating his fair share of minutes, and being physical.
Overall, Nurse is the better player compared to Oleksiak, but Oleksiak is a cheaper option who’ll play a lesser role while also allowing Walman to play in his proper role. If there’s an injury (which has been common in Walman’s career), Oleksiak can easily jump into a bigger role on the second pairing.

Should the Oilers pursue Oleksiak?

As is the case with any player in free agency, whether or not the Oilers can pursue free agents is dependent on how much of Nurse’s $9.25 million cap hit they can shed. After Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy signed , the Oilers have about $7.416 million in cap space.
With the space the Oilers currently have, they’ll need to sign a handful of bottom six players and need to allocate some of that netminder for a backup option. But if they were to somehow shed $5 million or so of Nurse’s cap hit, some of the savings will need to be used to sign his replacement, and Oleksiak is the best option on the market.

Other Oilers free agent targets…

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

PRESENTED BY THE DAILY FACEOFF FREE AGENCY SPECIAL

Daily Faceoff is your Free Agency Headquarters! Big moves. Breaking news. Instant analysis. Daily Faceoff is bringing the team together July 1st for a live Free Agency Special featuring Jeff Marek, Tyler Yaremchuk, Carter Hutton, and Dave Pagnotta. Tune in at noon ET on the Daily Faceoff YouTube Channel and socials for full coverage as the NHL landscape changes – with the PuckPedia-powered signing tracker keeping you up to date on every deal as it happens.
Editorials
MORE NEWS. IN YOUR INBOX.
CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Breaking News