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Oilers looking to trade Darnell Nurse ‘as soon as they are able’: report
Photo credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
By Zach Laing
Jun 4, 2026, 15:15 EDTUpdated: Jun 4, 2026, 15:52 EDT
Darnell Nurse’s time with the Edmonton Oilers is nearing its end.
While rumours have swirled for a third straight year about the team looking to move on from the veteran defenceman, those talks are set to reignite in the coming days.
According to Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, the Oilers are set to approach Nurse “in the coming days about his wishes” and that he team “are ready and willing to trade Nurse as soon as they are able.”
The team, Spector reported, seems set on moving on from the blue liner sooner rather than later, though Nurse will have his say in the matter with a full no-movement clause in his contract. When the sixth year of his eight-year contract kicks in for the 2027-28 season, that clause shifts to a 10-team no-trade list, opening up more trade destinations.
Nurse appeared on trade boards after the 2023-24 season, and last summer, declined to waive his no-movement clause.
He has shown the ability to be a minute-muncher who can kill penalties, but during the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, the team had discussions about healthy-scratching him against the Florida Panthers, Spector reported. Ultimately, the team limited his minutes to the fewest of any Oilers defenceman in that series.
Drafted by the Oilers seventh overall in 2013, Nurse has appeared in 798 regular-season games for the team, scoring 88 goals and 324 points, adding another seven goals and 29 points in 100 playoff games. Nurse had a career year in 2020-21, scoring 36 points and a career-high 16 goals, while averaging a staggering 25:38 per night in ice-time in a 56-game, COVID-shortened season.
That’s what led Nurse to his massive eight-year, $9.25 million AAV deal, which he is entering the fifth year of. Nurse is owed a $6 million signing bonus and a $2 million base salary next season, with Spector reporting that the bonus is set to be paid out in-season, not on July 1 like many are.
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What does a Darnell Nurse trade mean for the Oilers?
It’s felt like it was only a matter of time before the Oilers would be upping the ante on moving on from Nurse. There was talk last summer about a potential move, and the Oilers were in talks with the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline about a trade that would’ve centred around Nurse and centre Nic Roy, who eventually was traded to the Colorado Avalanche.
There’s no knowing whether or not the Maple Leafs, or Nurse, would be interested in revisiting those talks, given Toronto replaced general manager Brad Treliving with John Chayka after this season. There’s also no knowing if Nurse himself would be interested, but given he hails from nearby Hamilton, Ont., and has family in the area, it could be assumed he’d be willing to move closer to home.
For the Oilers, any trade will likely involve a problem contract coming back the other way. Whether or not the minutes Nurse played could be considered good or not, the Oilers will still have to find someone to replace the 22:11 he’s averaged in each of the last three regular seasons.
A damning indictment of Nurse’s game
Spector spoke with an unnamed former Oilers coach who spent time with Nurse earlier in his career, offering a damning indictment of the defenceman’s game.
“I felt that he was receptive with the info that I was giving him at the time, but it never transferred into his play during the games. Especially when pressure was ramped up. He always gave you the feeling that he saw himself more as an offensive defenceman and would make some terrible reads with and without puck at critical times in games. Hockey sense was always a concern for me.”
Despite the rap he has in Edmonton, Nurse isn’t a bad player. His on-ice impacts have been, on average, as a low-end, second-pairing defenceman, according to HockeyViz — a mark that’s more than respectable in today’s game. But Nurse has been paid as a top-end, first-pairing defenceman for years, a level he hasn’t been able to elevate his game to.
READ MORE: How the Oilers arrived at the Darnell Nurse dilemma
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.
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