Thirteen years after being drafted seventh overall by the Edmonton Oilers, Darnell Nurse’s time with the only NHL team he’s known has come to an end.

The team has dealt Nurse to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenceman Shakir Mukhamadullin and defensive prospect Zack Sharp, the club announced.

Nurse has four years left on a deal paying him $9.25 million per year, and the Oilers reportedly won’t be retaining any of the defenceman’s contract. Mukhamadullin, 24, is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights coming off his three-year entry-level contract.

Mukhamadullin was drafted 20th overall by the New Jersey Devils, but never played a game for them as he was dealt to the Sharks in a deal that sent forward Timo Meier east. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound left-shot blueliner has appeared in 83 NHL games for the Sharks in the last three years, scoring seven goals and 22 points in 83 games.

He appeared in 50 games last year, scoring five goals and 12 points, averaging just over 17 minutes in ice time per game. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Sharks controlled 44.5 per cent of the shot attempt share, 47.6 per cent of the goal share and 46.2 per cent of the expected goal share. According to HockeyViz, Mukhamadullin drove offence at a six per cent rate below league average, and defence at a one per cent rate above league average. His overall contributions were that of third-pairing defenceman.

Sharp, 21, was drafted by the Sharks in the fourth round of the 2025 draft. The 6-foot-2, 194-pound defenceman has spent the last two seasons at Western Michigan University, scoring five goals and 19 points in 37 games last season. The 2023 EliteProspects draft guide called Sharp “never passing up an opportunity to join the play.”

Nurse has found himself in the crosshairs in recent years, largely due to his mammoth contract paying him $9.25 million. While Nurse has been a solid player for the team, his contract hasn’t been commensurate with his play, leading to disdain not only from the fan base but from the organization, too.

The Oilers approached Nurse after the 2024-25 Stanley Cup final during exit interviews to ask him to waive his full no-movement clause, something that reportedly upset the longtime blue liner. Discussions occurred about potentially moving him at this year’s trade deadline to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Nic Roy, but those never actualized.

Edmonton didn’t have the same conversation during this year’s exit interview with Nurse, but in early June, Sportsnet’s Mark Spector reported that the Oilers were set to approach him to gauge his interest in waiving again. Five days later, Nurse requested a trade, submitting what was initially reported as a three-to-five team list he would be willing to waive for. That list, however, was just three teams: the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Boston Bruins. Discussions with each team seemed to stall, with the teams either needing the Oilers to retain money, or for them to move salary in other deals.

The Ducks and Sharks had shown interest in the 31-year-old, but it wasn’t until July 1 that he expanded his list to include those teams.

Nurse appeared in 798 regular-season games for the Oilers, scoring 88 goals and 324 points, adding seven goals and 29 points in 100 playoff games.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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