On Friday’s episode of Oilersnation Radio, we were talking about the Darnell Nurse rumours and some of the free agent decisions sitting on the Oilers’ to-do list, and the conversation eventually landed on Connor Murphy in a way that I don’t think I had thought about before. If Nurse is actually on his way out of town, then doesn’t re-signing Murphy start to look a whole lot more important than it already was?

After we wrapped up the podcast, I couldn’t stop thinking about how the Nurse/Murphy situations are more connected than they might look at first. Most of the Nurse conversation starts with the contract, and we all know why that is. A $9.25 million cap hit is a massive number, and if the Oilers can move it in a way that helps them build a better roster around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, then they have to make that choice. That doesn’t mean a trade will be easy, but the insiders are claiming that it’s likely to happen, so we have to operate under that assumption.

The concern is what happens after No. 25 gets shipped out. For all the complaining about Nurse over the years, he still brings a very specific flavour of hockey to the Oilers’ blue line. He’s big, he’s fast, he has never been shy about defending his teammates, and he has been asked to handle difficult minutes for a long time. You can say he didn’t deserve those minutes all you want, but the coaches kept dishing them out anyway. The contract makes him a lightning rod to talk about, and it has since he signed the deal, but the Oilers do not have so much size and gritensity on the back end that losing him is something Bowman and Co can just forget about.

And thinking about Nurse moving on is where my concern about Murphy comes in. Ryan Rishaug has reported that he’s open to returning, which is a nice starting point, but we all know there’s a gap between a player being open to coming back and a contract actually getting signed. If the Oilers are serious about moving Nurse, I’m wondering if getting Murphy done first becomes the first item to handle, if only because the leverage changes once Nurse is gone. Murphy’s camp already knows the Oilers liked what he brought to the table. If Nurse gets moved before Murphy signs, then why wouldn’t his agent try to capitalize on Edmonton having one fewer big, tough veteran on the blue line.

I’m not trying to say that Murphy is a clean Nurse replacement because that’s not my point. Nurse has 88 goals and 324 points in 798 career games, while Murphy has 48 goals and 177 points in 825 games, so we know we’re not getting the same juice in the offensive zone. Nurse can move, he can produce, and even in a down year by his standards, he still played all 82 games and finished with 24 points. Murphy operates in a different dojo. He is not going to give you many points, but he does give you a right shot, defence first, and a simple game that made sense almost immediately after he got here. Am I biased? Yes, because I loved him.

Having a guy who’s willing to shed the mitts for his teammates is still important, especially if the Oilers are about to lose some of the rage Nurse has always brought when needed. Murphy is two years older than Nurse, so I’m not saying the Oilers should hand him whatever he wants just because we can’t lose an entire pairing. The term will matter and the price will matter, I get that. This team has had enough contracts and dead space to deal with, and the answer to one problem can’t be creating another one out of panic. But if there is a way to get Connor Murphy locked up, the urgency to get the job done will shoot skyward if Nurse has actually played his last game in Edmonton.

As much as many folks agree that it’s time for Nurse and the Oilers to get a fresh start, I still maintain that he’s a better player than a lot of Oilers fans gave him credit for. But I get why the Oilers need the space. I’m not even saying I’m against it. At the same time, if the plan has the Oilers moving Nurse and then also potentially having Murphy walk, that starts to look like a pretty sizeable hold to fill in one summer. We can all talk about shipping out this guy or that guy, and maybe that’s exactly what will happen by the time October rolls around, but  replacing these guys is not always easy to do, especially when every team in the league is looking for big d-men who can handle the games when the hockey gets heavy.

Then agian, maybe I’m overthinking this whole thing and there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. Maybe Murphy’s deal is already closer to the finish line than we know. Maybe the money saved from the Nurse trade solves my fears right there. There are a lot of things we don’t know that are happening behind closed doors, which makes all of this noise mean nothing in the end, but I really do think the order of operations is important here. If Murphy is for real open coming back and the Oilers know they’re likely to move Nurse, then getting that contract sorted before the blue line gets any weaker seems like the safer way to go.

The Oilers may be able to trade Darnell Nurse and come out ahead if the deal gives them the space and flexibility to make the right moves. They may also be able to walk away from Connor Murphy if the contract gets too rich or too long. What I’m not sure about is doing both in the same summer and expecting the blue line to be fine without a pretty clear plan for how this team can compete for a Stanley Cup. I’m not saying you don’t trade Darnell and that you have to back the Brinks truck up for Murphy, but I think the Oilers would be in a pretty tough spot if they end up losing both.

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