The Edmonton Oilers will be without one of their top blueliners—for at least one game.

When speaking to the media after morning skate, head coach Kris Knoblauch stated that defenceman Darnell Nurse will be out of the lineup when the Oilers take the ice against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night in Sunrise.

Knoblauch also mentioned that Nurse is day-to-day, though he didn’t disclose what is ailing the 30-year-old rearguard.

Nurse has been pretty healthy this season, outside of missing three games after taking an illegal check to the head from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves back in November. That hit landed Reaves a five-game suspension.

The absence of Nurse in Thursday’s skate led to some movement in the top six. While the pairs of Mattias Ekholm-Evan Bouchard and Brett Kulak-John Klingberg remained intact, Troy Stecher was taking line rushes with Ty Emberson in the lead-up to another rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Final.

The severity of Nurse’s recent injury is unclear. There have been no reports of him leaving the team to return to Edmonton. Granted, the team has only one more game on its swing through the southeastern U.S., wrapping up the four-game road trip on Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Hamilton, Ontario native has appeared in 55 of the Oilers’ 58 games this season, scoring four goals and 18 assists for 22 points while registering a plus/minus of +8. Nurse, who has been averaging 21:49 of ice time this year, has a chance to equal his point total from last season, which saw him notch 32 points in 81 games. However, it’s unlikely he’ll reach the career-high 43 points he posted during the 2022-23 campaign.

Nurse is in the third season of the eight-year contract extension he signed with Edmonton in August 2021. It carries an AAV of $9.25 million through the 2029-30 campaign.

The Oilers (34-20-4) are second in the Pacific Divison, two points back of the first-place Vegas Golden Knights.