Is Oilers blueline better without Darnell Nurse?

The Edmonton Oilers had to breath a slight sigh of relief on Wednesday. Defenseman Darnell Nurse had requested a trade earlier this offseason, but the task of actually dealing him seemed easier said than done. Nurse had four more years on his contract at an average annual value of $9.25 million, a number teams may not be keen on paying for a player of Nurse’s caliber.

Fortunately for the Oilers, they found a dance partner in the San Jose Sharks, who took on Nurse and his full cap hit in exchange for defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp. The deal is a win for Edmonton, who were able to ship out an unhappy player and clear his money off the books. But what about on the ice? Nurse had been a staple of the Oilers’ blueline for a decade. What does their defense corps look like without him?

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by Tom Gazzola to discuss whether Nurse’s departure could actually improve Edmonton’s defense.

Carter Hutton: (The Oilers’) backend, is it better today than it was yesterday because of this trade?

Tom Gazzola: This is the crux of the matter. No, it’s not. It’s less experienced. I had some conversations with people on the staff yesterday after all the dust had settled. One thing that was pointed out to me was there might still be some issues. I like the promise of Mukhamadullin. I’m happy to see a late bloomer like (Ryan) Shea get an opportunity here. It feels like they’re going to piece it together and feel it out to replace the Darnell Nurse minutes.

I know there a lot of fans out there that are probably saying “Come on, Nurse was terrible. This guy did nothing. He was terrible any time he stepped on the ice. His puck touches were awful. He made terrible decisions when he took the puck into the offensive zone.” I agree with most of that, but there is a serviceable in Darnell Nurse. I think a fresh start might help him. I look at the promise of Mukhamadullin, he has like 83 games under his belt, he’s big, he’s rangy, he’s lanky. He’s just figuring out the NHL. If Shea can be serviceable as a diamond in the rough, then fantastic.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Thursday’s episode here…