Oilers’ Darnell Nurse, Adam Henrique declined to waive no-trade clauses: report

All the talk about the Edmonton Oilers heading into the off-season was how the team was looking to clear out salary cap space.

They were able to do so by trading Evander Kane to the Vancouver Canucks and Viktor Arvidsson to the Boston Bruins, getting back a 2025 fourth round pick, used to select David Lewandoski, and a 2027 fifth round pick, respectively.

But those two weren’t the only players with no-trade clauses that the Oilers approached this summer about a potential trade.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the team also approached defenceman Darnell Nurse and forward Adam Henrique, both of whom with full no-movement clauses, about potentially being moved. Neither were open to the idea of it, he said on the 32 Thoughts podcast.

I think basically Edmonton went to check with all their guys who had no-trade clauses who they would want to move and say ‘okay, how many of you are willing to go places?’ And Arvidsson said he was, but Nurse, I don’t think he wants to go anywhere. Henrique, I’m not convinced he wants to go anywhere. So that’s kind of where it ended up. They made it clear they like being part of something where they can win, and they decided to stay — as is their right.

Nurse is entering the fourth-year of an eight-year deal paying him $9.25-million annually. The contract was looked at as an overpay when it was signed in August 2021, and has been somewhat of a poison pill on Edmonton’s books since. While he still provides value at the level of a second-pairing defenceman, according to HockeyViz, his contract is commensurate to that of a first-pairing blue liner.

Then Oilers general manager Ken Holland had shot himself in the foot by signing Nurse to a two-year bridge contract for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, and in the summer of 2021, set off a series of events that would cost him. He acquired defenceman Duncan Keith and his full $5.53-million cap hit from the Chicago Blackhawks, allowing them to acquire and overpay for defenceman Seth Jones, who had been with the Columbus Blue Jackets previously.

While Jones got an eight-year deal paying him $9.5-million annually in Chicago, Columbus then signed defenceman Zach Werenski to a six-year, $9.583-million AAV contract. The pair of deals reset the market, allowing Nurse to cash in after scoring 16 goals and 36 points in 56 games in the COVID-shortened North Division season.

While Nurse has full no-movement clauses for this upcoming season and the next, he trade protection shifts to a 10 team no-trade list for the 2027-28 season when he will have three years left on his deal.

Henrique, meanwhile, is in the second year of a two-year deal paying him $3-million per year. He appeared in 81 games for the Oilers last year, scoring 12 goals and 27 points, adding another four goals and seven points in 22 playoff games.