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Jun 12, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse (25) celebrates scoring against Florida Panthers during the second period in game four of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

Oilers’ Darnell Nurse Would Never Agree to Be Traded

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Rupert McDonald | Last updated Jun 30, 2025 8:35 AM ET

Ever since his $74 million deal was signed ahead of the 2021-22 season, Darnell Nurse has been criticized plenty and often by Edmonton Oilers fans. The 30-year-old is one of the highest-paid defencemen in the NHL, which is a massive overpay given that he isn’t even a top-two blueliner on his own team.

Because of how ugly his contract is, Oilers fans have been praying for a way to get him off the books for several years now. Recently, many believed it may finally be happening, as a social media post, which has since been proven false, suggested that Nurse removed everything Oilers-related from his Instagram bio. Rumours shortly after started suggesting he may be traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins with Tristan Jarry coming back the other way, though those were also baseless. What seemingly everybody forgets when it comes to Nurse is that he holds all the cards in whether or not he’s moved.

Nurse Has No Reason to Leave Edmonton

When Nurse agreed to his mammoth extension with the Oilers, his agent also made sure to land him a no-movement clause, which carries through the 2026-27 season before then turning into a 10-team trade list.

What this means is that until the 2026-27 season ends, Nurse has full control over his playing future. If he wants to remain in Edmonton, he will. If you’re in his shoes, why would you ever want to leave? He’s spent his entire career in Edmonton, has come up with the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and there are few teams elsewhere that would give him a better chance to compete for a Stanley Cup. Unless he is really sick of playing for the Oilers, which seems quite unlikely, he won’t be going anywhere.

It’s an unfortunate situation as moving out his $9.25 million cap hit would do wonders for the Oilers’ chances of winning the Stanley Cup, as they could use that money to improve other pieces of their roster. That said, you can’t fault the player for taking advantage of the luxuries he was afforded in his contract.

For the time being, the Oilers will need to figure out other ways to free up some money in order to tweak their roster. They began doing that last week when they traded Evander Kane to the Vancouver Canucks, and it sounds as though it’s only a matter of time before Viktor Arvidsson gets traded as well.

As for Nurse, the time to trade him will be once his contract goes from a no-movement clause to a 10-team trade list after the 2026-27 campaign. He still has a lot of power, but he wouldn’t be impossible to move after that, even if the Oilers are forced to retain or perhaps attach a sweetener for another team to take on his contract.

For the coming two seasons, however, Oilers fans should quit with the hope that he will be traded. It is essentially an impossible situation for general manager (GM) Stan Bowman, and surely isn’t his fault, as he simply inherited a team that had a bad Nurse contract on the books. The only hope for the next two seasons is that he somehow is able to become a better overall and more consistent player.

Poor Signing By Holland

If Oilers fans want to blame anybody for this situation, it’s former GM Ken Holland. He chose to give Nurse the ridiculous contract that he is on, and one that could potentially result in the Oilers not being able to win the Stanley Cup despite having two of the best players in the game. That said, they were able to reach back-to-back Cup Finals with Nurse on the roster, proving it is possible they can win with him should they figure out a way to make the appropriate tweaks to their roster.