The Edmonton Oilers can’t afford to just give away Darnell Nurse in a trade. I find when fans and some media discuss trade rumours, they only focus on the weaknesses in a player’s game, but overlook what he does well. I understand some can’t look past the $9.25 million AAV contract (four more years), but Nurse has value.

Nurse played the most minutes of any Oiler at five-on-five in the playoffs with 121 minutes. Mattias Ekholm skated 99:43 and Jake Walman logged 92:27. Nurse was on for three goals against, tied for the fewest with Ty Emberson (71 TOI). Nurse was plus-4 (7-3) at five-on-five while his partner, Connor Murphy, was plus-3 (7-4).

I realize Nurse has limitations to his game. He doesn’t make the best reads, and at key times, his positioning and decisions in front of the goal are less than desirable. But he’s also a very good skater who contributes offensively at even strength, is tough, and is a vocal leader on the team.

Nurse ranks 29th in even-strength points (EV) among D-men the past five seasons, and it isn’t just because he plays on a team with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Of course, that helps, but during three seasons (2022-2024) Nurse produced 91 points at even strength and played 58.8 per cent of his minutes with McDavid and/or Draisaitl.

The past two seasons, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm played more minutes with the top two stars, and Nurse played 44.6 per cent of his EV time with McDavid and/or Draisaitl and produced 51 points. His points did go down — 91 points in 234 games (0.38 EVP/GP) to 51 points in 158 games (0.32 EVP/GP) — but his points/game dropped 0.06, while his percentage of time with McDavid and Draisaitl dropped 14.2 per cent.

I keep reading how the Oilers will have to add something in a trade just to get a team to take him and his salary. If that is the case, the Oilers would be much better off keeping Nurse and pairing him with Connor Murphy for a full season. Those two played quite well together down the stretch and into the playoffs. I’d argue there are many reasons the best plan could be to sign Murphy and retain Nurse and see how they fare as a pair all season.

But, if they look at trading Nurse, they need to get a fair return. You don’t just throw away a player who has logged the 15th most five-on-five minutes in the NHL the past three seasons and only missed seven games. Availability is one of the most important skill sets of a player. Nurse plays big minutes and doesn’t miss many games. That has value, and more than some believe.

I, too, get frustrated with some of his decisions with and without the puck, but if we only focus on what a player does wrong, we miss the things they do well. Nurse has a $9.25m AAV, but he’s owed $8 million in cash next season and $7.2 million in the final three. His money owed is lower than the AAV in the final four years, which is also a benefit for the team acquiring him.

The Oilers panicked when they traded Stuart Skinner, along with Brett Kulak and a second-round pick, for Tristan Jarry. Many wanted Skinner gone and didn’t care who replaced him. How did that work out?

If the Oilers look to trade Nurse, they need to get a defenceman in return. They need someone who can log minutes, which is why when people suggest Morgan Rielly for Nurse, it makes sense. Rielly has logged 4,474 even strength minutes the past three seasons, while Nurse has skated in 4,554. Nurse played 239 games while Rielly dressed in 232.

They are similar. They have different strengths and weaknesses. One might argue, why would either team make the trade if it isn’t a clear upgrade? Because trades don’t always have to be a one-sided victory. Of course, you’d love to make a deal that clearly benefits your team, but how many teams are lining up to make trades that clearly weaken them?

That trade is at least a realistic starting point. I’m not saying I’d make it, as I’d have to dig much deeper into Rielly’s stats, but if I’m trading Nurse, I want a D-man back who can play 20 minutes. I don’t expect him to play a flawless 20 minutes, but to move out Nurse, just to clear cap space, would be a bad decision.

The list of UFA left-shot D-men who could log 20 minutes consists of Kulak. That’s it.

Ryan Shea was a third pair D-man on Pittsburgh in the playoffs. Jamie Oleksiak played 16:58/game in Seattle in the regular season. Mario Ferraro did play 21:02/GP with San Jose, but they aren’t a playoff team. I don’t see him as an upgrade — cheaper, yes, but having cap space only helps if you have the assets to acquire a good player. If you just give Nurse away, it opens up another glaring hole in the roster.

I’m all for trading Nurse, if the deal makes sense. Otherwise, retaining him and playing with Connor Murphy seems like the best plan.

QUICK HITS…

— The Vegas Golden Knights are five wins away from their second Stanley Cup in four seasons. If McDavid, Draisaitl, Jason Dickinson, and Adam Henrique were healthy in round one, I still believe they would have defeated Anaheim. I’m not sure they would have beaten Vegas, but it would have been a heck of a series. The injury bug has ravaged the Avalanche, and when it bites you in the playoffs, it is very hard to win against another top team. We saw that with the Oilers last year against Florida, and we saw it when Vegas beat Florida in 2023. Injuries are the great unknown and can derail a team quickly. The key is to not overreact when you team loses and you have key injuries.

— Would Colorado have won one of the first two games with a healthy Cale Makar? Maybe, but we will never know. Will the Avalanche make big moves this off-season or stay the course?

— One of Carter Hart, Jakub Dobes, or Freddie Anderson is going to host the Stanley Cup. At the start of this season, none of them would have been ranked among the top 10 goalies in the NHL. Probably not even the top 15. Having good team defense helps, but having a goalie get hot at the right time is also a massive advantage.

— The Oilers have signed right-shot forward Aku Räty to a one-year, two-way deal with an NHL AAV of $850K. Räty was a fifth-round pick of the Coyotes in 2019. He played two seasons in the AHL, but returned to Finland last season and produced 20 goals, 37 assists, 57 points in 51 games with Karpat. Räty turns 25 in July and had a good season on a bad Karpat team that didn’t make the playoffs. Räty’s lone NHL game came against the Edmonton Oilers on April 17th, 2024, and he picked up an assist while skating for the Coyotes. He is another depth signing by Stan Bowman that might pan out. It is a low-risk signing. If he plays 10-plus games in the NHL next year, that would be considered a win.