Oilers' Darnell Nurse to miss time with injury, according to new reports

It's been well known that Evander Kane is dealing with a serious injury that will require surgery and a months-long recovery. However, Tom Gazzola of Edmonton Sports Talk revealed today that Darnell Nurse will also miss time in training camp with an injury.

Given the fact that Darnell Nurse has been on the ice with the team already and will only miss a portion of training camp, it's fair to assume his injury history minor and was potentially sustained while training. Even though Nurse can struggle on the ice at times, it's good that he'll be back in the lineup to begin the year, considering that the Oilers defence depth took a hit.

This upcoming season should have some serious weight to it for Darnell Nurse, who needs to show some signs that he's worth anything close to his $9.5M salary. Nurse had a tough season last year and at times looked completely lost in the playoffs. The Oilers are about to commit massive contracts to their core players, and may not be able to afford to pay Nurse $9.5M if he's severely underperforming.

Daily Faceoff had Nurse on their list of trade candidates this offseason due to his huge contract and poor play, and those rumours will be amplified if he can't show any improvement this year. Hopefully Nurse can rediscover his past successes this season, as the entire city is expecting nothing less than the Stanley Cup.

Source for Darnell Nurse Stats and Contract: PuckPedia - Darnell Nurse