Oilers Fans Rip Darnell Nurse After Brutal Defensive Stat Surfaces

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Liam McCormick
November 5, 2024 (3:38 PM)

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Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse has struggled to live up to his $9.25M contract since signing the massive deal, and the stats haven't been too kind to him so far this season.

In the first 13 games this season, the Edmonton Oilers have allowed a total of 39 goals. Darnell Nurse has been on the ice for 20 of those goals against. 10 goals against are on the penalty kill, and 10 are at even strength.

Obviously plus minus is an imperfect stat for many reasons, including the lack of accounting for the Oilers poor goaltending at times, but this isn't a good look for Nurse. He's been on the ice for more goals against than any other Oilers defender, but is the third most used defenceman.

Many fans were quick to point out that Mattias Ekholm has also been on the ice for 19 goals against. Ekholm is arguably the team's best overall blue liner, so perhaps these stats just point more towards Edmonton needing to be better as a whole.

Oilers fans have seen countless times Nurse make costly turnovers and miss defensive assignments that hurt the team. The team is going to be in a serious salary crunch in the next few years with re-signing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, so they'll need to get more value out of their $9M defender. They simply can't afford for him to be a liability any longer. Last season in the playoffs, Nurse set the record for worst plus minus in history.

The Oilers biggest trade need this season will be a top four defenceman, hopefully to pair directly with Darnell Nurse and fix his game for the upcoming playoffs. For the Oilers to make another long run, he'll need to have a positive impact on the team - not be actively hurting them.