According to insider Bob Stauffer, who presented a scenario in which trade negotiations come to a halt and the defenseman remains in his current position, Darnell Nurse might still play for the Oilers next season.
Stauffer stated in an episode of Oilers Now that even though some people might not think it’s a good move for Edmonton, a Nurse comeback is a “plausible scenario.”
There is a trap in the specifics. Stauffer thinks Nurse’s trade list consists of just three teams, all located in the Eastern Conference, and that he might need to lengthen it for any agreement to be reached.
This is the contract that is at the heart of Edmonton’s summer. What Stan Bowman attempts to do with everything else is determined by what happens to Nurse, who is 31 years old and has a cap hit of $9.25 million.
The cap is the difficulty. According to Stauffer, if the Oilers are pressed against the hard cap, they might need to keep salary, which would make the math not work at all.
Here, Stauffer walked through the entire procedure.
Nurse might have to increase his list of teams for these reasons.
For suits, Stauffer pointed west. He identified the Blackhawks and Sharks as logical choices for Western teams that are trying to advance, while Philadelphia and Pittsburgh fit the criteria for Eastern teams.
This is the situation if you wish to expand the list. The market is opened and the number of matchups increases from three to five by adding western teams when three eastern teams are unable to create one.
Keeping Nurse is also a smart negotiating technique. Signaling that Edmonton isn’t desperate makes the price stronger and proves that the team is capable of closing agreements from a position of strength.
Every avenue was carefully left available by Stauffer. Nurse may be traded to a team on the list, may be traded only after the list is enlarged, or may remain. He confessed that he was unaware of Bowman’s current location.
In addition, the piece gave Nurse a fair assessment: a reliable, solid regular-season defenseman who has raised postseason issues that have a significant portion of the fan base calling for a change.
Here’s my read: a trade still makes the most sense for both sides, given the cap squeeze and the term left on the deal. But dangling a return is smart, because it tells rival GMs Edmonton can hold the line.
Stauffer called this a storyline for the next eight or nine days. The draft and the days right after should force the issue.
Whether Bowman moves him, widens the list, or keeps him, the Nurse question is finally about to get an answer.
Leave a Reply