The Edmonton Oilers are reportedly trying to trade Darnell Nurse, mainly to clear his cap hit and use that space to address holes on the roster. If history is any indication, the Oilers might not use that space well.
Darnell Nurse has requested a trade from the Edmonton Oilers, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman and Mark Spector.
Nurse has submitted a list of three to five teams he is willing to join.
The Oilers were reportedly actively working to convince Nurse to waive his no-movement clause and accept a trade.
The deal, it seems, could be closer to happening than anyone expected a week ago.
As serviceable as he is, and as much as he'd be a great member of the roster on a cheaper contract, moving Nurse's $9.25-million cap hit is probably the right call for a franchise in desperate need of a reset after a disappointing season.
If the Oilers can find someone to take on his deal, that money could go a long way to filling holes in goal, in the top six and on defense with a less expensive replacement.
The problem is that Edmonton's recent track record suggests that freeing up cap space and spending it wisely are two very different things for this organization.
When Jake Walman arrived at the 2025 trade deadline, he was exactly what the Oilers needed – a mobile, puck-moving defenseman who immediately stabilized a broken blueline and was instrumental in their playoff run.
The reward for that performance? Stan Bowman signed him to a seven-year extension worth $7 million annually – a commitment made just weeks after Walman suffered an undisclosed injury in Edmonton's first pre-season game.
Walman has arguably not been the same player since. This season, he battled through injuries, posted the second-worst plus-minus on the team and earned some less-than-favorable reviews. The extension hasn't even started yet, and it already looks like an anchor.
Trent Frederic is a similar story.
Bowman acquired him from the Boston Bruins at the 2025 deadline to add grit and secondary scoring. Frederic was injured at the time of the trade, and his ankle never fully healed in time for that playoff run.
The issue carried over into the 2025-26 season, where Frederic was compromised for a good 20 or 30 games.
Even after getting healthy, he's not gotten anywhere close to meeting the expectations set by an eight-year, $30.8 million extension. That deal looks incredibly bad now, paying a bottom-six forward more than he's worth until he's 35. He recorded four goals and seven points in 74 games.
The summer of 2024 was a reminder of what happens when you overlook your own players to sign guys quickly on July 1.
The Oilers signed Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner that off-season, and there was early excitement about what the additions could mean. But those signings meant they couldn't retain Dylan Holloway or Philip Broberg when offer sheets came in from the St. Louis Blues.
It stung to lose both players, and to make matters worse, Skinner and Arvidsson were largely invisible when it mattered most. Skinner wasn't brought back, eventually signing with the San Jose Sharks. Arvidsson also went out the door in a trade to the Bruins.
When the smoke cleared, the Oilers didn't have Holloway, Broberg, Arvidsson or Skinner. Those departures don't even include Ryan McLeod, who was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Matt Savoie and then put up back-to-back 50-point campaigns.
This past fall, Edmonton received a gift from superstar Connor McDavid. He signed a two-year team-friendly extension – the motivation being that if he discounted his superstar rate, the Oilers could spend in other areas and improve the team.
Earlier in the off-season, however, one of the first actions the team did was sign Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year deal at $3.6 million annually.
Despite having only one good season with the Calgary Flames, Mangiapane had shown more often than not he wasn't worth that kind of investment, and as a reclamation project, he might not be worth taking the swing.
He wasn't, and Edmonton traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks, along with a 2027 first-round pick, in exchange for forwards Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach. Dach will be sticking around, but Dickinson might not.
That Leads Us To The Nurse Trade
The Nurse trade, if it happens, creates genuine flexibility.
A $9.25 million salary is real money – freeing it would be enough to address the crease, add a legitimate right-shot defenseman and shore up the depth that has recently let this team down in the playoffs.
The blueprint for spending it wisely isn't complicated, but in the wrong hands, having that kind of money to spend could lead to more problems.
The Oilers have been in win-now mode for half a decade, and that urgency has led them to take risks that haven't paid off.
Darnell Nurse may be on his way out. The question worth asking is whether the people making the next move have learned anything from the moves that made this one necessary.
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