Stan Bowman forces a player out just before the controversial Mike Babcock hire

The Edmonton Oilers are done with Darnell Nurse, and this morning the word is out.

According to Friedge on 32 Thoughts, Edmonton is forcing the 31-year-old defender out of Oil Country.

Nurse has the option to work with the organization to facilitate a trade this summer.

If he doesn't, Stan Bowman will simply wait for the no-movement clause to expire and move him on the club's terms.

That's the leverage play. Help us help you, or we do this the hard way.

The numbers make the decision easy to understand. Nurse finished the regular season with 7 goals and 17 assists in 82 games, posted a -12 rating, and had zero power play points all season.

The $9.25 million problem Stan Bowman can't ignore

That cap number is the real issue. At $9,250,000 per year, Nurse is carrying one of the ten heaviest contracts for a defender in the whole league.

Twenty-four points in 82 games. That's third-pairing production on a top-pairing price tag.

The playoffs made it worse. Six games against Anaheim. No goals, no assists, finished at +4.

His last five regular-season games: no goals, no assists, zero points.

Nurse has been in Edmonton since 2013. He wore the C. He was the face of this blue line through the entire McDavid era. But a 24-point season at $9.25 million is a number this organization simply can't carry anymore.

The awkward reality is that his trade value may not match what Edmonton needs to get back.

Any team absorbing that contract wants a discount. A retained salary, a pick sweetener, something. Bowman is not negotiating from a throne here.

What happens if the market is cold? If no one bites at a reasonable ask? That's the scenario nobody in that building wants to answer.

Nurse is heading into the final year of a deal that was always going to be difficult to move. The NMC gave him real protection for a long time. That clock is almost out.

Edmonton went 41-30-11 this season, 93 points, second in the Pacific. The Oilers need more from their back end than what Nurse gave them.

The exit is already decided. The only open question is whether Nurse gets any say in where he ends up.

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