Darnell Nurse has formally requested a trade from the Edmonton Oilers, and this morning Elliotte Friedman reported there's real interest around the league, with a condition attached.
Teams want him. But not at his current price.
Friedman, citing DMase Vingan and Daunic, said suitors are willing to move on Nurse if Edmonton can bring his cap number down to the $7 million range.
That's a $2.25 million gap between where he's sitting and where the market says he belongs.
Elliotte Friedman: Re Darnell Nurse trade request/Oilers: I think there are teams, if you can get him down to the 7 million area, who will make this move.
Nurse carries a $9.25 million cap hit. For a defenseman who posted 24 points and went minus-12 over 82 regular season games, that number was already hard to defend before the trade request surfaced.
The playoffs made it worse. He was held scoreless in all 6 games against Anaheim, finishing with a +4 that flattered a series Edmonton lost 4-2.
Think about that for a second. A $9.25 million blue liner with no points across a first-round exit while the team got eliminated. That's the context here.
Nurse trade market hinges on whether Edmonton eats cap money
The math is straightforward, even if the solution isn't. To get to $7 million, GM Stan Bowman would have to retain salary, find a team willing to absorb the rest, or package Nurse in a three-way deal.
None of those are clean. All of them cost Edmonton something extra.
Nurse turns 32 in January. Any team acquiring him is betting on a veteran defender whose offensive numbers have declined and whose contract still runs well into what should be his decline years.
The regular season numbers aren't a one-year blip, either. Seven goals, 17 assists, minus-12. That's a player who has drifted a long way from the two-way force he was several years ago.
For Edmonton's cap situation, moving him would create room. But the Oilers aren't going to just eat salary and get nothing back in return.
That tension, the gap between what Nurse is worth on the open market and what Edmonton needs in return, is exactly why this doesn't resolve quickly.
Bowman has a real puzzle here, and the league is watching to see whether he blinks first.
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Should the Oilers retain salary to move Darnell Nurse, or hold out for a team to take the full $9.25M contract?
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