Trading Nurse is gonna be hella-tough, for all the reasons. He has an NMC three more years, the length makes it hard for you to retain, etc etc. It's a tough spot, believe me I know (though my case is not as rough as yours).

Seems to me like you admitted your team has a skill issue. Sadly, they will be out in the first round again this year 💀

I offered to take campbell off your hands for the low low price of a 1st round pick, but got shot down.

Out in the firs round again? They've beat LA in the first round the last 2 years, can't see it being ay different this time around.

I'd be open to that if we don't buy him out

Lmao I mean not at all. As mentioned in my post Edmonton has a ton of valuable assets who are playing well well above their pay grade that make us a successful team, we also have a ton of underrated depth who have done exactly as they are paid to do (Perry, Brown, Mcleod). We just have 4-5 guys who are paid too much and the only reason we have had the success we have had with their contracts is due to those other guys. We lost to the cup champs in back to back years, been a consistent top 8 team in the league the past 5 years and gave the Stanley cup champions their best series last year. To say we have a "skill issue" as a team or are going to be disappointments against (even if we do exit early it's not like the past 2 years have been for nothing). This team has tons of great things about it, there are just 3-5 glaring mistakes that need to be fixed if we want to be cup champs

That's what everyone told me, they'd just buy him out. I don't think you want that 2.6 million in dead cap when Draisaitl and Bouchard are up for raises though.

I thought it was an obvious reverse jinx, I guess I forgot this was the internet.

Anyways, @Shaun80 they are not playing the kings, the are playing Vegas in all likelihood. Tounge out of cheek I don’t like that matchup for them.

I don't intend to break down the full case because this isn't the platform for that, but I firmly disagree with your valuation of Nurse. Overpaid? Absolutely. Overpaid by 4mil? Most definitely not. I'd happily have him on the team at a contract of up to 7.5mil.

It's worth keeping in mind that everything he's done has been with one inoptimal partner after another- from Bear to Barrie to Ceci- while playing primary shutdown minutes. Get him a proper partner that can skate well (not Barrie or Ceci), make a consistent pass (not Ceci), and doesn't frequently get beaten in hard areas (not Bear or Barrie) and a good deal of the weaknesses we perceive as "Nurse's problems" would largely disappear. I feel quite strongly that Alexandre Carrier would be a great target for that.

I fully support the positive viewpoint of Nurse and I really really hope you're right but this past month has been pretty rough for him. That's 3 d-partners in a row now that we are using as his scapegoat on why he isn't a top pairing d-man, I fully agree that Ceci and Barrie were not the answers but it isn't also all on them. Nurse has been pretty brutal in his own zone for the past few seasons and as of recently he has struggled on the rush, he's elite in the transition game for us but I don't see how that's worth more than 4.5-5 million dollars?

I don't really agree that he's been all that awful in his own end. I think he makes a particular kind of glaring error (misplaying 2-on-1s, whether on the rush or in-zone) commonly enough that people are almost blinded to the things he does well (1-on-1 defending, whether on the rush or in-zone; board and often net-front battles). He's also been victimised on some poor pinches but that's not always solely on him. That's also the argument that I'd levy in the case of the main weakness I pointed to: the fact that he's put in a 2-on-1 situation doesn't fall on him. How often have the errors been the result of Ceci losing his own 1-on-1 battle, whether by skating or puck handling? I'd hazard a guess that it's quite a lot more often than the other way around. Sure, I'd like to see him play 2-on-1s more effectively but players are going to have flaws.

I'd also push back on your suggestion that we're using his partners as scapegoats for why he isn't a top pairing Dman. For me, it's not even a question: he is a top pairing Dman. He showed he was capable of it for years and, while his play dipped a bit this year, he's still #2 on the team for TOI. Year-to-year variance in performance happens to everyone. Why do we attribute a lot of the blame to his partners? Because his partners have always been either (or both) mistake-prone or slow skating, borderline 2nd pairing D.

I can fully understand wanting more from a guy making 9.25mil, but I think people get too blinded by cap hits to see what they really have.

Again?

I guess you didn't watch the playoffs last year or the year before...

I would do that, but I doubt Holland would.

One of the most strident criticisms of Nurse is that he plays 2-on-1's poorly.

I mean, if you're defending a 2-on-1, someone else already made a critical error, right?

The only one I really can agree with here is Campbell. Nurse is a top pairing defenseman and has been for years, he's overpaid but by no more than $1.5 - 2M. And that's management's fault for bridging and bridging him, then trading for Keith at full cap hit giving Chicago enough cap space to sign the Jones deal.

Ceci is a top-4 RHD making just $3.25M, that's a pretty efficient deal. Kulak has been worth his contract, as has Kane.

I really don't understand the hate on Kane, he scored at a 30+ goal rate for 7 years in a row, sustained a horrific wrist injury and came back and scored at a 25 goal pace. All while bringing a unique blend of swagger, physicality and truculence. If Edmonton traded him, we'd immediately be looking for that player type again. He's not immovable, but he's certainly not a cap dump.