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Edmonton Oilers v Los Angeles Kings - Game Two Getty The era of defenseman Darnell Nurse with the Edmonton Oilers officially came to a close earlier this offseason when he was shipped to the divisional rival San Jose Sharks.
In return for Nurse, the Oilers received defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp, while also not retaining any of his $9.25 million salary cap hit.
However, in a recent ranking of the 10 worst contracts on the books in the NHL today, Oilers fans wont exactly be surprised to find Nurses name included.
Former Edmonton Oilers Defenseman Darnell Nurse Named One Of The 10 Worst Contracts In The NHL According to a recent ranking from NHL Insider Joe Yerdon of Bleacher Report, Nurses contract is one of the worst 10 in the NHL today.
This isnt especially surprising to fans of the Oilers, who knew that the eight-year, $74 million pact that he signed that takes him through the 2029-30 NHL season had the potential to quickly become a boat anchor.
Yerdon noted that Nurses style of play was never going to mesh with the high-octane offensive abilities of his now-former teammates in star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Unlike the previous Sharks contract on this list, the money involved in Darnell Nurses deal isnt San Joses doing, Yerdon wrote.
The Oilers signed Nurse to an eight-year, $74 million extension back in 2021 and set a standard for defensemen that helped raise the bar, contract-wise.
Hes been a steady two-way blue liner throughout his career, who suddenly became paid like a top point producer.
Playing in Edmonton with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl shouldve naturally led to more points, but that was never the style of game Nurse played.
Yerdon also notes that had Nurse not been signed to such an exorbitant salary cap hit, theres a chance that he could actually still be playing in northern Alberta rather than having now been relocated to the Bay Area.
Had Nurse not been paid so well, theres a good chance hed still be with the Oilers, but with costs rising for all the stars in Edmonton and the Sharks desperate need for defensive help, Nurse landing on the West Coast makes sense, he concluded.
Trading Nurse is one of many major changes that Oilers general manager Stan Bowman made to his club during the offseason.
Among the more meaningful moves that he made were the firing of coaches Kris Knoblauch and Mark Stuart and the subsequent hirings of Mike Babcock and D.J.
Smith.
Additionally, they signed Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Frederik Andersen to a short one-year contract, while also trading for prospect goaltender Devon Levi from the Buffalo Sabres.
They also signed defenseman Ryan Shea, along with forwards Mathieu Joseph, Kasperi Kapanen, and Max Jones.
Darnell Nurses Time With The Oilers Came To A Close Chosen seventh overall by the Oilers in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft, Nurse has played in 798 regular-season games, recording 88 goals and 236 assists during his NHL career to date.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he has added seven goals and 22 assists across 100 career appearances, helping Edmonton reach back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances in both 2024 and 2025.
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