Edmonton Oilers are giving Nurse an ultimatum for a trade: report
Darnell Nurse’s days with the Edmonton Oilers appear to be numbered.
Nurse’s $9.25 million cap hit has been a hindrance for the Oilers for quite some time, but his full no-movement clause made it next to impossible for management to move him. That may no longer be the case.
Last week, Sportsnet’s Mark Spector reported that the Oilers would like to move Nurse before the 2026-27 season gets underway. That said, the 31-year-old still controls things due to his no-movement clause.
That will change next offseason, as Nurse’s contract changes to a 10-team trade list. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Oilers are now giving him an ultimatum: help them facilitate a trade this summer, or be traded no matter what next offseason.
“The thing about Nurse is that he’s a year away from his no-trade clause going from a full to a partial, and it’s clear they’re going to say to him, ‘This is the last year you have control. Do you want to work with us or not?’ We’ll see what he says,” Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast.
“Basically, Nurse has been told, ‘You can work with us this year, or we’ll do it on our own next year.’ We’ll see. You still have to be able to make a trade. You have to know what the market is. You have to understand what you can do out there.”
Friedman also reported that Oilers management sat down with Nurse after the 2024-25 season to see if he’d be open to a deal. He made it clear he wasn’t open to it and was frustrated that the conversation got out.
This time around, Oilers management didn’t discuss a potential trade with Nurse at his end-of-season media availability. Friedman believes their brass was taking its time to decide what to do before coming to this conclusion.
Nurse has four seasons remaining on his deal, which could make it difficult for the Oilers to trade him. That said, they are clearly looking to do so, which adds yet another wrinkle to what is shaping up to be an interesting offseason in Edmonton.
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