Edmonton Oilers getting Darnell Nurse trade interest from these two teams: report
It sounds like Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse is generating trade interest across the NHL.
The offseason has officially kicked off across the league, with multiple big trades already taking place over the last several days. Edmonton, so far, has not been involved in any of those deals, but that could be changing soon.
Nurse will be the big piece of Oilers trade bait this summer after the 31-year-old requested a trade out of Edmonton earlier this month. The veteran defenceman holds a full no-trade clause in his contract, but reports have indicated that he will waive that for a few select teams.
It was initially expected that trading Nurse would be difficult for the Oilers, considering he still has three more years left with a hefty $9.25-million cap hit. According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, that isn’t stopping a few teams from expressing ‘serious interest’ in the blueliner.
“I think there is some serious interest,” Friedman said on Tuesday’s edition of OilersNow with Bob Stauffer. “I think [the Philadelphia Flyers] has had some interest, I think Pittsburgh has had some interest.
“At this point in time, I’m not sure he wants to go West… I’m focusing a lot on Pittsburgh and Philly and some other Eastern possibilities at this time.”
It’s not known exactly which teams that Nurse would be comfortable waiving his no-trade clause to go to. Reports around the situation have suggested that the Penguins are among the teams that he could be open to being traded to, as he has a close relationship with Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas.
The Penguins have a few players that could be of interest to the Oilers in a potential Nurse trade. Bryan Rust has been connected to Edmonton before and would help bolster the team’s forward depth. There has also been past interest in Erik Karlsson, who could be on the way out of Pittsburgh this summer.
Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos recently wrote that Nurse may prefer to play in Philadelphia, which has ties to his uncle, Donovan McNabb, who is a former quarterback of the Eagles. Could Edmonton try to swing a deal for forward Owen Tippett, or perhaps a player like Rasmus Ristolainen or Travis Konecny?
With free agency set for next week, you’d think that the Oilers would want to get this thing sorted before then to solidify their cap situation. They’ll have plenty of opportunities to work on a deal with the draft slated to go this Friday.
We’ll see if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will have a Nurse trade to announce at the podium.