Edmonton Oilers interested in Nurse trade involving Bruins defenceman: report
Are the Edmonton Oilers inching closer to a Darnell Nurse trade?
The clock is ticking for the Oilers to get this done before free agency opens on Wednesday. Reports earlier this week have indicated that things have reached a bit of a standstill as Edmonton tries to get Nurse to expand his trade list.
One of the teams on his list is the Boston Bruins, who have a player the Oilers are reportedly interested in acquiring in any potential Nurse trade.
According to The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont, Edmonton was open to trading Nurse to the Bruins in exchange for a certain Bruins defenceman at last week’s draft.
“Murmurings during draft weekend out of [Edmonton] that Oil could be down for a Nurse-Lohrei swap, with Oil willing to ‘share’ the difference in AAVs (approx $6M spread),” Dupont wrote.
“I could see Bruins moving from Lohrei’s $3.2M AAV to something around $6.5M AAV for Nurse.”
Murmurings during draft weekend out of EDM that Oil could be down for a Nurse-Lohrei swap, with Oil willing to "share" the difference in AAVs (approx $6M spread).
I could see Bruins moving form Lohrei's $3.2M AAV to something around $6.5M AAV for Nurse.— Kevin Paul Dupont (@GlobeKPD) June 30, 2026
Mason Lohrei is an interesting trade target for the Oilers, as he has had his fair share of struggles with the Boston Bruins this past season.
The 25-year-old left-shot defenceman is coming off a decent-enough offensive season with seven goals and 26 points through 73 games, but his defensive metrics have been less than stellar.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Lohrei has a 45.09 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) and leaks quality chances against with a 44.21 high-danger chances-for percentage (HDCF%). This is all while he played in a third-pairing role for Boston, meaning his quality of competition was quite low compared to that of a top-four defenceman.
HockeyStats.com seems to corroborate this assessment, with his player card showing that he is a much more competent offensive defenceman, but that his offence doesn’t outweigh his defensive insufficiencies.
HockeyStats.com
There is, however, some potential that could make Lohrei a net positive for the Oilers, specifically from a cap perspective. He is entering the final year of his contract, carrying just a $3.2-million cap hit.
According to Dupont, the Oilers would be willing to retain around $2.75 million on Nurse’s $9.25-million cap hit for the remaining four years of his contract. That would put Edmonton’s total cost for the trade around $5.95 million this upcoming season (retention and Lohrei cap hit), giving them around $3.3 million in savings this upcoming year.
However, if the team opts to move on from Lohrei next summer, those savings would go up to around $6.5 million for the next three seasons. It’s not the perfect cap dump, but it would provide some relief for the Oilers and give them a warm body that can jump directly onto the third pair.
The issue with this situation is that Lohrei’s recent play doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence, and it seems like his weaknesses were the precise thing that plagued the Oilers’ blueline last season.
Outside of the limited cap savings, it’s hard to say that Edmonton would be a better team after making such a move.