Darnell Nurse spent 11 seasons in Edmonton, grew into one of the faces of the franchise, and was part of the leadership group with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Now he’s wearing San Jose teal, and the first meeting with his former team is going to come with a jolt.
The Oilers spent years trying to find a way out of the contract. That finally happened when Nurse waived his no-trade clause - and even expanded his list - to let Edmonton send him to the San Jose Sharks in one of the summer’s most surprising moves. San Jose absorbed the full $9.25M AAV and still sent back Shakir Mukhamadullin and prospect Zack Sharp, a deal almost nobody saw coming without Edmonton retaining money.
For the Oilers, it was a cap reset. For Nurse, it was the fresh start he wanted. And for everyone who watched the relationship sour, it also set up a reunion with a lot more edge than warmth.
That edge has been building for years. Nurse became a constant part of the “What’s Wrong With the Oilers?”
conversation as his play dipped and the contract turned into a lightning rod. Mark Spector, especially, kept coming after him, repeatedly questioning his “hockey sense,” calling it his “great weakness,” and portraying him as a player whose IQ didn’t match his physical gifts.
So when Nurse sat across from Spector again, the tension wasn’t subtle.
Spector asked him what felt different about playing in California compared to Edmonton, and Nurse went straight at him.
“You know, with my low IQ, I don’t know if I’m able to answer your questions. I don’t know, I think your questions are a little above my head… next.”
It was a sharp, unmistakable shot back after years of criticism. You could hear Spector chuckling awkwardly in the background, but the message from Nurse was clear.
This wasn’t just about one interview, either. Nurse had already shown he felt the weight of the scrutiny in Edmonton, once saying, “I feel like I’ve been blamed for everything from a goal against to the traffic on Stony Plain.”
And to be fair, not all of the criticism came out of nowhere. Nurse had rough stretches, especially in big playoff moments, and when you’re making $9.25M, every mistake gets magnified.
But the conversation went well beyond hockey. At a certain point, the criticism became a habit, almost a reflex.
Inside the Oilers room, the respect for Nurse is still there. But that goes out the window the moment the puck drops. He’s a Shark now, and he’s in the division, which means Edmonton will see him plenty.
He’ll be looking to prove plenty of people wrong. The Oilers will be trying to deal with a familiar opponent who knows their group as well as anyone. And after the way this breakup played out, there won’t be much sentimentality left once the game starts.
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Devon Levi Is Giving The Oilers A Real Starter Debate
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The bigger takeaway for Edmonton is that Levi is quickly turning a short-term necessity into a real conversation about the future. General manager Stan Bowman brought him in from Buffalo with an eye on upside, and the Oilers have reason to like what they are seeing so far, especially with Andersen unavailable and the backup plan still taking shape behind him. [Read more 🡒]