Darnell Nurse injury leaves concern for Oilers — and a hole in their lineup
It was painfully obvious that a violent collision was coming, and the aftermath of the brutal strike resulted in a massive blow to the Edmonton Oilers .
As Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse circled his own net with the puck and prepared to move it, Toronto Maple Leafs pugilist Ryan Reaves , who had been eyeing a thunderous check, delivered a shoulder to Nurse's head. There was no grey area here. Nurse's head was the principal point of contact and Reaves was issued a match penalty at 2:41 of the second period after the Oilers blueliner was left bleeding and woozy.
A suspension is probably coming to Reaves for his actions, but any loss of their 12th forward is barely a punishment for the Maple Leafs. It's the Oilers, who dropped Saturday's game 4-3 in overtime, who've been likely dealt with a major problem.
Nurse remained down on the ice and surrounded by teammates while the officials undertook a quick review to confirm the severity of the penalty to Reaves. He needed help getting to the Oilers dressing room from head athletic therapist T.D. Forss and winger Mattias Janmark , and the team announced minutes later that he unsurprisingly wouldn't return to the game because of an upper-body injury.
It's hard to believe Nurse will play on the rest of the road trip given how he looked when he left the ice. It's worth noting, however, that colleague Chris Johnston reported Nurse walked out of the dressing postgame under his own power . The Oilers have a day off before competing in Montreal on Monday and in Ottawa on Tuesday. They then host Minnesota and the New York Rangers next Thursday and Saturday, respectively, and then have almost a week off until they travel to Salt Lake City for a Nov. 29 contest against Utah .
The Oilers will have a huge hole in their lineup for however long Nurse is out of commission, something that was apparent in the back half of Saturday's game. That Nurse has been the subject of criticism for months, a natural byproduct of his $9.25 million cap hit, is immaterial. It's also misguided given how well he's been for nearly three weeks.
Nurse entered the Toronto contest coming off his best performance of the season — a three-point outing that included two goals and the overtime winner against the Nashville Predators . He's made significant strides since he started a game in Detroit with fellow lefty Brett Kulak on Oct. 27. Before taking on the Leafs, Nurse had 51.2 Corsi for and 53.1 expected goals percentages at five-on-five in his last nine games while getting semi-regular shifts with Kulak. The Oilers have also outscored opponents 6-4 in 174 minutes in that game state over that span.
No, Nurse isn't Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl . He doesn't play on the top pair like Mattias Ekholm or Evan Bouchard , either. But aside from those four players — and maybe throw in Zach Hyman — there isn't another Oiler whose possible extended absence is more jarring to the makeup of the team.
Only Bouchard and Ekholm averaged more than the 21:36 Nurse skated per game before Saturday. (McDavid's 20:37 was deflated thanks to the 37-second game in Columbus when he left because of an ankle injury.) Not only does Nurse play in all situations, but he anchors the second pair behind the elite top duo of Ekholm and Bouchard.
There are already signs the coaching staff, in this case led by Paul Coffey and Mark Stuart, doesn't have the confidence in the defensive depth to keep Ekholm and Bouchard together on a full-time basis. Bouchard got some shifts on the left side next to Troy Stecher after Nurse departed Saturday's game and Ekholm skated at times with Ty Emberson . Apropos of nothing, it was Bouchard's defensive-zone turnover that led to the Leafs tying the game in the third period.
Without Nurse, the Oilers essentially lack a middle defence pairing. His partner was the biggest uncertainty on the team entering training camp after Philip Broberg , Cody Ceci and Vincent Desharnais departed in the offseason. If anything, those concerns were even more prevalent early in the season as Nurse struggled and the coaching staff rotated through partners Emberson, Stecher and Travis Dermott — players more suited for bottom-pair duty.
Kulak, mostly a No. 5 defenceman in Edmonton since he was acquired from Montreal in March 2022, stepped up to help the Oilers get by.
The gaping hole in the middle of their defence corps means the Oilers' blue-line depth is about to be tested.
The Oilers dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen because of an injury to winger Viktor Arvidsson . Down to six rearguards, Dermott seldom played after Nurse left the game — just nine shifts from that point on.
The Oilers can't expect much help from their farm team, either, should they opt to make a recall.
The six defencemen the Bakersfield Condors dressed for their Saturday game against the San Diego Gulls were Connor Carrick, Max Wanner, Noel Hoefenmayer, Ronnie Attard , Josh Brown and Phil Kemp. Lefty Cam Dineen was injured in the team's previous game. Carrick, Attard and Brown all have NHL experience on defence and Brown signed a three-year contract in the summer.
None of them would likely move the needle much, though, let alone come close to replacing Nurse.
Nurse's health is the priority here, especially since he took a hit to the head. That's what matters most to the Oilers.
But if Nurse's injury means he's going to miss multiple games, then the Oilers have a lot to sort out. And that truly hurts them.
(Photo: Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)
