Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
If you're happy paying a guy $9.25M that can't rise above a defense partner, than by all means lets blame Edmonton's lack of depth on the blueline as the reason the contract is bad.
But the whole point of being the fourth highest paid defenseman in hockey is the ability to raise the level of those around you.
He certainly hasn't done that to this point, but honestly maybe it's him that's causing the issues more than anything.
But sure lets look at the numbers ...
There are 32 defense pairings in the last three years in Edmonton that had 50 or more minutes together. Nurse played on 6 of them.
His ranking in xGA60 for the Oilers are 18th, 20th, 22nd, 26th, 30th and 31st
His 31st ranking was with Larsson who you claim was a good partner for him.
Bear and Russell as a pair ... two of the three you say are pulling him down were ranked 3rd.
Barrie is a boat anchor at pairs 27, 29 and 30. Barrie and Nurse were 30th.
Sure looks like it's not the partner that Nurse is struggling with, it's the mirror.
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I don't think anyone is happy about paying Nurse over $9 million per year.
Perhaps you think the team would be better if the Oilers had kept Bear and traded Nurse?
Probably NHL GMs and coaches would think differently. They keep paying and playing guys like Morrissey, Carlson, and Rielly that have similar XgA/60 as Nurse.
We can go back and forth all day, but if you really believe Nurse's defensive ability is 3rd pairing/7th defenceman calibre and you're not just posturing, we really aren't going to make any headway.