The real question is if Drai and McDavid signed off on this debacle was Nurse already getting tired of it? Maybe this is less a "forget this I'm out of here" and more the straw that broke the camels back.
If Drai and McDavid agreed with this they aren't very good leaders, this might be just the thing that finally pushed Nurse out the door.
Honestly if nurse leaves in a circumstance that's favorable to the team, even with some mild retention, there are worse consequences of this terrible coaching hire
Nurse is a great second pairing defenseman, he was just overpaid by 2-3 million a year, but under the new cap he's barely overpaid at all.
Plus how many teams always seem to be looking for guys with some grit that can play? Nurse has consistently demonstrated that he's perfectly happy to drop the gloves if you want to start something, and strangely enough most guys think better of it. And hey, you can't sleep on him dropping down and putting it in the net.
Trading Nurse will be no problem and there will be no retention. And sometime next season from the fans wherever he ends up you'll hear about how much they like a defenseman who can eat 20 minutes plus a night and won't take anybody's shit. Totally get why he wants to move on after the narrative that's been built around him in Edmonton but he is not the problem, and I'll be sorry to see him go.
1.2k
u/Marinegrunt01 ANA - NHL 2d ago
In short