EDMONTON – Calling Dr. Knoblauch: The Edmonton Oilers are hemorrhaging Darnell Nurse on the ice and need someone to stop the bleeding. Statistics. Or it will be a Code Blue in their run for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Because now they’re losing in this best-of-seven Western Conference Final against a Dallas Stars team that, when they get going, has been harder to stop than a freight train going downhill. Ask the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights.
There is no shortage of questions in Oil Country after Monday night’s sobering 5-3 loss, in which the Oilers blew another two-goal lead. How exactly did Jason Robertson score that fourth goal on Stuart Skinner? Why didn’t Knoblauch call a timeout to try to stop the momentum? And if the Oilers knew the Stars were going to react in the second half, why did they seem so ill-equipped to handle it?
They are all fair questions. But perhaps the most important thing looms: How do the Oilers solve their nursing problem?
There is a problem in both the short and long term. In the here and now, Nurse appears to be at the center of everything bad happening on Edmonton’s end.
Nurse, 29, is a carbon copy of the guy we saw in the West finals just two years ago. The simple game can be an adventure. He struggles to control the gap in the rush, but also routinely allows the inside body position in the opponent’s frontal attack, opening the door to counter opportunities and greater sustained pressure.
Sometimes over/under is a bad indicator of play. Sometimes it paints a very accurate picture, as it has for Nurse in these playoffs.
Nurse is the Green Jacket’s playoff leader with a -12 in 15 playoff games. That -12 is more than the negative lead of the other three teams still in the playoffs combined: Chris Kreider (-5), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (-4) and Joe Pavelski (-2).
Edmonton has been outscored 21-10 in these playoffs with Nurse on the ice. He has scored 18 goals against at 5-on-5, while the next closest player in the playoffs has scored 12.
The Oilers coaching staff is looking for solutions. Midway through the game, Knoblauch and Paul Coffey transitioned Nurse from playing with Vinny Desharnais to Nurse’s regular running mate in Cody Ceci. Nurse skated 7:34 with Desharnais and 8:54 with Ceci and was on the ice for Dallas’ go-ahead goal and the game-winning goal, one with each teammate.
“Just like when we change the forward lines, sometimes we also change the defense,” Knoblauch explained when making the change. “Things hadn’t been going well in the second half and we needed to change some kind of rhythm and flow, and I felt like maybe that was the best way to do it.”
Edmonton shouldn’t have to try to isolate a $9.25 million defenseman, but that’s where they find themselves in their pursuit of Stanley. The nurse’s minutes have dropped from 23:02 last year in the postseason to 19:38 this year. Knoblauch may opt for Philip Broberg to make his 2024 playoff debut over Desharnais to try to combat the Stars’ speed, but Oilers management has always preferred size over skating.
Some of Edmonton’s other questions might resolve themselves. Skinner actually had one of his best games of the playoffs. Knoblauch isn’t a big timeout guy, but he called one of the best in the playoffs so far in Game 7 in Vancouver. And while they seem to be a slow learner, the Oilers have shown that they seem to learn their lesson, even if it’s the hard way.
Therein lies the problem for oilmen, the long-term problem. There is no easy way around this. Nurse has six full years and $51.6 million left on her contract.
He got his eight-year, $74 million contract in August 2021 amid a perfect storm of events. Nurse was coming off a 16-goal, 36-point campaign in a shortened 56-game Canadian bubble year. Seth Jones ($9.5 million) and Zach Werenski ($9.58 million) signed extensions the previous month, deals that are still high marks, and the Oilers were likely worried about what Nurse would cost if he repeated those same numbers for a full stretch. . season.
Nurse was the Oilers’ undisputed number one defenseman. Edmonton then traded for Mattias Ekholm, who fit like a glove, and removed Nurse from the first power play and penalty units. Along with the emergence of Evan Bouchard, Nurse has entered no man’s land in Edmonton’s backfield.
What is he? The only clear answer to that question right now is that it is overpaid.
Connor McDavid reminded after Game 3 that playoff series can be short. That’s what the Edmonton Oilers are looking at now. It seems we’ve reached a crossroads: in this series, during Nurse’s tenure in Edmonton. Adjustments are necessary.
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