- Darnell Nurse asked the Oilers for a trade and handed them a short list of teams
- The Kings are a frontrunner, with GM Ken Holland tied to the deal he gave Nurse in Edmonton
- Read below for what a Nurse trade would cost Los Angeles and why Edmonton is stuck
The team chasing Darnell Nurse hardest might be run by the same guy who paid him.
Nurse requested a trade out of Edmonton, and the Los Angeles Kings have emerged as a frontrunner. The reason traces back to one man. Kings GM Ken Holland is the executive who signed Nurse to his eight-year, $74 million contract when he ran the Oilers.
Edmonton Journal beat writer Jim Matheson laid out what a Kings deal would have to look like:
Matheson’s point is the price. He wants young winger Alex Laferriere coming back to Edmonton, and he calls anything short of that a non-starter for the Oilers. Laferriere is 24, plays a steady middle-six role, and sits on a cheap three-year deal. That is exactly the kind of cost-controlled forward a cap-tight team wants.
His leverage is real. Nurse carries a $9.25 million cap hit through 2030 and a full no-trade clause until 2027, so he controls where this goes. He gave the Oilers a list of three to five teams he would accept. The Kings and Penguins are on it, both with personal ties for Nurse.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported the request a week ago and did not sugarcoat the market. Edmonton may have to take back a bad contract just to get a deal done. Here is Dreger breaking it down:
That is the trap for Stan Bowman. The contract is heavy, the no-trade clause shrinks the buyer pool, and the handful of teams on Nurse’s list know it.
Earlier word had Nurse leaning toward the East and the Flyers. The Kings tie is the one that keeps surfacing.
If Holland wants his old defenseman back in his lineup, Laferriere is the name Edmonton will start every conversation with.
