- Darnell Nurse says he asked the Oilers for a trade before the deal to San Jose
- The veteran defenseman fired back at the Edmonton criticism he took for years
- Read below for Nurse’s full comments and the presser video
Darnell Nurse did not leave Edmonton quietly.
A day after the Oilers shipped him to the San Jose Sharks, Nurse confirmed he was the one who pushed for the move. He owns a no-movement clause, so nothing happens without his sign-off.
Nurse was asked what led to the request.
“Sometimes it’s just time to go,” Nurse said. “You feel that personally, and you’ve got to stick to your gut.”
The Oilers had reason to make it work. Nurse’s $9.25 million cap hit was a problem for a team trying to reshape its roster after a first-round exit, and moving him cleared real money. But he had to agree to go first, and this time he did. Edmonton had asked him to waive the clause a year earlier, which he wasn’t thrilled about back then.
Nurse spent his entire 798-game career in Edmonton, and he didn’t pretend the split was easy. He also didn’t drag it out.
“I can’t wait to go play in San Jose,” Nurse said. “Lots of good memories in Edmonton, but now that chapter closes.”
The sharper stuff came when he was asked about the criticism that followed him around for years as one of the highest-paid blueliners on a Cup contender.
“No one expects more out of myself and the way I play than myself,” Nurse said. “Joe from down the street can be mad because he can’t drink his beer and watch the second round of the playoffs. There were times when you have a high cap hit, and there were things that were definitely warranted. There was probably a lot of stuff as well that wasn’t warranted. For whatever reason, I was the problem. That’s sports, though. That’s how it works.”
Here’s the full media availability from San Jose:
San Jose picked up a proven top-four defenseman in return for defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and a prospect. You can read the full breakdown of the deal in our Sharks land Darnell Nurse trade coverage.
The 31-year-old lands with a young Sharks group that added Jacob Trouba earlier in the week and is building toward something. For Nurse, it’s a clean break from a market that spent a lot of nights pointing at his contract.
