It appears as though the relationship between the Edmonton Oilers and defenseman Darnell Nurse is coming to a close in the months following Edmonton’s failure to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for what would have been a third straight year.
Nurse has requested a trade from the Oilers, who selected him in the first round (seventh overall pick) of the 2013 NHL Draft. He has been a mainstay on their blue line for a decade now.
But if the Oilers do decide to grant Nurse’s request and make a clean break from one another, there is one move that Edmonton general manager Stan Bowman must make, in the mind of longtime Oilers Insider Jim Matheson.
Jim Matheson: The Edmonton Oilers Must Re-Sign Connor Murphy If They Trade Darnell Nurse
According to Matheson, if the Oilers do trade away Nurse, they must re-sign pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Connor Murphy, whom they acquired from the struggling Chicago Blackhawks at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.
“Without Nurse and without Murphy, who fit in seamlessly as Nurse’s right-side tag-teamer the last two months after the Chicago deadline trade, those are a lot of minutes to replace on the Oilers back-end,” Matheson wrote in The Edmonton Journal. “They badly need Murphy, who played 20 regular season games, averaging 20:27, then six in the playoffs, upping his ice-time to 21:17, as a plus player (plus 4) in his 26 total games, to resign.”
The Oilers acquired Murphy from the Blackhawks for a second-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.
Connor Murphy’s Agent Reveals That He Would Like To Re-Sign With The Oilers
According to Murphy’s agent Steve Bartlett, who was also the player agent for former Oilers forward Doug Weight, the defenseman “felt positively” about his experience with the Oilers but would like more clarity on who will be behind Edmonton’s bench following the firing of Kris Knoblauch.
“A little bit, but I think he felt positively about the experience (after the trade). He’s certainly very interested in resigning there but he’ll have options. Yes, he would like some clarity on the coach but we have a couple of weeks here before he can officially decide anything so why not give it a little bit more runway?” Bartlett said.
“It’s not a case where he feels negatively about Edmonton in any way…but there’s two and a half weeks left and we’ll see what happens with the coach (Mike Babcock, Bruce Cassidy?). It’s one of many factors, but not the end-all, be-all, just like money isn’t the end-all, be-all. A coach, as we all know, can be gone at any time. Guys can sign four-year contracts and have three coaches. There’s other considerations… taxes, climate, teammates. A lot of things in the hopper to make a decision,” said Bartlett.
Meanwhile, Murphy is on record as saying he’d like to be back.
“I do want to be back with the Oilers. You’re in one place for so long (nine years in Chicago) and you build a bond with that city and team but to have a new challenge, new people to feed off (Edmonton) that’s really unique to experience. I’m hopeful to continue that,” said Murphy.
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