On Jan. 29 the Edmonton Oilers were able to re-sign Zack Kassian to a four-year contract extension that carries an annual cap hit of $3.2 million.
Now that that is out of the way, Oilers GM Ken Holland can direct his sights to giving defenceman Darnell Nurse an extension as well. Nurse is on the last year of a two-year, $6.4 million bridge deal that he signed on Sept. 17, 2018.
With just two years before he can become an unrestricted free agent, Nurse will look to cash in big this off season. According to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal, Nurse's camp is using the seven-year, $56 million deal that Jacob Trouba signed with the New York Rangers last season as a comparable.
Matheson also went on to note that the Oilers would likely use Josh Morrisey's contract as a comparable as well. In September, Morrisey signed an eight-year, $50 million contract with the Winnipeg Jets.
Bob McKenzie also added on TSN's Insider Trading, on Tuesday night, that it wouldn't be wise for the Oilers to sign Nurse to a long-term extension with the way the team's cap situation is right now, and that they should consider signing him to another two-year bridge deal.
"In an ideal world, the Oilers and Darnell Nurse would do a six, or seven, or eight year long-term deal, but the Oilers can't do that because of their cap situation, they just can't, especially in the next year or two it's problematic. The likely solution is to do a two-year deal with Nurse, and I know what Edmonton Oilers fans are going to say 'Oh my goodness, in two years he'll be an unrestricted free agent, you're walking him to free agency.' That's not really the point here, Darnell Nurse wants to be an Oiler long-term and the Oilers know that he's a core player, but they've got to overcome that cap problem and by doing a two-year at somewhat less than $6 million a year it would satisfy the short-term needs of Nurse but it would also allow for the possibility of coming back a year from now and doing a long-term that gets them over the salary cap crunch, so we'll keep an eye on these negotiations."
In 53 games this season, Nurse has been pretty solid on the Oilers' back end. He has four goals and 22 points, is second on the team in ice time (22:42), third in blocks (92), and second in hits (120).
In 332 career games, he has registered 28 goals and 110 points.
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