Things got so bad with Nurse’s performance that serious fans and observers started to wonder and discuss in public if it might not be best to move Nurse to wing in a last ditch effort to salvage something from his lengthy and costly contract.
Nurse has more than met his target. After a rough first month on the seasons, he’s played the best hockey of his NHL career. Who knows if other NHL players have taken noted, but I’ll be shocked if Nurse makes the most over-rated list this year. Such is the improvement in his play that he could well be in line for the most under-rated list.
If you go buy time-on-ice at even strength (a solid proxy for how much a coach trusts in a player) as well as points-per-60 even strength minutes (a rough proxy for offensive performance), Nurse has been one of the NHL’s best d-men in November and December, ranking 23rd overall. Quinn Hughes is on top during this time period, followed by Zach Werenski, Vladislav Garikov, Rasmus Dahlin and Edmonton’s own Evan Bouchard. But I’ll suggest that Nurse has somewhat outplayed even the puck-moving Bouchard at even strength these past two months.
Nurse has been skating as well as he’s ever skated, a welcome change after injury limited his mobility last season. His game is built on his size, but also his speed and agility. He’s back to darting around the ice and making a major impact wherever he lands.
In the past two months, Nurse has been Edmonton’s best defenceman, which is no small feat considering the team’s top-pairing consists of Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm. But in this time period, Nurse has never been better than he’s ever been before on defence, greatly limiting his mistakes on Grade A shots against at even strength, and he’s made passes and shots to create Grade A shots almost at the same rate as the offensively-gifted Bouchard.
Of course, it’s all about the 2025 playoffs for both Nurse and the Edmonton Oilers. What they do then will define them, not regular season play.
But it’s a massive relief for the Oilers faithful to see Nurse play such consistently strong hockey.
It looked like he might have lost his hockey mojo last season, but there’s no denying he’s got it back, and is now playing as one might expect an elite NHL d-man to perform.
