After some time, the Edmonton Oilers and Darnell Nurse have both agreed to part ways- as Nurse has officially requested a trade. However, the cons of acquiring Nurse for really any team far outweigh the pros. The Utah Mammoth, who have been made a few trades over the last couple of seasons, should stay far away from the expensive defender. There are much bigger and better blockbuster trades the Mammoth can pull off.
Darnell Nurse May Not Even Be Worth It For ANY Teams
The 31-year-old defenseman is entering his fifth year of a eight-year, $74M contract with the Oilers, which included a no-trade clause. Thankfully for the Oilers, who seek to rid themselves of Nurse's contract, Nurse is willing to waive his clause and has reportedly listed 3-5 teams he is interested in being traded to. Nurse however has $9.25M cap hit, which is pretty high for the former 7th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft.
The Mammoth, like many other teams, shouldn't be willing to take on a contract like that and hope that a relatively older defenseman is worth it. Even though Nurse is willing to waive his clause, it is hard to see a team willing to give Nurse that kind of money and give up something to Edmonton to acquire Nurse. Unless a team is completely desperate for a defender, there is literally no need to risk anything on Nurse- this is especially true for the Mammoth.
The Mammoth Have Great Defensive Depth
One of the reasons the Mammoth managed to reach the postseason after 5 straight seasons in which the Arizona Coyotes and Mammoth didn't was because of the defensive depth the team possessed. The Mammoth had several experienced veterans such as Ian Cole, MacKenzie Weegar, Nate Schmidt, and others that helped push Utah to the postseason. Mikhail Sergachev was an offensive force, with 10 goals scored and a nice 49 assists, which is elite for a defenseman.
And to make things even better, the Mammoth have a youngster who can blossom into a star: Dmitri Simashev, who was selected 6th overall in 2023 NHL Draft. Simashev isn't the only young defender that make a difference either. With all of that being said, the need for a defender like Nurse really isn't there, even with some free agents potentially leaving the Mammoth in the offseason.
Now, having Nurse on the team would probably not hurt at all, but the actual cost of Nurse is far too much to even consider trading for him. And quite honestly, there isn't much of a reason for other teams to trade for Nurse either, as he is just too expensive and at this point- no longer in his prime.
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