The Oilers will have to take on a bad contract to trade Darnell Nurse

Darnell Nurse has proven he wants out of Edmonton and the Oilers are going to move him. After 12 seasons, 798 games, two Stanley Cup Final runs and one very expensive contract, both sides seem ready to close the chapter.

Clean break, fresh start, new beginning, all the usual phrases apply. The only problem is that nothing about this is going to be clean.

Nurse and his representatives submitted a trade request roughly a week ago, handing the Oilers a list of preferred destinations, somewhere between three and five teams.  Elliotte Friedman reported that Nurse's preference leans east, and likely away from Canada.

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period identified the Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins as two teams already on the list. Neither is a surprise. Kings GM Ken Holland is the same man who handed Nurse his current contract back in 2021. Penguins GM Kyle Dubas goes back even further. He worked with Nurse during his junior days with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

The part we're actually ignoring in possible Darnell Nurse trades

Since the news broke, there's been no shortage of takes about how this could all work out nicely. Teams are interested. The fit makes sense in LA or Pittsburgh. A deal could come together quickly.

Maybe. But Darren Dreger of TSN threw some cold water on all of it this week, and it's worth sitting with for a second.

"With all due respect to Darnell, I mean, I think you'd see the cricket emoji, to be fair, and only because of the contract and what is remaining for Darnell. Now, there will be some level of interest," he said. "I did have a couple of general managers who shall go unnamed, not necessarily general managers who could be interested, but said that the interest will come, but only if Stan Bowman and the Edmonton Oilers are willing to take back a bad contract or bad contracts. Otherwise, how do you facilitate a deal of that magnitude with a cap hit of that significance?"

That's the reality no flashy trade proposal wants to deal with. Dreger also confirmed the timeline, noting this has been building for a while. "It was Darnell Nurse who initiated this. About a week ago, they basically submitted their request with a list of teams. What we don't know is how many teams are on that list." To move Nurse, the Oilers will have to agree to inherit someone else's albatross in the process.

Is Alex Laferriere the name?

If the Kings are genuinely in play, the name floating around is Alex Laferriere, a young, ascending winger with a $12.3 million contract. Some have floated that as the return piece Edmonton should demand. But it's a reach, given LA wouldn't part with a rising star to absorb a declining one.

Pittsburgh makes some emotional sense given the Dubas connection, but it's harder to map out the hockey logic. The Penguins aren't exactly flush with movable cap casualties who match Edmonton's needs either.

And then there's the clause situation. Nurse currently holds a full no-movement clause through the end of next season, shifting to a 10-team no-trade list in 2027-28. He controls where he goes. If the teams on that list don't have matching bad contracts Edmonton is willing to accept, the whole thing can fall apart even with everyone theoretically willing to do a deal.

But the offseason is young, the draft is around the corner and Edmonton has bigger fires burning too. A new head coach is coming in. Nurse is just one piece of a complicated puzzle.

Optimists will keep saying a deal is close. Maybe they're right. Just don't expect it to come free.

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