Analyst names Elephant in the Room of Oilers early season struggles

So far this season, the Oilers offence has struggled to reach their full potential and produce much at all at even strength. All of the focus is on the forwards, but there's one major issue on the blue line too.

Oilers analysts have raised the alarm on Nurse's advanced stats early this season, showing the defenceman is getting caved in at even strength.

With Nurse on the ice, the Oilers are getting out-chances by the opposition by a wide margin. Without him on the ice, their numbers are much better.

In addition to surrendering more scoring chances against, the Oilers are also generating less offence with Nurse on the ice.

Multiple times in the first games of the season, a play on Nurse's stick that could be promising leads nowhere after a poor play.

Analysts singled out one specific play against the New Jersey Devils where Nurse passed up a prime scoring chance to make a pass into a low-danger area. This has been something most Oilers are guilty of now.

Simply put, Darnell Nurse needs to elevate his game from what he's giving the Oilers currently. The team needs more from a $9.25M player to at least be a positive contributor - not a negative.

Jake Walman is set to return to the lineup for the Oilers next game, and will be playing the right side alongside Nurse.

Hopefully with this new pairing, Nurse can settle in and find his game in the coming weeks.