Oilers fans react strongly against Coach's new decision with Darnell Nurse
Photo credit: James Guillory - Imagn Images
Though Darnell Nurse's numbers continue to raise concerns, coach Knoblauch has slotted him on the 1st-defense pairing for tonight's game against the Capitals.
Lineup construction for tonight's game questionable
Nurse's placement in the lineup raises several questions for the Oilers, not the least of which is Knoblauch's ability to manage his players. The other, and more pressing is, does he even have a choice.
As a whole, Edmonton's defense has been average this season. Darnell Nurse's however, has been far below-average, with the metrics to prove it.
According to Moneypuck, Nurse is in the bottom percentile in every defensive category, and has done very little to contribute to wins while playing 5v5.
Now he's being paired with Evan Bouchard who, despite his decent play of late and scoring points, has not played well defensively.
Between Nurse and Bouchard, their cap hit is $19.75M, which is 21% of the team's salary cap. For an Oilers' club that is in a cap-crunch, this is problematic. In fact, Edmonton can't call for help from the AHL, despite its many injuries, because they are
capped-out.
capped-out.
Oilers fans simply can't believe the decision to promote Nurse, and have ripped the coach online.
All indications point to mismanagement.
On Tuesday, Elliotte Friedman and Bob Stauffer discussed Edmonton on Oilers NOW and had this to say:
Stauffer: Nurse for me is not the player he was several years ago. He was an emotive player, he was a guy who would grab somebody.
Friedman: I have to tell you, Bob, I have wondered if all the noise has gotten to him. I wondered that.
Stauffer: It is funny about the noise because I think the criticism, and people can correct me if they disagree, I think the criticism is more directed towards Bouchard than Nurse...I might say this, I wonder if it is not the fans who are more critical of Nurse, but some of the media are more critical of Bouchard.
Friedman: I have to tell you, Bob, I have wondered if all the noise has gotten to him. I wondered that.
Stauffer: It is funny about the noise because I think the criticism, and people can correct me if they disagree, I think the criticism is more directed towards Bouchard than Nurse...I might say this, I wonder if it is not the fans who are more critical of Nurse, but some of the media are more critical of Bouchard.
Any way you look at it, both Nurse and Bouchard need to improve, and tonight in Washington is as good a time as any.
TRENDING NOW
