Oilers fans have harsh reaction to Darnell Nurse response to waiving trade protection
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The Edmonton Oilers finally had a tough conversation with Darnell Nurse and asked him if he would be willing to waive his no move clause, and fans aren't thrilled with him declining.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported earlier today that the Oilers approached Nurse and Adam Henrique for a move, but both veterans declined. Viktor Arvidsson did accept a deal to Boston.
Oilers fans not happy with Darnell Nurse declining to waive no-trade clause
Darnell Nurse has never lived up to the $9.25M salary on his contract, and plenty of fans were honestly excited to see the team have the tough conversation with him.
Nurse isn't providing the value of a $9M defenceman, and his contract deeply limits what the team can do at other parts of the roster. Fans now see Nurse as deliberately holding the team back by declining trades, and not living up the salary.
Fans say the team should go as far as stripping Nurse of the assistant captaincy, and even bench him to force him into accepting a trade.
Those moves would be too far with a respected veteran in the locker room, but the Oilers have to at least consider dialling back the role of Nurse if he continues to struggle. Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman, and even Brett Kulak could be playing more ice time than Nurse.
At the very least, it seems like the team is now motivated to move on from Darnell Nurse. When his trade protection does loosen in two more seasons to a 10-team trade list, he will surely be traded.
