Darnell Nurse

This Season So Far

The 2022-23 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.

Last Season

9 goals and 26 assists in 71 games — 35 points and a plus-18 at 25:03 a night, the 95th percentile among defencemen — with 54 penalty minutes. 2:45 a night short-handed is the 89th percentile.

53.1 per cent of the expected goals at five-on-five over 1,448 minutes, the 75th percentile. His ice went 60-61 against an expectation of 69.58-61.43 — ten fewer goals for than the chances promised.

Fifteen playoff games at Edmonton’s run to the conference final, for two goals and four assists.

The Finesse Game

6.85 shots per 60 is the 13th-most of the 202 qualified defencemen and 100.0 mph is the 16th-hardest of the 192 the tracking covers. Two hundred and three shots in seventy-one games, at 4.4 per cent.

17 per cent of them came from the slot, the 87th percentile, at a median of 47 feet. He is not a point shooter in the ordinary sense; he walks in.

1:10 a night on the power play is the 65th percentile with 17 per cent of his points there — he is not on the first unit and does not need to be. 1.04 even-strength points per 60 is the 63rd percentile.

2.26 giveaways per 60 is the 81st percentile against 1.11 takeaways at the 67th.

The Physical Game

6-4 and 215. 6.61 hits per 60 is the 81st percentile among defencemen and 4.45 blocks is the 59th.

0.30 penalties drawn per 60 is the 31st percentile and 0.91 taken is the 76th — drawn minus taken at minus-0.61, the 10th percentile of the 202 qualified defencemen. Fifty-four minutes in seventy-one games, and 406 in a 477-game career. On a club whose penalty kill finished 30th in the league, that is the most expensive thing on this page.

4.1 bursts over 20 mph per 60 is the 95th percentile among defencemen against a 22.4 mph top speed at the 71st. He is not a top-end sprinter; he is constantly at the top of the range he has, which at 6-4 and twenty-five minutes a night is the more useful of the two.

8.37 miles per 60 is the 39th percentile.

The Intangibles

Seventh overall in 2013, and 477 NHL games at 27 with 192 points and a career plus-38.

With Evan Bouchard he took 58.2 per cent of the chances over 1,038 attempts and 50.2 without him; Bouchard away from him is at 49.3. That is the best pairing Edmonton has and both men are better in it.

With Connor McDavid he is at 55.6 over 1,257 attempts and 51.0 without. McDavid without him is at 58.8. That direction is the same for every Oiler and it is not a mark against him.

Twenty-five minutes a night, a hard shot, and a first-pair workload on a conference finalist. The penalties are the part of the file that would decide a series, and nothing in it is going to make them go away.