This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Darnell Nurse
Edmonton Oilers Defense
33 points, 72 penalty minutes, and a 53.4 per cent chance share on the most criticised contract in the league.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | EDM | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 | 17:00 |
| 2015-16 | EDM | 69 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -13 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 120 | 2.5 | 20:14 |
| 2016-17 | EDM | 44 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 | 5.9 | 17:01 |
| 2017-18 | EDM | 82 | 6 | 20 | 26 | +15 | 67 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 194 | 3.1 | 22:15 |
| 2018-19 | EDM | 82 | 10 | 31 | 41 | -5 | 87 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 196 | 5.1 | 23:49 |
| 2019-20 | EDM | 71 | 5 | 28 | 33 | -2 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 170 | 2.9 | 23:27 |
| 2020-21 | EDM | 56 | 16 | 20 | 36 | +27 | 57 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 154 | 10.4 | 25:38 |
| 2021-22 | EDM | 71 | 9 | 26 | 35 | +18 | 54 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 203 | 4.4 | 25:03 |
| 2022-23 | EDM | 82 | 12 | 31 | 43 | +26 | 64 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 203 | 5.9 | 23:30 |
| 2023-24 | EDM | 81 | 10 | 22 | 32 | +3 | 79 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 181 | 5.5 | 21:54 |
| 2024-25 | EDM | 76 | 5 | 28 | 33 | +11 | 72 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 188 | 2.7 | 22:22 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 716 | 81 | 219 | 300 | +78 | 621 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 1696 | 4.8 | 22:41 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 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
5 goals and 28 assists in 76 games for 33 points, plus-11, on 22:22 a night and 188 shots.
53.4 per cent at five-on-five, the 81st percentile — which on this club is the fourth-best figure among defencemen and in the league is a good one. His on-ice goals were 66-59 against an expected 63-55, so the results roughly matched the play.
The Finesse Game
The skating is genuinely excellent for a 6-4 defenceman — he covers ground, he can carry the puck out, and he closes gaps with pace rather than with reach.
188 shots and 5 goals is a poor return and the release has never threatened anybody. 28 assists at 22 minutes a night is modest, and the first pass is where the errors live: he attempts it late and under pressure more often than he should.
The Physical Game
6-4 and 215, and he plays a genuinely hard game. He hits, he clears his crease, and he will fight anybody in the league.
72 penalty minutes over 76 games is the highest total on the club and a real cost even on a unit that killed at the best rate in hockey.
The Intangibles
Eleven seasons in one organisation, a captaincy in all but name, and a contract that has been criticised more thoroughly than any other in the league.
The honest reading is more forgiving than the reputation: an 81st-percentile chance share in 22 minutes a night on a Cup finalist is a good season. He is being paid as a number-one defenceman and he is a good number-two, which is an overpayment rather than a disaster.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 1,391 minutes
- Expected goals
- 53.4%
- 82nd pct
- Shot attempts
- 51.9%
- 73rd pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 66 for, 59 against. Expected: 62.6 and 54.6.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe numbers rank him 28 points above where the report does. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason. Why the numbers land there sets out the club he did it on, the minutes he played and the men he played them with.
Both bars are percentiles among the 315 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 74 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 · 1391 minutes at five-on-five
- Troy Stecher33%
- Brett Kulak28%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- EDM took 54.3% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 53.4% — 0.9 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- Third pair, 1,391 minutes at five-on-five — 95th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leon Draisaitl | 59.1% | 50.3% | 58.3% |
| Troy Stecher | 51.8% | 54.2% | 46.3% |
| Vasily Podkolzin | 58.5% | 51.3% | 58.3% |
59.1% together, 50.3% for him apart and 58.3% for Draisaitl apart. He was worse away from Draisaitl, who was no better away from him — he needed that pairing more than Draisaitl did.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
248 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 5 of them goals. His median goal came from 33 feet. 9% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 69% from beyond forty.