The Edmonton Oilers have a lot of young talent, and while this season looks much like the recent past in terms of the NHL standings, fans of the team are probably happy with the changes new GM Peter Chiarelli has been able to enact since taking over the franchise only a few short months ago (landing the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft and generational talent Connor McDavid certainly has helped). McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins form a potentially elite young forward corps, but there remains work to be done, strides to be made. The Oilers are far from a finished product and issues, specifically defensively, remain. As such, it wasn't surprising to hear that Chiarelli and Co. were among the "most interested" teams when it was first announced that the New York Islanders were looking to move blueliner Travis Hamonic.
Hamonic, a top-four defender with room to grow, is dealing with family issues back home in Western Canada and seeking to return there. While the Winnipeg Jets are said to be Hamonic's No. 1 preferred destination due to their proximity to his family, the Oilers were among the small handful of teams to which the big defender would reportedly prefer to be dealt.
At this point, Chiarelli is probably chewing through the phone cord trying to come up with a package that will land Hamonic - a player that would immediately upgrade the entire Oilers defense and, really, the team as a whole.
Unfortunately, Islanders GM Garth Snow is said to be looking for a 1-for-1 deal, meaning a defenseman of close to Hamonic's caliber would have to go back to New York in the trade. Because of their lack of talent on the back end, that leaves few possibilities for the Oilers. One such possibility - Darnell Nurse - is apparently not on the table, according to a recent report from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. Via Chris Nichols' Twitter:
Friedman: I think #Oilers "would like to do something, they just don't want to do something w/ Darnell Nurse." #Hamonic #Isles
— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) November 27, 2015
It makes sense that the defensively deficient Oilers wouldn't want to give up Nurse, the seventh-overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft and one half of the team's current top pairing alongside Andrej Sekera.
Nurse, at 20 and in his first season with the big club, remains a (likely elite) work-in-progress. He shows flashes, but as it always seems to be with young defenseman, struggles to put together a full game's worth of high-caliber play. But for anyone that has watched Nurse play, it's hard to not get excited about his NHL future. He can move the puck up ice with ease and he's more than willing to lay a big hit or three. Todd McLellan has been using him in nearly every situation and, while there have been hiccups, Nurse has performed well.
In short, he's looked very much like the future No. 1 the team envisioned when they selected him in 2013.
The question that faces Chiarelli, is how to upgrade the Oilers defense - getting Justin Schultz back to health will be a big help - without surrendering a player like Nurse. Because really, shipping out Nurse for Hamonic may improve the Oilers in the here and now, but it won't mean much in the long-term, especially considering that while Hamonic is the more established player, his ceiling very well may be lower than Nurse's in the long run.
And while it's too early to say that for sure about a 20-year-old player, the signs through 12 games of Nurse's professional career have been promising.
Chiarelli will keep pushing for Hamonic, of course, but it sounds like whatever he's offering the Islanders won't include his budding defensive star.
