Bruins Defenseman Nixed Trade to Oilers for Darnell Nurse

The Darnell Nurse saga is over. He’s a San Jose Shark, and everyone involved is happy to move on from what was a drawn out and, at times, uncomfortable ending to his tenure with the Edmonton Oilers.

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In the end, GM Stan Bowman was seemingly able to make the best of it, shedding Nurse’s full $9.25 million cap hit while also acquiring former first-round pick (20th overall in 2020) Shakir Mukhamadullin. However, we’ve since learned that might have not been his first choice.

According to insider David Pagnotta, Bowman had actually struck a deal that would have sent Nurse to the Boston Bruins, but the player coming back to Edmonton declined to waive his no-trade clause.

Pagnotta said:

“There was a trade in place with the Bruins that would have sent Nurse to the Boston Bruins for a player on that team that currently has no-trade protection, and that player was not willing to waive their no-trade protection in order to make this happen. The Oilers pivoted and it ended up being San Jose,”

Popular social media account PuckEmpire then said he heard the unnamed player was Nikita Zadorov. Insider Jimmy Murphy jumped on that, saying he was hearing the same before later replying to another comment that it had been confirmed to be Zadorov.

“I reported on the @thesickpodnhl last week that there was chatter that the #NHLBruins were listening on Zadorov. Was unable to confirm via agent or team sources but where there’s smoke there’s fire.

No it was Zadorov. Confirmed,”

The 31-year-old Nurse has four years remaining on the eight-year, $74 million extension he signed with the Oilers back in 2021, while Zadorov, 31, also has four years left on the six-year, $30 million contract he signed to join the Bruins as a free agent in 2024.

Boston was, of course, one of the three teams on Nurse’s initial list of preferred destinations, so it makes sense to hear that Edmonton was deep in talks on a deal with Don Sweeney.

A swap for fellow rugged left-shot defenseman Nikita Zadorov would have been fascinating, allowing the Oilers to clear $4.25 million in cap space while not leaving a hole on their blue line.

Instead, they turned to San Jose and have since used the extra cap space to sign Ryan Shea to a five-year contract worth $4 million annually. On the surface, it looks like a nice pivot from Bowman and company, though we’ll ultimately have to see how it all plays out over the coming years.

Next: Nurse Details How His Messy Situation with Oilers Led to Necessary Trade