Darnell Nurse Details Why Dirty Nature of Reaves’ Hit Was “Obvious”

Darnell Nurse, who will miss Thursday night’s game between the Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild, talked about the head hit from Ryan Reaves that is keeping him out of the lineup. Essential to the Oilers’ blue line, Nurse practiced with the team and looked like he could go, but he’ll sit, likely as a precautionary measure.

Nurse spoke out about the hit from Reaves that left him sidelined. It occurred during Saturday’s game, and Nurse has since been recovering. Speaking to the media, he called it “pretty obvious” when describing what it was Reaves was trying to do.

---

---

Nurse explained. “Even if you put yourself in a bad spot, there’s lots of body on a 6’4″ hockey player to hit, and not one piece was touched other than my head.” Unlike the Matthew Knies hit from Wednesday’s game that was mostly body and some head, there was almost no body contact in the Reaves hit.

While some might debate the intent, Nurse pointed to Reaves’ reputation, saying, “There are certain guys in the league that each shift they go out there, they’re trying to inflict pain, and I think it’s pretty obvious what was going on there.”

Nurse Not In Control of When He Plays for Oilers Next

Despite seemingly wanting to be in the lineup, Nurse appeared resigned to the reality of the Oilers being careful. “With these things, the timeline’s up to multiple people. What I feel sometimes isn’t indicative of what’s gonna happen,” he noted.

The Oilers will miss Nurse’s presence on the ice, but the team hopes his absence will be brief. Meanwhile, the hit has reignited discussions about player safety and the role of physical enforcers like Reaves in today’s NHL.

Was Reaves out to hurt Nurse? The Oilers’ blueliner seems to think so.

Next: Was Signing Elias Lindholm a Mistake by the Bruins?