December 12, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

Leon Draisaitl was asked about the recent performance of some of his teammates after Tuesday’s victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. When asked about Darnell Nurse’s recent play, Draisaitl said that “you guys should talk about him more. He’s been really, really good. Like high end”.

Nurse gets talked about a lot, but it’s always in a negative light. As Nurse himself once quipped, he gets blamed for everything including the traffic on Stony Plain Road. That tends to happen when your contract carries an AAV of $9.25 million and you show up in the video for as many goals against as he has in recent seasons.

Related: Deep Dive: Nurse’s 2024 playoff struggles

It’s time to switch the narrative surrounding Nurse though. He deserves a ton of praise for the way he has played lately.

Draisaitl went on to say that “…he’s been amazing, maybe our best D for a while now, and it’s fun to see. He’s such a horse.” Below are some of Nurse’s numbers since Halloween (15 games) derived from Natural Stat Trick to back up Draisaitl’s claim:

• 5v5 goal share since Halloween: 83.3% (10-2)
• 5v5 Expected goal share (xGF) since Halloween: 57.97%
• 5v5 High danger chances for percentage (HDCF%) since Halloween: 63.22%
• Points before Halloween: 3
• Points since Halloween: 8

According to Sunil Agrihotri of Oilersnation, Nurse’s percentage of ice time spent playing with Draisaitl has jumped from 23% in the first ten games of the season up to just under 40% in the next fourteen games. 

While getting more ice time with the league’s leading goal scorer would help anyone’s performance, I don’t like attributing all of Nurse’s success to Draisaitl. Nurse played 35.76% of his five-on-five ice time with Draisaitl in 2023-24. Their expected goal share was 54.37%, and their actual goal share was 53.06%. This season, their xGF is 58.78%, and their actual goal share is 62.5% (5-3). The numbers are better for the duo this season, so something has changed. I think it’s fair to say that Nurse is responsible for some of his own recent success rather than attributing it to Draisaitl.

Nurse’s deployment with Brett Kulak is also a factor. Nurse’s partner is Troy Stecher most of the time, but Nurse has been with Kulak for 28.27% of his five-on-five ice time this season. Their underlying stats are all over 60% together this season. Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has been putting Nurse and Kulak out together for some shifts as a way to shelter Stecher and to strengthen the second pairing. Kulak has a history of being able to play the right side. Both Kulak and Nurse are fantastic skaters, which allows them to both to play either side if needed. That allows them to read off each other well and to switch sides when the situation calls for it.

Once again, I don’t want to attribute Nurse’s success to others. Nurse is playing with a ton of confidence. He’s breaking up plays in his own end, and he’s being more physical. Nurse is also making smart decisions with the puck. The biggest trend I’ve seen in his game is that he’s reversing the puck more often now than he has in the past. Rather than trying a difficult stretch pass or dumping the puck out, he’s stopping and moving it to his partner, often by playing it around the net.

You can really tell a player is playing with confidence based on what he does in the offensive zone though. A lot of people feel that he needs to keep it simple because he gets himself into trouble if he’s too active in the offensive zone. I vehemently disagree with that sentiment. Nurse got his contract in large part because of the amount of offence he produces from the back end. He’s at his best when he’s getting involved in the rush and when he’s moving around in the offensive zone. Nurse is doing a great job of moving around in the offensive zone right now. He’s also taking shots and making strong, sure passes to forwards in good positions. He’s been rewarded with eight points in his last fifteen games.

I’ve also seen a lot of people say that the hit that Nurse took from Ryan Reaves “reset” him. That hit occurred on November 16, 2024. Nurse’s game took off at the end of October. Nurse had been playing well for over two weeks before his injury. I also don’t like making jokes about head injuries because they’re serious injuries that can impact people for the rest of their lives.

While we’re on the subject of health, Nurse finally appears to be healthy after battling through injuries since 2022. Nurse played through a hip flexor injury in the 2022 playoffs. His performance never really elevated again until now after that injury. Nurse also missed the team’s first six preseason games due to an injury. The team wanted to be cautious with an injury that had been an issue since the 2024 playoffs. Nurse skated with the team, but he didn’t see any game action until the final two games of the preseason.

Let’s give Nurse his proper due. While it’s true that playing with Draisaitl and Kulak has helped, Nurse has been fantastic lately. Nurse is capable of being the best defenceman on the team on any given night, and he’s been exactly that for a while now. Fifteen games isn’t a small sample size in the scope of an NHL season. It’s unrealistic to expect his underlying numbers to continue to be this good for the rest of the season, but it’s entirely realistic to believe that Nurse has turned a corner and moved past whatever was holding him back the past couple of seasons.