What will the Edmonton Oilers do with Darnell Nurse?
Sportsnet: Luke Fox reports Darnell Nurse led all Edmonton Oilers defencemen in scoring last season, although that only took 26 points. Belief among both the player and the club is that there is another level to the defender’s game. That and the fact Edmonton is down to just $3.98 million in cap space — with which Peter Chiarelli must use to sign Nurse and maybe one of his PTO depth forwards — suggests Nurse would be better off going short-term and betting on a breakout year.
Nurse began skating with the Oilers in Edmonton this week but said he won’t participate in training camp without a contract. Nurse will likely sign a bridge contract but can the Oilers even afford to pay Nurse with a bridge contract?
Will David Krejci ask to be traded?
Sportsnet: The Boston Bruins were among the finalists in the John Tavares sweepstakes earlier this summer, and while that might have been an exciting few days for the Boston fan base, it was not a pleasant time for Bruins forward David Krejci. The news of the Boston brass meeting with Tavares surprised and upset Krejci.
If Tavares had signed a similar deal with the Bruins, that he signed with the Leafs it would’ve put them in a salary cap bind. It also would’ve potentially put Krejci in a tough spot considering they’d need to shed some dollars and Krejci is the team’s highest-paid player.
Krejci said, “I had no idea what was going on. My agent didn’t tell me [anything] because he said he didn’t know anything,” Krejci told Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston. “I didn’t get any phone calls from anyone from the Bruins. … I know that I have a no-trade [clause] so they would have to call me [if they did end up signing Tavares].
The Tavares situation left Krejci expendable and will this lead to him asking for a trade? He will likely stick with the team as the Bruins are a Stanley Cup contender and why would he want to leave that situation?
