32 Teams, 32 Players: Darnell Nurse (and some other NHL thoughts)

Everything with the Edmonton Oilers comes down to the complementary players. Let's talk about that, and a few other random NHL stuff to open the week.

Now that the 2024-25 NHL season has arrived we are going to highlight one player on each team that stands out for the season. What kind of player? Well, a player that could make a difference, be an X-factor, be on the verge of a breakout, or just simply be a player under the microscope and needing to have a big season.

Basically — which player do I think is the most fascinating on each team.

We are not going in any particularly order and continue today with Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers. After that, we also get into the most surprising team in the NHL — the Winnipeg Jets — and the New York Rangers’ questionable handling of Matt Rempe.

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When it comes to the Edmonton Oilers it is easy to talk about Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. There is also not really much else to say about them at this point when you do talk about them.

They are two of the five best offensive players in the world, and in McDavid’s case we are already talking about one of the best to ever do it. He is a machine. He is a must-see player. Most organizations will go decades, or perhaps even their entire existence, and never have two players of this ability at any point, let alone two of them at the exact same time. No matter what is happening with the rest of this roster, McDavid and Draisaitl — assuming they are healthy and in the lineup — are going to drag this team to the playoffs and give them at least a fighting chance when they do get there.

There is always the possibility, like in the 2024 playoffs, that those two guys just absolutely go off and overcome almost every other flaw on the roster. It might not be enough to get them all the way, it might not work out every year, but it can still take them pretty far.

McDavid and Draisaitl are not really going to impact the Oilers’ chances of winning a Stanley Cup because you know they are going to play at a Stanley Cup winning level.

What is going to impact the Oilers’ chances of winning a Stanley Cup is going to be the other players on the roster and whether or not they have enough to complement the two superstars to an acceptable level.

It does not matter how good your two best players are, they alone are not going to be enough to win it all. You need scoring depth at forward, you need at least two defense pairings you can count on, and you need something that resembles capable goaltending. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin needed a supporting cast to win in Pittsburgh. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane needed one in Chicago. Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom needed one in Washington. McDavid and Draisaitl need one here.

Even though it has not quite worked out through the first part of this season, I am reasonably confident the Oilers are going to score enough goals independent of McDavid and Draisaitl.

Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner have combined for just seven goals on 138 shots on goal. That is only a 5 percent shooting percentage, which is well below what should be expected of them. There is room for a bounce back there. I am not sold on the goaltending of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, but goalies can be weird and get hot at any moment, and you can always trade for one if needed.

The spot that gives me concern here is the lack of a quality second defense pair, the amount of money they have sunk into Nurse, and whether or not he can give them enough to help form that badly needed second defense pairing.

Let’s talk about it.