2. I wrote a detailed piece Thursday on Darnell Nurse, following the compelling story from SportsNet’s Mark Spector. I will not repeat all of it here. But I will stop on one point which my Cult of Hockey colleague David Staples and I discussed at length this past season. My comment to David then was “When did Darnell Nurse become so easy to play against”. I do not say that to be catty or disrespectful of the player. But my observations were backed up by
statistics. To my specific point, Nurse’s Hits have fallen off dramatically. Since registering 196 in 2021-22 Nurse has regressed year-over-year to just 137 last season. That says Nurse has become a different player. Do not get me wrong: Darnell Nurse remains an elite skater and minute muncher. But the tantalizing mean streak Nurse broke in with has faded and with it his over-all effectiveness.
Edmonton Oilers, Darnell Nurse, hits, 2021-22, 137, 196, Bruce Cassidy, Stan Bowman, David Staples, Mark Spector
So he’s “easy to play against” now?? I mean defense is defense right.
Hits dropping sounds kinda obvious if the whole team is changing how they play. Like maybe the refs are calling everything soft now or something. Still, 196 to 137 is a big swing.
Isn’t that just because he got hurt or played less minutes? The article says “regressed” but I’m not seeing the full context. Also “mean streak faded” is such a weird way to blame it like he chose to be nice or whatever.
I don’t follow Oilers that closely but this makes it sound like they’re done with him or something. Like if hits go down the whole career is over? Come on. And why are Stan Bowman and Bruce Cassidy even mentioned like it’s their fault directly, did they personally tell him to stop hitting??