Edmonton Oilers: Darnell Nurse Undergoes Surgery, Out 12 Weeks
Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse’s injury was worse than expected. After undergoing surgery to repair ligament and bone damage to his right ankle, he will be out 12 weeks.
The 21-year-old blueliner was hurt in a 6-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 1. Edmonton placed Nurse on the injured reserve soon after with a lower-body injury. For the Oilers, this was concerning, and they had to shuffle their lines to make up for his absence.
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Right now, it is unclear in what circumstances Nurse broke his foot, but it was a serious injury that will keep him out of the lineup.
Missing Nurse
Nurse had two goals and five points through 25 games this season, along with 60 hits and 25 shot blocks. He is a big, physical defender who can stop the offense and back check accordingly. However, there were times he struggled with giveaways and puck passion through the season.
In the end, he’s a solid, big bottom-pairing defenseman, and the Oilers have definitely missed him on the blue line.
Filling Big Skates
With Nurse out of the lineup, Edmonton has to make do without one of their top left-handed defensemen. They pulled Kris Russell onto his side and called up Mark Fayne to make up for the injury, but that plan fell through when Fayne was hurt. Following yet another injury, Dillon Simpson has been slotting into the lineup.
Thankfully, the Oilers are close to getting some more injured blue liners back in the lineup. Brandon Davidson and Eric Gryba are healthy, and are very possible to play Tuesday against Columbus.
At least now the Oilers have options, and another solid defenseman to slot in and replace him effectively on the left-hand side. In addition, they can either move Russell back to the right side, or even play Davidson or Gryba on the right as well. Either way, it’s not difficult to fill Nurse’s skates.
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