But what about the Donovan McNabb of it all?!

Joking aside, great write-up Charlie, I was of the mindset that I wouldn’t want Nurse anywhere near this team, and I still am not a big fan of the idea, but I hate it less than before…

Such a big offseason.

Still say last year was the most critical of the rebuild, and Danny knocked it out of the park – but this year is such an interesting and important year. Basically we could see Ricky Bobby “engaging slingshot” or him going 20mph screaming “WHAT WAS THAT!?!!?” as others fly past him.

Go for the slingshot if possible Danny. Shake and Bake baby.

I was with you early on about signing Carlson for two years, but a deeper dive shows that he has been a 5 on 5 disaster, which has me saying no now.
As for Nurse, what beside Seeler would go to Edmonton? Surely Seeler by himself is not going to bring back Nurse with Edmonton eating some salary.

Charlie,

Wouldn’t EDM have to sweeten the pot to make the Flyers take contract off their hands? I don’t think it would be a first, but wouldn’t it be at a minimum what Flyers paid PHX to take Ghost off out hands?

Nurse only makes sense if they trade Risto – having both on the roster is pointless. But I am sure they can find other 3rd pairing veteran D-men without taking on a such a long contract. If they are taking Nurse off Edmonton’s hands, they better get a sweetener for it. But I really, really hope they dont – i was in the camp that Nurse wasnt that good to begin with, so it’s comforting to know that he’s still a decent player – but the length and cap implications make it a no-no for me.

And i do think the Flyers were just kicking the tires on him – Briere has gone on the record as stating that he wants to maintain flexibility in case he gets an opportunity to trade for a C. Using up a big chunk of their cap space on Nurse would absolutely limit them here.

As for the Flyers betting on their guys to defy the age curve, it’s not really as cut and dry as that. To start with, I really dont get the hoopla over the Dvorak contract – that’s a very fair contract now and as he declines and the cap goes up, that will be a very fair contract for a versatile bottom of the roster C and also easy to get rid off, as his NTC list reduces. And sometimes, you have to bite the bullet and suffer a bit on the tail end of a contract to get the benefit up front – teams cant just trade away every player who is up for a contract in their late 20s for fear of how that contract will age in 5-6 years.

If the cap keeps increasing, this will become less of an issue than it was in the flat cap era.

I have always been curious about this. Are hockey players truly intimidated by guys who throw a lot of hits? Like I get back in the day being intimidated by the better fighters in the league, but hits? Are guys really coming into games against Nurse being thrown just because they are expecting to be hit a bunch? Or is it a Hockey Man Myth?

Charlie – I think your best point is that a Nurse move can only be evaluated in the context of the entirety of moves the Flyers make over the course of the summer. To make it through an 84 game season you need a decent third pair that can absorb some minutes from Sanheim and Drysdale. Nurse on a second pair with Drysdale makes some aesthetic sense (big guy, small guy). I’d be curious what Charlie thinks of the Leafs moves and the consequences of all their moves upon next year’s draft pick. I can see anything from them being back in the playoffs with a healthy Matthews, a productive rookie McKenna and Raddysh being a huge upgrade to being a disaster with poor goaltending, an uninspiring coaching choice and regression from Raddysh. .

This doesn’t seem like it would be a Briere move. The risk is higher than the reward unless Edmonton does 50% salary retention and gets no assets in return. Seems to me that it comes down to how badly Edmonton wants to do this deal.

Why swap Risto out and bring Nurse in. Nurse was awful in front of the net vs Anaheim. For his size he doesn’t clear the front of the net well. Risto played great in playoffs. Risto is probably better now than Nurse and also cheaper. And he fits in with the locker room. Does the return on a Risto trade get you more than you have to pay to get Nurse?

Great arguments for bringing Nurse aboard, Charlie! I can see the logic, if the contract is low enough, probably even in the 5-6m range but that is probably asking a lot of the Oilers. However, seeing some of these long term contracts already on the books, I would pass. I would much prefer Carlson and his boost to the power play, although he might have better options.