According to Elliotte Friedman, Darnell Nurse wants to head East, but not the Canadian east which leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks out of luck.
Darnell Nurse asked for a trade out of Edmonton and it seems like it's going to happen despite a very expensive contract. He's reported to have a few teams in mind and he would certainly add a lot of defensive help to a contender if they can afford it.
Nurse has been the subject of trade speculation for a few months now as there were reported talks at the deadline regarding a potential deal involving Nurse and Morgan Rielly but nothing materialized, and his name has popped up again in the last 24 hours.
Friedman reveals Nurse wants to head east but that doesn't mean he has Toronto in mind
Well it seems like he's got his preferred destinations in mind with Elliotte Friedman giving a lot more clarity when it comes to where Nurse wants to play.
Friedman revealed on 32 Thoughts that Nurse would prefer to head to the East which would take out a team like San Jose, but also revealed that Canada was out of the question and that leaves the Maple Leafs out of luck:
If you'll remember a year or so ago, the Oilers asked all of their players who had no-trade clauses if they had any interest in waiving. Nurse said no. It was a very emotional time because they just lost the Final, and he was disappointed it got out.
This year it sounds like they took a different approach and that was, that they had their exit meeting and said let's reconvene. This time he said 'I'm not even going to have to make you ask, I am going to tell you. I'm asking for a trade.' There's 3-5 teams, mostly East, I don't believe Canada.
If there's a West team I would think LA because he knows the manager there. But I heard the preference is East, and not Canada.
That's two teams down of the supposed five, though it is interesting to note that the one Western Conference team he would prefer to go to is the Los Angeles Kings which would confirm David Pagnotta's report that both the Penguins and Kings were two destinations Nurse prefers.
Toronto is out of the mix so their focus shifts to a puck-moving defender
Well if Nurse is out of the mix (and Toronto probably shouldn't have pursued him too heavily anyways) their focus shifts to what they truly need which is either trading or for signing a puck-moving defenceman.
We've heard months of speculation regarding Dougie Hamilton and after hiring his brother that certainly adds a lot more fuel to that fire. There's also word Sean Durzi is being viewed as a great option who could seriously bolster the lineup.
Then there's also Darren Raddysh who is going to earn a huge pay raise and the Maple Leafs should splurge to get him. Yes he will cost roughly as much as Nurse but also offers something Toronto desperately needs - not to mention they have Chris Tanev, Jake McCabe, Brandon Carlo and (soon to be) Ben Danford all as shutdown options.
Once they add someone who can quarterback the power-play and be able to actually score goals and provide more offensive chances then it'll turn around things in a hurry. Adding Nurse is great, but Toronto needs someone to push the offence from the back.
Nurse would have made sense if the team didn't have a slew of heavy, sure-footed and shutdown defenders but they have too many at the NHL level. So they need to focus on fixing their flaws, not adding to their already impressive strengths.
Where will Darnell Nurse be traded this summer?
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Darnell Nurse's trade list leaked and one of the five teams on it is a real surprise