There aren’t a lot of stories of particular interest in the

NHL right now, but one item worth watching is negotiations between the league’s

remaining restricted free agents and their major-league teams. Several

prominent players—people like Johnny Gaudreau, Hampus Lindholm and Rasmus Ristolainen—remain

unsigned and it’s fair to be worried about whether deals will be done by the

start of training camp.

One such player is Jacob Trouba, a brilliant right-shot

defenceman with the Winnipeg Jets. In this week’s edition of What Would You Do

Wednesday, we ask our readers whether they’d be willing to trade Darnell Nurse

as part of a package to acquire that player.

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About Trouba

Trouba is an excellent player. I wrote about him back in May

when his name was being bandied about the rumour mill and concluded at the time

that he’d be a fantastic fit for the Oilers. His underlying numbers are very

good, and he shows well by the eye-test, too. I quoted Red Line’s scouting report from 2012 then because it still captured

his strengths and weaknesses admirably; I’ll quote it again here:

Perhaps the best pure skating defencemen in this year’s

draft with great wheels, powerful stride, lateral mobility and quick feet. Very

smooth pivots. Excellent backwards skater. Intense competitor with lots of

fire. Loves the physical aspect of the game and is constantly looking to

initiate contact – plays with a mean streak. Shutdown defender is defensively

aware and well-positioned. Great gap control and tough to beat off the rush.

Uses his size/strength to win all the board battles. Can carry the puck out of

the zone under heavy pressure and likes to activate offensively, moving up into

the rush often, but lacks instincts at offensive end and is neither creative or

effective in his rushes. Lacks offensive upside and PP acumen. Team leader is a

confident, take-charge guy.

He’s big and mean, smart and fast, good with and without the

puck. He’s basically first-unit power play ability away from being the total

package as an NHL defenceman. He’s only 22 years old and will only get better

from here.

About Nurse

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Nurse was drafted the year after Trouba, and it seems fair

to say that at this point he projects to be a lesser player. Trouba’s rookie

year was three seasons ago; he averaged 22:26 per night, scored 29 points and

had good underlying numbers. In contrast, Nurse’s first NHL season came at an

older age, on a weaker blue line, and he averaged 20:13 per game, scored 10

points, and had brutal underlying numbers.

We may certainly argue that Nurse will get better as a

possession player—I think he will—but he’s starting so far back of where Trouba

was that he’ll need to make shocking progress to surpass him as an NHL player,

particularly since Trouba’s only a year older and also still progressing.

Yet Nurse’s skillset has some things in common with that of

Trouba. He’s big and mean, and he can skate. He’s not as good with the puck,

but he’s certainly not incompetent with it on his stick, either. I’d argue—without

any disrespect intended—that Trouba’s also a more polished player positionally

than Nurse is at this point in time.

Looking at comparables, I’ve previously made the case for Nurse to eventually settle in as a solid second-pair defender, though at this point it’s impossible to know what he’ll ultiamtely be.

Edmonton’s Situation





The Oilers have had a bold summer, adding Adam Larsson and

Milan Lucic. The team is under pressure to turn north in a hurry, but despite

the moves it remains an open question as to how good they’ll be when the

regular season starts.

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Trouba would do much to improve their blue line. Just

imagine the depth chart:

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera – Jacob Trouba

Brandon Davidson – Mark Fayne

That’s an awfully impressive group, featuring four young

defencemen—Trouba, Klefbom, Larsson and Davidson—who could conceivably be

together for most of the next decade. It’s also a group featuring three

pairings that can play against absolutely anyone and two capable of just

soaking up the tough minutes.

It also helps settle the lefty/righty imbalance in Edmonton’s

system. The Oilers have a ton of left-shot prospects in the system, but the

need to give Nurse a somewhat sheltered role on the roster in the here-and-now

makes it difficult to bring those players up. Swapping Nurse for Trouba would

a) give the team another good righty to play with those guys and b) clear Nurse’s

slot for a developing player (Griffin Reinhart, Dillon Simpson, Jordan Oesterle,

etc.).

What Would You Do?

If there were a trade to be made built around

Trouba-for-Nurse, would you do it? If so, how much would you be willing to add

to the deal to get it done?

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RECENTLY BY JONATHAN WILLIS



