The Oilers have only selected two defencemen in the top 10 at the NHL Draft in franchise history.

The first was eventual Hall of Famer, 14-time NHL all-star, three-time Norris Trophy winner and four-time Stanley Cup champion Paul Coffey with the sixth-overall pick in 1980.

The second? Fast forward 33 years to the 2013 Draft in New Jersey as the Oilers took the stage with the seventh pick and called the name of another Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds alum, Darnell Nurse.

Appropriately enough, the talented blueliners from Southern Ontario are united in Oil Country with Coffey now working as the team's Skills Development Coach, helping young rearguards like Nurse hone their craft.

While Nurse has enjoyed plenty of success this season, he's had to fight and claw for every inch of progress he's made since entering his first Oilers training camp ahead of the 2013-14 campaign. The then 18-year-old had grand aspirations to make the team that year and was understandably disappointed when the Oilers sent him back to the Greyhounds at the end of camp.

Fuel was added to Nurse's internal fire to improve when he was one of Hockey Canada's last cuts for that year's World Junior team. The adversity only made him hungrier, though, as he amassed 50 points in 64 Ontario Hockey League games with the Greyhounds that season, plus eight more in nine playoff games as Sault Ste. Marie made it to the second round before bowing out to future teammate Connor McDavid's Erie Otters.

Following the playoff exit, Nurse made his pro debut with Edmonton's American Hockey League affiliate at the time, the Oklahoma City Barons, seemingly setting him up for an NHL rookie season in 2014-15. Nurse did stick with the Oilers through camp and the start of the season, made his NHL debut Oct. 14-15 in Los Angeles and Arizona, but was then assigned to the Greyhounds once again after two big league games.

Did Nurse let this demotion hinder his development and motivation? No chance. One year after being cut, he was a no-doubt pick for Team Canada this time around and was one of the country's top shutdown d-men as the host nation captured gold, beating Russia in the championship at Toronto's Air Canada Centre - just 70 kilometres up the 403 highway from Nurse's home in Hamilton.

Another 33 points in 36 OHL regular season games, eight more in 14 playoff games and an epic rematch against McDavid's Otters in the Western Conference Final later, Nurse was finally seasoned enough to become a full-time pro. Another hurdle presented itself that September as he was assigned to the AHL's Bakersfield Condors to start the season, but he was recalled in late October and played 69 NHL games with three goals and seven assists.

An ankle injury limited Nurse to 44 regular season games last year, in which he recorded five goals, six assists and an even plus-minus rating. He got his first taste of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring, suiting up for all 13 of Edmonton's post-season games and contributing a pair of assists. After a productive off-season of physical maturation, Nurse entered 2017-18 bigger, meaner and more determined than ever before.

Injury free and opportunity knocking, Nurse has set new career highs in games played (75), goals (6), assists (19), points (25), blocked shots (138), takeaways (24), plus-minus (+17), shots (178) and time on ice (22:02) with two weeks remaining in the third and final season of his entry-level contract.

The bulk of his minutes this season have been spent alongside fellow first-rounder Adam Larsson, who went fourth overall to the New Jersey Devils in 2011, two years before Nurse was selected. The defensive duo was put together for Game 6 of last year's second-round series vs. Anaheim when Larsson's usual partner Oscar Klefbom was unable to play. The coaching staff reunited them in late October and have kept them together since, other than the handful of games Larsson has missed.

"They are our shutdown pair right now," Head Coach Todd McLellan said of his top tandem following a particularly impressive showing last month in Los Angeles that saw them tangle with potential MVP candidate Anze Kopitar. "They play a big, heavy game. They've had big minutes and play in some tough situations."

Nurse said he and his D partner relish the role of battling with opposing teams' best offensive players on a nightly basis and using their physical play to wear down their enemies.

"Me and Lars have the same mentality," he said. "When we come out onto the ice, we want to be a pair that's hard to play against and a pair that has the ability to shut down top lines. It's a good challenge each and every night. We hold each other accountable and work hard together. It's been a great role and a challenge that I hope to continue to grow on."

On the opposite end of the ice, four of Nurse's six goals this season came during a four-game stretch in mid-January that also saw him tally back-to-back game-winners against the Arizona Coyotes and Vegas Golden Knights prior to the team's bye week. His two goals vs. Arizona capped off a comeback that saw the Oilers trail 2-0 early before tallying four unanswered to win 4-2. Just 24 hours later, Nurse punctuated the team's first-ever game in Sin City with a thrilling OT winner in a 3-2 decision.

"The offensive part of my game is still continuing to grow," he said. "Over the course of the year, it's crazy the amount of times I've found myself with good opportunities to score. I've put myself in good situations to create offence, sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn't. As long as I continue to grow and get myself those opportunities, I'll make the most of them more and more and finish on a more consistent basis."

"He's been consistently showing up and moving the needle upwards," McLellan said. "Great learning curve, taking more on and excelling in a number of different areas… He's been very good with rushing the puck up the rink, but what happens from the blueline in? We're starting to see some success in that area now. Credit to him. His game has segmentally gotten better."

Reliable shutdown D presence. Blossoming offensive skillset. Nurse is trending well towards becoming a permanent top-pairing blueliner, according to his coach.

"He definitely looks like he can become that and I think he's trending towards that," McLellan said. "His learning curve has been very steep and very sharp since he's been here. He's still considered a young defenceman, in my opinion. He has a number of tools that a number one or number two d-man possess, especially defensively with the size, the ability to move, a tenacity and a toughness that make it hard for top players to play against. He has shown, and he's looking for consistency in this area, the ability to create some offence. Those are some of the elements that a number one or number two guy has."