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Burkie warns again overpay Nurse, especially not Trouba money

This in from Brian Burke, speaking to Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now, and making it abundantly clear he doesn’t think the Edmonton Oilers should pay top dollar for d-man Darnell Nurse.

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Stauffer brought up two comparative contracts, Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets, who is getting $6.25 million for 8 years, and Jacob Trouba, who is getting $8 million for seven years. Trouba and Nurse have the same agent, Anton Thun.

Is that the range for Nurse, $6.25 million to $8.0 million, Stauffer asked Burke.

“Not for me,” Burke said. “First off, I think most guys feel that Trouba’s deal was an aberration, an overpay given what he brings offensively. Our teams tend to pay for offence and you’ve got to be able to defend, but they pay for numbers, and they don’t pay for guys who don’t put up numbers. And I like Darnell Nurse. I certainly don’t want to get in the middle of a contract negotiation fight. But I will bet this house that I’m sitting in in Toronto that if (Edmonton GM) Kenny Holland called Winnipeg and said to (Winnipeg GM) Kevin Cheveldayoff, ‘Would you trade me Morrissey for Darnell Nurse?’ he’d get hung up on. Morrissey is a better player. What Darnell brings is he’s big, and can really skate and he’s physical, but he doesn’t have the offensive upside that those other guys do. And Trouba in my mind, that contract is an aberration.”