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On Monday, the Edmonton Oilers announced that a pair of recently recalled players—forward Jujhar Khaira and defenceman Jordan Oesterle—had been assigned to the AHL.

The #Oilers have assigned forward Jujhar Khaira and defenceman Jordan Oesterle to the AHL’s Bakersfield @Condors. — Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) February 29, 2016

Given the timing, the explanation for these moves seems obvious. As per article 13.12 of the 2013 collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA, no player may be loaned to a minor-league club unless he was on that team’s roster as of the NHL trade deadline (there are some caveats for call-ups who were injured, but for healthy players this is the rule). So anyone the Oilers want participating in the AHL playoffs needs to be on the roster of the Bakersfield Condors today.

In the case of both Khaira and Oesterle, that’s highly desirable. These are developing players and have been key parts of the Condors for the majority of the 2015-16 season. It’s good for both the players and the team to have them involved in a minor-league playoff battle.

One question that I was asked in the immediate aftermath of those moves was why Darnell Nurse wasn’t joining them.

The development case for the 21-year-old Nurse would seem to be much the same as those of Khaira and Oesterle, and all else being equal it’s reasonable to think that the Oilers would want Nurse participating in a playoff run at the AHL level. He had cameos with the Oklahoma City Barons after his junior season ended in both 2013-14 and 2014-15; in the latter year he put up four assists in four games. But that’s not the same as full-time employment in a feature role during a playoff run at the professional level.