Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun floated Darnell Nurse as a potential acquisition target for the Toronto Maple Leafs this offseason, and the idea is already generating significant reaction.
It's easy to understand the surface appeal. The Leafs surrendered 299 goals this season, worst-in-division, and ranked 28th overall at 32-36-14.
That goal against total works out to 3.6 per game. You don't fix that with tinkering.
Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun thinks acquiring Darnell Nurse could work for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Nurse is 31, plays a heavy game, and finished the regular season at 82 games played. Edmonton used him in every situation, and he went minus-12 on a team that went 41-30-11.
But here's the thing: he produced 24 points all season. Seven goals. No power play points whatsoever. For $9.25 million per year, that is a genuinely difficult number to absorb on a team that already has Auston Matthews eating $13.25 million off the cap.
Leafs' blue line depth went -46 in goal differential this season
Morgan Rielly led Toronto's defense corps with 36 points but finished at -18. That tells you everything about what was happening at even strength all year in front of the net.
Adding Nurse next to that group solves the size and physicality problem. The cap hit problem is something else entirely.
Edmonton's GM Stan Bowman would have to want to move Nurse and take back something meaningful in return. The Leafs don't have a lot of movable assets that fill a hole for a club that just went six games deep in the first round before getting eliminated by Anaheim.
Nurse went held scoreless in those six playoff games, went plus-4, and was fine. Not dominant. Fine.
The Toronto Sun piece opens a legitimate offseason conversation, but treating it as a done deal or even a likely deal misses the financial reality. Toronto already carries $24.75 million across just Matthews and William Nylander on the forward side.
Where exactly does $9.25 million for a 31-year-old shutdown defenseman with no power play production fit in that equation? That's not a rhetorical question. It's actually the whole problem.
The Leafs need to remake their blue line. That part is inarguable after a season that finished with a -46 goal differential and a seven-game losing streak to close things out.
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Whether Nurse is the right piece to anchor that rebuild, or just the most recognizable name being floated because he plays on a contending team that might be looking to move money, is a very different question.
Nobody in Toronto wants another expensive defenseman who looks good on paper and struggles at even strength.
Should the Maple Leafs pursue Darnell Nurse despite his $9.25 million cap hit?
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