With the rising cap to come over the next few years, the NHL’s flat-cap era is officially behind us. As a result, we don’t see a lot of cap-dump trades in today’s NHL. However, after today’s reports, there is mutual interest in finding an Edmonton Oiler a new home for next season – one that will likely cost them a pretty penny to move off of.

On Thursday morning, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman broke the news that, after last week’s report that the Oilers wish to move off of him, Darnell Nurse has now asked for a trade.

“Last week, Sportsnet’s Mark Spector reported the Oilers would like to trade Nurse, and, according to multiple sources, the defenceman recently went to the organization and said he would like to be traded. He now feels it is time for him to move on.”

Nurse, 31, has spent his entire 12-year NHL career with the Oilers, racking up 88 goals and 236 assists for 324 points in 798 games. After a 2020-21 campaign in which he scored 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 56 games – 0.64 points-per-game – Nurse was awarded a massive eight-year, $74 million contract with a $9.25 million average annual value.

That contract has not aged well. Nurse’s point production has cratered since the ascension of Evan Bouchard as the Oilers’ top offensive defenceman, and his defensive game has struggled in his transition to a more stay-at-home defenceman. As a result, his average ice time of upwards of 25 minutes per night, during which he earned that contract, dipped to below 21 minutes last season.

Yet, the 6’4″ left-shot defenceman will be the 11th highest-paid defenceman next season, trailing only Erik Karlsson, Rasmus Dahlin, Drew Doughty, Thomas Harley, Evan Bouchard, Zach Werenski, Noah Dobson, Adam Fox, Seth Jones, and Charlie McAvoy. Some notable blueliners who are going to make less than Nurse on an average annual basis next season are Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Lane Hutson, Moritz Seider, Miro Heiskanen, Jake Sanderson, Roman Josi, and Shea Theodore.

Seeing Nurse make more money than some of those listed defencemen, you start to see why this is one of the worst contracts in the league. But no team around the league is going to take that contract without getting paid handsomely to do so.

Now, to put our Canucks-tinted glasses on, the Canucks surely need to be involved in this, right? Helping the Oilers get out of money issues won’t be Canucks fans’ favourite thing – especially after Evander Kane last season – but if they can garner a first-round pick in say, 2028 or 2029, when Connor McDavid may not be there anymore, it could be a significant piece to help the Canucks’ rebuild.

Of course, it will all depend on Nurse. He has one year remaining on a full no-movement clause before it changes to a 10-team no-trade list for the remaining three years of the contract. He has reportedly given the Oilers a list of teams he would be willing to waive for. It’s unlikely that the rebuilding Canucks, who are one of the Oilers’ biggest enemies, are on his preferred destinations list. But if by some miracle he is, this is the type of rebuilding move Canucks fans want to see this new regime make: taking on bad contracts and getting paid for it.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Do you want to see the Canucks trade for Nurse if they get paid to do so? Let us know in the comments below!