This in from Hall- of-Fame NHL d-man Chris Pronger, his analysis that Edmonton Oilers d-man Darnell Nurse is enjoying his best hockey since he’s in the end recognized that in some instances a lot much less is far more on the ice, and it’s often finest to cross the puck versus skate it.
Speaking to Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now, Pronger said the puck relocates sooner than any sort of gamer can, and it’s vital for NHL d-men to know that.
“(Nurse) was a good enough skater in junior that he could skate his way out of trouble and make another play. At the NHL level, he’s not an elite skater,” Pronger said.
“When he was in his formative years, you know, he was trying to do a little bit too much. In junior when I scouted him the knock was he was always trying to skate himself out of trouble. And as you know, in the NHL, unless you are an elite skater like Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes, one of these guys, you are not skating yourself out of trouble. You are only going to skate yourself into more trouble.”
Pronger proceeded: “You’re studying on the fly. You take your lumps and you need to perceive and study from what’s going to work and how one can simplify the sport.
“(Nurse) was a good enough skater in junior that he could skate his way out of trouble and make another play. At the NHL level, he’s not an elite skater… Ultimately, teams find your weaknesses, and then they prey on them, and they would ultimately start funnelling him into trouble, and get turnovers, and go back the other way, and get quality scoring opportunities and goals. And so you have to learn, you have to gain that experience, make those mistakes, and hopefully understand what those mistakes are, and change your habits, and get out of those habits to be effective. And in his particular case, it’s just keeping the game simple, and using your physical capabilities, and the way that you play the game with grit, and jam, and physicality, and make the simple play, keep it simple, don’t step outside of that skill set and try to do too much, because you want to justify a contract, or you want to justify X, Y, and Z. If you keep your game simple, you’re going to allow your team to be successful.”
My take
1. Pronger said in particular {and professional} phrases what quite a few Oilers followers and obervers have really been claiming for a number of years relating to Nurse with enhancing irritation, that a lot much less is far more with Nurse, that if he’s not working about on assist and on the strike, he’s a much more environment friendly gamer.
This yr, Nurse has really taken that motion within the course of simpleness. When was the final time we noticed him hurry the puck up ice, get hold of channelled to the boards, after that make a weak shot from a pointy angle? Hardly ever earlier than. When was the final time we noticed him invoice out of setting on assist to check for the puck, simply to create a 2-on-1? He’s seldom making that blunder.
He’s securing the middle of the ice. He’s passing fast and actual. He’s remaining on the best aspect of his verify. He’s not making rash difficulties for the puck. He’s signing up with the strike nonetheless often as the danger male remodeling a 3-on-3 proper right into a 4-on-3 so he can launch a dangerous shot.
What does this quantity to? Nurse is having among the many handiest durations that we now have really seen from any sort of Oilers d-man this century, presumably contemplating that Pronger’s very personal exceptional 2005-06 interval when he led the group to inside one online game of successful the Stanley Cup.
2. The Cult of Hockey has really been doing analysis of all targets for and versus the Oilers contemplating that 2007-08, so we actually didn’t consider Pronger’s great solitary interval with the Oilers as a result of means, nonetheless we now have really accomplished so for 14 straight years. In all that point after we think about regular Oilers d-men over a whole interval (on the very least 900 additionally toughness minutes performed) no d-man has really had a significantly better yr by the particular targets plus-minus statistics than Darnell Nurse is having this yr.
That consists of some exceptional durations from the similarity Sheldon Souray in 2008-09, Andrej Sekera in 2016-17 and Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm final interval in 2023-24, after they went to the highest of their video video games.
3. At additionally toughness this yr, Nurse has really aided produce 33 targets whereas making vital errors on merely 22 versus, for a +0.13 targets per online game plus-minus. That’s the best we now have really seen, significantly better than Denis Grebeshkov’s exceptional 2008-09 interval, +0.11 (previous to harm hit Grebeshkov, he was a fantastic NHLer).
Nurse is squashing it, which is much more exceptional bearing in mind simply how inadequately he performed within the 2024 playoffs, in large element on account of harm, nonetheless likewise since he was nonetheless seen working about often trying to do extreme proper right here, there and throughout, often roaming method out of setting. It spent a while for him and d-man teacher Paul Coffey to determine factors out, nonetheless they’ve really at present gotten to that goal. Nurse is enjoying disciplined, clever hockey, making hm the main d-man on the Oilers this yr.
4. In the 2010-11 interval, the Cult of Hockey initially started to trace funds and errors on racking up alternatives for and versus theOilers It’s a significantly better means to judge avid gamers than concentrating simply on targets, as racking up alternatives are appreciable dip into the guts of any sort of hockey go well with, and there’s a far more of them than targets, which lets you make much more explicit analyses of fact capacity of a gamer over a a lot shorter number of video video games, declare 10 or 20 video video games in distinction to 60 or 70 in the event you’re passing particular targets plus-minus alone.
Nurse’s Grade A pictures plus-minus remained within the commode within the playoffs in 2015. It was no doubt essentially the most terrible on the group for any sort of Oilers d-man. But he’s at present obtained the 2nd biggest Grade A pictures plus-minus of any sort of d-man on the group.
5. For context proper right here occupation particular targets plus-minus numbers for Oilers d-men which have really performed larger than 1500 additionally toughness minutes from 2007-08 to 2024-25, with Mattias Ekholm blazing a path.
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