It was reported last week by Sportsnet’s Mark Spector that the Oilers organization was planning to have discussions with defenceman Darnell Nurse regarding his future with the franchise. Yesterday, Sportsnet reported that, according to multiple sources, Nurse recently informed the organization that he wishes to be traded. And while this does signal the end of an era for Nurse, who has spent all 11 seasons of his NHL career with Edmonton, it does raise some questions for another Canadian team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Leafs management, whether they choose to do a full rebuild or not, is likely planning some big moves for the 2026 offseason. Toronto has the No. 1 overall selection in the upcoming NHL draft, and the team is looking to make some changes following an extremely disappointing 2025–26 campaign. One such change might be trading for Nurse, in exchange for franchise cornerstone D-man, Morgan Rielly.
This trade wouldn’t be as simple as a pure one-for-one swap, but even then, the deal seems less likely given that it was reported by Elliotte Friedman on Friday’s episode of 32 Thoughts that while Nurse is looking to join a team out East, the 31-year-old would prefer to play in the USA. But regardless of this, Nurse does just have a regular no-move clause in his deal, meaning that a trade to the Leafs would be possible with Nurse’s approval, and as we saw when Jacob Trouba was sent to the Anaheim Ducks, front offices can be very persuasive when trading players with no-move clauses.
With that in mind, let’s compare Rielly and Nurse’s stats and look at what a potential Rielly for Nurse trade could look like.
Rielly vs. Nurse
In the offensive department, there isn’t much competition between Rielly and Nurse. Rielly is easily the superior threat on the offensive end, shown by his huge scoring outputs in previous seasons for the Leafs, most notably his highest scoring season in 2018–19, when he put up 72 points in 82 games. On the other hand, Nurse’s highest scoring season came in 2022–23, when he put up 43 points in 82 games, nearly 30 points less than Rielly’s highest career total.
Indeed, if the Leafs were able to acquire Nurse, it would not be for his offensive talent, but his impressive play on the defensive end. Nurse has been a huge help defensively for an Edmonton team that has made several deep playoff runs in recent memory, and his positive impact is evident in his career plus-minus totals, with the defenceman posting a positive mark in over half of his career regular seasons. Rielly’s average is barely a third of his total seasons.
Additionally, Nurse has been known to be a tough defenceman to go against, and has earned a reputation for putting his body on the line for the team. This past season, Nurse ranked ninth in the league for shots blocked by a player with 167 total, while Rielly was 60th on that same list with 114. So if the Leafs want to swap offensive power for more grit, then Nurse is a clear upgrade in that department.
Rielly does have a bit less of an injury history than Nurse, but when you take Rielly’s inconsistent play over the years into account, is he worth keeping around over bringing in a tough guy like Nurse?
Potential trade structure
For a deal to work, other pieces would likely need to be included to make the money align. While both players are on eight-year contracts, Nurse makes nearly $2M more per season than Rielly per PuckPedia. With this in mind, the Leafs could include someone like Steven Lorentz or Simon Benoit in the deal to get the money closer, but then the trade seems a bit lopsided for the Oilers. The Leafs are looking to at least retool, so if this trade were to go down, we could see the Leafs looking for some draft compensation, which, at best, could be a second or third-round pick in 2026, as the Oilers traded their first-round pick to the San Jose Sharks as part of a deal for defenceman Jake Walman.
If the money is able to work and the Leafs can get some draft capital, then this could be a good way for the Leafs to move off of Rielly. One hiccup with this deal, however, is that if the team winds up doing a full rebuild and looks to go younger, Nurse may not be an optimal fit for the new era given his age. But if the Leafs do opt for more of a retool, Nurse would certainly add more toughness to Toronto’s back end.
Nurse has demanded a trade but the Leafs are going to pay top dollar, are they?! I like Benoit in terms of attitude and work ethic but unfortunately he’s the 6th defenseman who sometimes sits out while Myers plays. With a Cup bound team neither of them would be in the lineup anyway. At least it might force the Leafs to replace him with someone better. The keepers are McCabe, OEL and Tanev (hopefully healthy). Tanev came to the Leafs and was instantly their best REAL defenseman. Think about that!