This in from Oilers TV reporter Tony Brar, the latest lines and defence pairings from the Edmonton Oilers practice, with Stuart Skinner back in the starting net and Darnell Nurse on the second-pairing.

EDM lines & pairings — Wednesday’s practice:

RNH – McDavid – Mangiapane
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Roslovic
Savoie – Henrique – Frederic
Howard – Tomasek – Philp
Lazar – Hyman

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Walman
Kulak – Emberson
Stecher – Regula

Skinner
Pickard

My take

1. It’s no secret that Edmonton Oilers d-man Darnell Nurse had a rough game against Utah and that he’s struggling this year. It’s also the case that Stuart Skinner had his roughest game of the year against the Mammoth, one more iffy game in a young season where he’s been consistently inconsistent, going from bad to good games regularly.

2. Despite his major struggles this year and in the 2025 playoffs, Nurse had one of his best seasons in 2024-25. Nurse cut down on his mistakes last season, played sound hockey against tough competition and moved the puck well, cutting down on his bad decisions.

His improved play can be seen in his numbers.

For example, in 76 games last year, Cult of Hockey video review found that Nurse made just 31 major mistakes contributing to goals against at even strength.

Compare that to Evan Bouchard, who made 56 such mistakes in 82 games, or Brett Kulak, who made in 82, or even Mattias Ekholm 38 in 65.

Nurse was solid last year, but that wasn’t the case in the pressure-packed playoffs, when he made 14 mistakes leading to even strength goals against. He’s now carried those struggles into this new year. In the first period in the Utah game, Nurse made two turnovers that directly led to goals against.

3. Of course, Nurse isn’t the only Oilers d-man who has played poorly this year. Every single Oilers d-men is doing worse than he did last year. There’s been a massive drop-off in their play at even strength, even as this group of blueliners went into the season with high hopes, The Athletic ranking them best group of d-men in the entire NHL.

dmen

dmen

4. So far this year, Nurse has made nine major mistakes on goals against at even strength, Bouchard and Ekholm eight each. They’re all leaking Grade A shots at a higher rate than last year, and many of those errors are ending the worst possible outcome of a goal against.

 

5. It could be that we saw a signal of Edmonton’s coaches noticing Nurse’s struggles in the Utah game, as he played just 16:49 overall. Of course Edmonton went with seven defencemen, so that ate into every d-man’s ice time.

But this season Nurse has played more even strength minutes than any other Oilers d-men, and last night he got just the fourth amount of even strength ice-time, behind Bouchard, Ekholm, and Kulak.

6. Given that Nurse played well consistently last year, he can be expected to rebound, but for now it might well be best to play him behind both Ekholm and Kulak. That will give him time to sort out his game and also send a message that all players, even the leadership group, are accountable for their performance.

7. As for Skinner, he’s had three solid starts and four weaker ones. He was beat by an outside shot late in the first period and coughed up the puck behind the net in the second period, causing another goal against. These are tough moments for a goalie, especially one under intense pressure as Skinner is in Edmonton.

I’ve always thought that Skinner would get it together and become a consistently strong goalie for the Oilers. This year, if we looking at regular goals in the NHL (who have played four or more games so far this year), Skinner ranks near the middle for save percentage, 20th out of 45 goalies at .898 per game.

Calvin Pickard ranks 41st at .846, even as he’s generally been OK in his starts.

I can see why the Oilers are sticking with Skinner, but it’s tough slogging for both goalie and team just now.