{"id":443285,"date":"2026-02-03T13:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/443285\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T13:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:20:14","slug":"darnell-nurse-faces-criticism-as-jason-gregor-questions-the-edmonton-oilers-defense-nhl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/443285\/","title":{"rendered":"Darnell Nurse faces criticism as Jason Gregor questions the Edmonton Oilers defense | NHL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/nhl-darnell-nurse.jpg\" alt=\"Darnell Nurse faces criticism as Jason Gregor questions the Edmonton Oilers defense\" title=\"Darnell Nurse (Credit: Getty Images)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Darnell Nurse (Credit: Getty Images) The Edmonton Oilers have leaned heavily on Darnell Nurse for years, but recent defensive lapses and inconsistent puck management have kept him in the spotlight. With the season reaching a crucial phase, every mistake is magnified, especially for a top-pair defenseman expected to stabilize the blue line.That pressure intensified after Jason Gregor, an Edmonton sports radio host and longtime Oilers analyst, voiced strong frustration about Nurse\u2019s recent play, sparking debate across Oilers circles and broader NHL news roundup coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Darnell Nurse criticized by Jason Gregor as Nashville Predators swap talk sparks debate<\/p>\n<p>Jason Gregor didn\u2019t hold back while discussing Darnell Nurse\u2019s performance and development. In his critique, Gregor questioned whether Nurse is still improving as a player despite his experience and role with the Edmonton Oilers.\u201cI\u2019ve just not seen much growth in Darnell Nurse. And I\u2019m not sure he\u2019s ever going to. There are things he does well, but he just can\u2019t seem to slow the game down\u2014despite all his veteran games played\u2014to make better decisions with the puck. He doesn\u2019t have to make the best decision every time, but better ones consistently.\u201dGregor\u2019s frustration also extended into the trade-rumour territory, as he suggested the Oilers may need to consider drastic roster moves if they want more stability on defence. \u201cIf the Oilers had another reliable right-shot defenseman\u2014even though I know Nurse brings more offense\u2014I might even trade him straight up for someone like Nic Hague. I know some people might think that\u2019s ridiculous, but I\u2019m at that point now. Maybe he\u2019ll flip the switch here, maybe he\u2019ll use the break to reset. But Nurse\u2019s last six weeks, man, have been frustrating for me to watch,\u201d he added.While the mention of the Nashville Predators in trade chatter may arise due to broader NHL trade rumors, Gregor\u2019s main point remained centered on Nurse\u2019s recent form and the Edmonton Oilers\u2019 urgent need for steadier defensive play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Darnell Nurse (Credit: Getty Images) The Edmonton Oilers have leaned heavily on Darnell Nurse for years, but recent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[1809,20125,198,146,5300,5,15919,21780,4,546,24,54047,54048,54049],"class_list":["post-443285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton-oilers","tag-darnell-nurse","tag-defensive-play","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-edmontonoilers","tag-hockey","tag-hockey-criticism","tag-jason-gregor","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-trade-rumors","tag-oilers","tag-oilers-defense-issues","tag-puck-management","tag-top-pair-defenseman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116006907601410535","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}