Darnell Nurse's Injury Fate Confirmed After Reckless and Illegal Hit to the Head From Ryan Reaves
Darnell Nurse was on the receiving end of a huge hit from Ryan Reaves over the weekend, and now we know how long the Oilers star will be out.
The Edmonton Oilers fell in dramatic fashion on Saturday night to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but that wasn't the story of what was a fairly heated night for this all Canadian matchup.
The biggest moment of the night came when Ryan Reaves took Darnell Nurse out with a vicious, unnecessary and very illegal hit, resulting in a five-game suspension for the veteran forward.
The scenes were hard to watch as Nurse was helped from the ice, as he was seen sitting on the bench with a blood soaked jersey and a visor, which isn't the look that the NHL want to go for in 2024.
Unsurprisingly, Nurse is unavailable for the Oilers next game as he deals with concussion symptoms, and now, the Oilers have announced the injury timeline for their veteran star.
According to the announcement, Nurse will be out between 5-10 days, and given the brutality and the aftermath of the hit, it's safe to say that's a very good result for the Oilers.
With the Edmonton blue line already stretched fairly thin even with Nurse in the lineup, they'll likely turn to Brett Kulak and Travis Dermott to pick up the slack on the left side of the defense as they look to find their consistency early in the year.
Through 18 games this season, Nurse has 2 goals and 9 points, alongside a +2 differential, and while he takes plenty of criticism due to his cap hit, he's played fairly well for an up-and-down Oilers squad.
Ultimately though, the result from this hit could have been much, much worse for Nurse and the Oilers, so to think that he will be back within two weeks is a major win for a team that needs them right now.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Martin Necas | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Steven Stamkos | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Filip Forsberg | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Danton Heinen | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Aliaksei Protas | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Dylan Strome | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jakob Chychrun | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zachary Jones | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Keegan Kolesar | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zachary L'Heureux | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexis Lafrenière | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jake Neighbours | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gustav Nyquist | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Elias Pettersson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Aatu Raty | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kiefer Sherwood | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 18 | 15 | 3 | - | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 17 | 13 | 4 | - | 26 | |
Devils | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 26 | |
Capitals | 17 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 25 | |
Wild | 17 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 25 | |
Panthers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Golden Knights | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 24 | |
Maple Leafs | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 24 | |
Rangers | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 23 | |
Kings | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 23 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||