Trade Pitch Has Maple Leafs Acquiring $74 Million Defenseman In Blockbuster

Getty Trade pitch has Maple Leafs acquiring Nurse.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in its Stanley Cup window and a trade pitch has them swapping two high-salary players in a blockbuster.

The website PuckPedia‘s PuckGM tool lets users create their own trades. One user proposed a deal that would see the Maple Leafs acquiring Darnell Nurse from the Edmonton Oilers.

Maple Leafs acquire:

• Darnell Nurse ($4.6 million retained)

Oilers acquire:

• John Tavares

The proposed deal would be a blockbuster as Toronto would acquire Nurse for Tavares in a one-for-one swap.

Nurse is in the third year of his eight-year $74 million deal with the Oilers. The defenseman hasn’t lived up to the amount of money he signed for, as his name came up in trade rumors this offseason. Nurse could be a second-pairing defenseman for the Maple Leafs who could also play on powerplay to add some offense to the lineup.

Last season with Edmonton, Nurse skated in 81 games recording 10 goals and 22 assists for 32 points.

Tavares, meanwhile, is in the final year of his seven-year $77 million deal with the Maple Leafs. The star forward gave up his captaincy in Toronto this offseason, as his name was rumored in trade rumors. Tavares skated in 80 games recording 29 goals and 36 assists for 65 points last season.

Tavares and Maple Leafs Have Begun Extension Talks

With Tavares in the final year of his deal, he was eligible to sign an extension as of July 1.

However, no deal has been agreed to, but TSN’s hockey insider Pierre LeBrun reported Tavares and Toronto have started extension talks.

“Well, there is something happening from the point of view that there have been contract talks,” LeBrun said on Insider Trading. “There’s been back and forth between Tavares’ camp led by agent Pat Brisson and the Leafs front office just to get the ball rolling. I don’t think anything is imminent, although I do hear that dialogue is supposed to pick up again in the near future.”

LeBrun, however, also said that an extension with Tavares and the Maple Leafs isn’t a priority at the time being.

“I don’t know if there is a huge rush from the team perspective. There is a mutual desire between the team and John Tavares to get something done at some point,” LeBrun added. “John Tavares of course calls Toronto home, he’s raising a family in Toronto, but I think from the Leafs’ perspective, yeah, it’s something they want to get done.”

Tavares signed with Toronto on July 1, 2018.

Oilers Off To Slow Start Again

Edmonton was near the bottom of the standing last season, and to begin the 2024-25 NHL season, the Oilers are once again off to a slow start.

Through October 21, the Oilers are off to a 2-4 start and it’s frustrating for defenseman Evan Bouchard.

“Definitely not what we were expecting, not what we wanted,” said Bouchard. There is a lot of room for us to grow. It’s good to know we went through it last year, same thing, and see where we ended up, but it’s not at all to our standards and we’ll be better.”

Despite the slow start, Edmonton remains one of the Stanley Cup favorites.