Day 1 of free agency was shaping up to be a quiet day for the Edmonton Oilers before they decided to wheel and deal their way into making marginal improvements to the roster. It started with trading a third-round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for goaltender Devon Levi, before pulling off a much bigger trade by comparison.
Towards the afternoon on July 1, the San Jose Sharks made the eyebrow-raising decision to solve the biggest problem facing the Oilers: trading for Darnell Nurse.
NHL World Not a Fan of Sharks Pulling Off Darnell Nurse Trade With Oilers
As July 1 inched closer, there was talk that the Oilers had held discussions with both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins about moving Nurse. However, Pittsburgh wanted Edmonton to take on a bad contract in return, whereas Boston was still trying to make the money work.
With Philadelphia not exactly putting an offer on the table, Nurse expanded his trade list to include San Jose, and the Sharks moved quickly to bring him on board. The curious part about this trade was that the Oilers’ Pacific Division rivals did not ask for any salary retention in the deal.
Instead, they took on all of Nurse’s $9.25M cap hit, sending Shakir Mukhamadullin and a prospect Edmonton’s way.
Here’s what the NHL world had to say about the deal:
“Taking Darnell Nurse at full pop even for *free* is a mistake,” wrote Winged Wheel Pod host Ryan Hana. “San Jose made a ton of great moves but this wouldn’t be one of them. Letting the Oilers completely off the hook, yeesh.”
Bruins beat reporter Conor Ryan added, “Sharks are taking on a lot of cash this summer.”
Sportsnet’s Nathan Murdock slammed the Sharks altogether, writing, “Nurse is a fine player. That contract is brutal, man. They don’t actually have UNLIMITED cap space.”
Puck Empire raised a different question altogether: “Today is making me wonder if Grier is more lucky than good.”
Darnell Nurse, acquired by SJ, is a minute-munching defenceman with decent tools – reach, straight-line speed, a bit of physicality, strength on the puck – but mixed implementation of those tools. Has struggled in the playoffs in particular. pic.twitter.com/tjdfPOzH8X
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 1, 2026
Nurse had a rough 2025-26 campaign and came in for intense criticism after failing to justify his $9.25M AAV. While he did have some success after the Oilers traded for Connor Murphy, a parting of ways appeared inevitable, especially with Edmonton strapped for cap space and in dire need of a scoring punch.
The trade with the Sharks, especially with no retention, solves a big headache for Oilers GM Stan Bowman, who has now taken a punt on Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp.
Mukhamadullin was drafted 20th overall by the New Jersey Devils in 2020. At 24 years old, he has some untapped potential, and at 6’4”, 200 lbs, offers Edmonton some size to bank on. He dressed in 50 games for the Sharks in 2025-26, registering 12 points (5G, 7A), 22 penalty minutes and a -3 plus/minus rating.
The Sharks, meanwhile, get a legit top-four defenseman, especially after adding Jacob Trouba to their ranks in free agency, though it’s curious to see them take on Nurse’s entire cap hit without retention.
