Oilers at Sharks: Darnell Nurse faces Edmonton for the first time

Darnell Nurse played 12 seasons and 798 regular-season games for the Edmonton Oilers. On Thursday night in St. Louis, he finally scored one for somebody else.

It came 1:03 into overtime. Ivar Stenberg slid him the puck on the back door, Nurse buried it, and the San Jose Sharks beat the Blues 3-2. "It felt amazing," he told NHL.com afterward.

Two days later, the schedule writes the next chapter for him. The Oilers visit SAP Center on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, and for the first time in his career, Nurse lines up against the team that drafted him. Connor McDavid arrives with 12 points in four games. And the player this matchup is usually built around, Sharks captain Macklin Celebrini, has missed two straight games with a lower-body injury.

The trade that sent Nurse west

Edmonton took Nurse with the No. 7 pick in 2013, and he never wore another NHL sweater until this fall. Among Oilers defensemen, NHL.com has him fifth in points with 324 and first all-time in blocked shots (1,467) and hits (1,692). He was on the blue line for back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 and 2025. Both ended against Florida.

On July 1, the Oilers sent him to San Jose for defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and the rights to prospect Zachary Sharp. Daily Faceoff, citing The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta, reported that Edmonton kept none of his contract, which has four years left at a $9.25 million cap hit. Nurse called the move "a fresh start in a lot of senses."

Edmonton filled the spot the same day, signing Ryan Shea away from Pittsburgh for five years and $20 million. Four games in, Shea has a goal and two assists and has played more than 21 minutes every night.

Nurse's first week in teal has looked like the player Edmonton knew. Through four games he has 10 blocked shots, six hits and the overtime winner, and he has played more than 21 minutes in each of the last three.

The Celebrini question

Celebrini is the reason San Jose matters again. Last season he scored 45 goals and 115 points in 82 games, fourth in the NHL and a Sharks record. The team climbed to 86 points, up from 52 the year before. He was named captain in training camp and opened this season with five assists in two overtime wins, over Florida and Los Angeles.

Then it turned. He took warmups in Dallas on Monday and was ruled out shortly before puck drop, and the Sharks lost 5-0. He skated Thursday morning in St. Louis and sat again. Coach Ryan Warsofsky said it had not happened in warmups and was something the team had been managing. NHL.com lists Saturday as his next chance to return, and the club has not said whether he will play.

The gap is real. NHL.com noted the Sharks are 4-10-1 in games Celebrini doesn't play.

There is an Olympic thread here too. In February, McDavid and Celebrini were teammates for Canada in Milan. McDavid led the tournament with 13 points and was named MVP. Celebrini led it with five goals. Both made the tournament all-star team, and Canada took silver.

What the last four meetings say

The Oilers took three of four from San Jose last season. They won 4-3 in overtime in Edmonton on Jan. 29, dropped a 5-4 game in San Jose on Feb. 28, then won 5-3 in March and 5-2 on April 8.

McDavid drove most of it. He had 11 points in those four games (four goals, seven assists) and 18 shots on goal, capped by a hat trick and two assists in the April game at SAP Center. Celebrini had three points (two goals, one assist) and 14 shots, including a goal on seven shots in the Sharks' win.

McDavid is coming off a 138-point season that earned him his sixth Art Ross Trophy, and nothing has cooled. He has three goals and nine assists through four games, with at least two points in all of them.

The scoreboards have been loud on both sides. Edmonton's four games have produced 38 total goals, including a 9-7 win in Vancouver on Oct. 1, and Devon Levi has started the last three in net. San Jose's four games have produced 26, and all three of its wins needed overtime.

What it means on the board

• McDavid points and assists. Multiple points in every game this season and 11 points in four games against San Jose last season. That profile is what points and assists markets are built on, and the price usually knows it.
• Celebrini's status moves everything. If he sits, the Sharks lose their top center and their record without him has been rough. The moneyline, puck line and San Jose team total can all move once his status is confirmed. That is the kind of late line movement worth watching before you tap in.
• Totals. Four Oilers games averaging 9.5 combined goals is a small sample, but it is the context any total for this game starts from.
• Goalie saves. Edmonton put 37 and 31 shots on goal in two of its four games. Whoever starts for San Jose, saves markets are where that volume shows up.

The board updates all day, so the read on this game will change when the lineups do.

Get the full slate on the NHL board and free picks, catch last night's results in NHL recaps, and see how line movement works when a star's status flips late.

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