Edmonton Oilers keep pair of teens on opening roster

By Phil Watson | Oct 5, 2014

Jun 27, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Leon Draisaitl poses for a photo with team officials after being selected as the number three overall pick to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

The rebuilding Edmonton Oilers are keeping defenseman Darnell Nurse and center Leon Draisaitl, their most recent first-round picks, on their opening-night roster.

The Edmonton Oilers, coming off a 29-44-9 season a year ago that was the second-worst record in the NHL, are embracing their on-going rebuild by keeping both of their most recent first-round picks on their opening-night roster.

Edmonton announced eight roster moves on Sunday to get their roster down to the limit and neither Darnell Nurse, the Oilers’ seventh overall pick in 2013, nor center Leon Draisaitl, picked third overall in 2014, were among those cuts.

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Nurse, a 19-year-old defenseman, spent most of last season with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League, where he had 13 goals and 50 points during the regular season and added three goals and eight points in nine postseason games.

He also played four games with the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons, logging an assist. He had an assist and seven minutes in penalties in three playoff games.

Draisaitl, 18, a native of Germany, scored 105 points, including 38 goals, for Prince Albert of the Western Hockey League in juniors last season, and had a goal and three points in four playoff games.

Draisaitl will be 19 on Oct. 27 and played for Germany in the IIHF World Championship this spring.

Nurse may not last with the Oilers. He’s likely not ready to be a top-four defenseman and it might do his development more good to go back to juniors and potentially represent Canada in the World Junior Championships later this year.

Edmonton can keep both youngsters on the roster for nine games before having to kick in the first year of their entry-level contracts, so the early part of the regular season will serve as an audition under pressure of sorts before the Oilers have to decide whether to keep either or both or send them back to their junior clubs.

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