Nurse comes from an athletic family, and then some.
His father, Richard, played for the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and his mother, Cathy, played basketball at McMaster University in Hamilton, the family's hometown.
Nurse comes from an athletic family, and then some.
His father, Richard, played for the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and his mother, Cathy, played basketball at McMaster University in Hamilton, the family's hometown.
His sister, Kia, is a point guard who won two NCAA championship at the University of Connecticut has played for Canada's national team and is with the New York Liberty of the WNBA. His other sister, Tamika, played basketball at Bowling Green State University and the University of Oregon. His cousin, Sarah, won a silver medal with Canada at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
His uncle, Donovan McNabb, was a star NFL quarterback, mostly for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Richard had Darnell on skates at age 4, and Nurse has followed his sporting passion ever since. While he was playing for Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League, the Edmonton Oilers identified him as the type of all-around defenseman they needed.
The Oilers selected Nurse with the No. 7 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. He was a late Oilers cut in 2013 following an impressive camp and made the Oilers a year later but played two games in 2014-15. Nurse's consolation prize was being a key part of Canada's first-place finish at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Nurse was sent to Bakersfield of the American Hockey League following training camp in 2015 but was called up to the NHL on Oct. 26, 2015 and played 69 games. The self-described "hard player" infused the Oilers with his physical, stand-up game. He played all 82 games in 2017-18 and 2018-19 and joined teammates Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Canada at the 2018 IIHF World Championship.
Nurse was named an alternate captain alongside Leon Draisaitl on Oct. 1, 2019 and played at the 2019 Worlds, where he helped Canada finish second with two goals and four points in 10 games. He signed a two-year contract with Edmonton on Feb. 10, 2020, when the pending restricted free agent was averaging 22:46 of ice time in 55 games and ranked second on the Oilers with 129 hits and 101 blocked shots.
NOTES & TRANSACTIONS
- OHL Second All-Star Team (2015)
