Nurse comes from an athletic family, and then some.

His father, Richard, played for the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and his mom, Cathy, played basketball at McMaster University in Hamilton, the family's hometown.

His sister, Kia, became a point guard for the University of Connecticut and has played for Canada's national team. His other sister, Tamika, played basketball at Bowling Green State University and the University of Oregon.

Uncle Donovan - Donovan McNabb - was a star NFL quarterback, mostly for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Richard had Darnell on skates at 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 the 6-foot-4, 213-pound Nurse as the type of all-around defenseman they needed.

The Oilers selected Nurse with the No. 7 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft and he proceeded to force Edmonton to make a difficult roster decision about him at three straight training camps. He was a late Oilers cut in 2013 following his impressive camp and made the team a year later, but played in only two games for the Oilers in 2014-15.

Nurse's consolation prize was being a key part of Canada's gold medal-winning team at the 2015 World Junior Championship.

Nurse was sent down to Bakersfield, the Oilers' American Hockey League affiliate, following training camp in 2015, but was called up to the NHL club on Oct. 26, 2015 and played 69 games. The self-described "hard player" infused the Oilers with his physical, stand-up game.

NOTES & TRANSACTIONS

• OHL Second All-Star Team (2015)