Full breakdown of Darnell Nurse's new contract.

The Edmonton Oilers made some huge news this week when they signed veteran defenseman Darnell Nurse to a long term contract extension, ensuring that the defenseman will remain with the organization for the majority of his career in the National Hockey League. The contract, a massive 8 year deal with an average annual value and cap hit of $9.25 million per season, has already been the subject of much debate and I suspect that these new details surrounding the contract will only add to that ongoing debate.

On Saturday NHL salary tracker Cap Friendly published what are believed to be the full details of Nurse's new deal, and within those new details are several key clauses that will no doubt play a big role in how this contract works out for the Oilers in the future and as a result will likely also play a big role in how this deal is perceived by the Oilers fan base several years from now.

First when it comes to the actual salary structure of Nurse's deal the contract is clearly designed to circumvent any potential buyouts in the future, and it has achieved this goal by making the majority of Nurse's salary in the final years of this deal come in the form of signing bonuses. Here is a full breakdown as per Cap Friendly:

2022-23: $12 millon
2023-24: $10.4 millon
2024-25: $12.0 millon
2025-26: $10.0 millon
2026-27: $2.0 millon + $6.0 millon signing bonus
2027-28: $1.2 millon + $6.0 millon signing bonus
2028-29: $1.2 millon + $6.0 millon signing bonus
2029-30: $1.2 millon + $6.0 millon signing bonus

On top of being resistant to buyouts, Nurse's contract will likely also prove incredibly difficult for the Oilers to trade over the course of this deal. During the majority of this deal Nurse will be under the protection of a full no movement clause, one that will kick in on July 1st of 2022 and run all the way until the 31st of May 2027. Following that Nurse will have a modified no trade clause, a 10 team trade list that he will have to submit, from the period of June 1st 2027 to June 20th 2030.

It's a huge contract and one that has given the player signing a tremendous amount of control over how his future will be dictated, and only time will tell if this proves to be a good or a bad move on the part of Oilers general manager Ken Holland and the Oilers organization.