Report: Bruins player used no-trade clause to deny Darnell Nurse trade with Edmonton

Darnell Nurse's trade from the Edmonton Oilers to the San Jose Sharks yesterday overshadowed much of the usual July 1st free agent news.

Nurse was traded to the Sharks in exchange for defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin after the Oilers reportedly failed to get a deal done with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins, the two teams believed to be on Nurse's trade list.

Today, there are reports that indeed Nurse was nearly traded to the Bruins but that a player from the Bruins used the no-trade clause in his contract to shut the deal down.

That player is rumored to be Nikita Zadorov.

Obviously, we don't know any other details of this alleged Nurse for Zadorov deal but you can't help but wonder what might have been. Zadorov is certainly a more versatile player than the one Edmonton got in Mukhamadullin, but he's not without his own warts. Zadorov still has three years left on a six year deal that pays him $5 million annually.

As it is, the Oilers should probably be grateful that they got out from under Nurse's contract with relative ease. Taking on Zadorov and his contract would have simply been trading one bad contract for a slightly better contract, albeit still a distasteful one.