Darnell Nurse Traded to Sharks After 12 Seasons with Oilers, Edmonton's Return Revealed

The San Jose Sharks are adding another veteran defenseman on the first day of NHL free agency.

The Sharks are acquiring Darnell Nurse from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zach Sharp.

The Oilers are retaining none of Nurse's $9.25 million cap hit, according to TSN's Elliotte Friedman and The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta.

The news comes shortly after the Sharks signed veteran free agent defenseman Jacob Trouba, 32, to a four-year contract.

Trouba's deal, which is worth $8.25 million per season, runs through the 2029-30 season.

Nurse, 31, is signed over the same term at a $9.25 million average annual value. Those combined salaries will account for about 17 percent of the Sharks' cap space next season.

The Sharks also committed to a five-year, $6.75 million deal for 31-year-old forward Mason Marchment.

Sam Jose has room to maneuver this offseason because of how many members of their young core remain on rookie contracts.

Sharks general manager Mike Grier might be counting on the ongoing inflation of the salary cap to help the Sharks maintain flexibility among upcoming extensions for players including Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, both of whom are set to hit restricted free agency next season.

In the meantime, Trouba and Nurse will join a Sharks defensive corps previously lacking in experience with Nick Leddy, Vincent Desharnais and John Klingberg hitting free agency.

The Oilers will clear out cap space while adding two young blueliners in Mukhamadullin, a 24-year-old who played 50 games with the Sharks last season, and Sharp, a 21-year-old who spent the last two seasons with Western Michigan.

Nurse was selected by the Edmonton Oilers with the No. 7 pick of the 2013 draft, after which he played all 12 seasons of his NHL career for the franchise.

He most recently averaged 20:58 per game, his lowest average ice time since 2017, while seeing his power-play time dwindle. He still took on a significant penalty kill workload while playing in all 82 games of his final campaign in Edmonton.

The Sharks ranked 26th in penalty kill while allowing the third-most goals against in the NHL last season. San Jose will hope adding two experienced blueliners can help change that this fall.