Darnell Nurse was skating with a new defense partner at the first on-ice training camp session for the Edmonton Oilers.

It was well known that one player would be unavailable to the Edmonton Oilers early in the season, with Evander Kane working his way back from a sports hernia injury he suffered last season.

There’s no more important battle at Edmonton Oilers training camp than earning the spot next to Darnell Nurse on the second pair of the blue line. Ty Emberson is the early leader but has some complications to work around.

Welcome to my annual player review series, where I dive into the Edmonton Oilers season player-by-player. We’ll look back at the season that was, what kind of impact each player had, and what we could see from them next season.

The $9 million (and change) question is should Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse be good enough on his own to elevate any defenseman the team puts with him?