The Oilers' Darnell Nurse Is Giving It All Both On and Off the Ice

The Oilers' Darnell Nurse is purposeful with every move he makes, just as he prepares to be a better player for the Edmonton Oilers each and every day.

Edmonton Oilers Darnell Nurse
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Edmonton Oilers Darnell Nurse

Sitting in hotel rooms on the road or on the plane back and forth from home—athletes usually see this time as an opportunity to exhale and wind down with a movie, television series, or card games with teammates.

Right from childhood, though, Darnell Nurse has loved math and been drawn to numbers, so his go-to with his spare time since making it into the NHL has been to spark conversations about personal finance or read books about it. The Hamilton, Ontario native started out with The Wealthy Barber on the advice of one of the trusted financial advisors he’s placed alongside him and now has improved his knowledge to the point where he can delve into a company’s price-to-earnings ratio just as easily as he sifts through the little details of a film session that can help him improve on the ice.

Nurse is purposeful with every move he makes, and just as he prepares to be a better player for the Edmonton Oilers each and every day, he’s wanted to be ready to make the most of the rewards that come with it as well. That time came this past summer, when Nurse put pen to paper on an eight-year, $74 million U.S. deal to remain in Edmonton—a deal that made him want to get back to work more than anything.

“I’m never really satisfied with things so when I got the extension it was more so a feeling of wanting to play harder, wanting to train harder, wanting to win,” Nurse said. “Any time a manager or the owners put trust in you and believe in you as a player, you have to reciprocate that and you do that through work, you do that through your mindset and you bring it to the rink every day, so, when I signed the deal, it was more—obviously, financially, for my family and to know that they’re set for life, that’s a great feeling to have.

“At the same time, as a competitor and as a hockey player it just made me more hungry to want to go out there and show everyone why they signed me to that deal.”

Edmonton Oilers Darnell Nurse

Nurse is the alternate captain of the Oilers and collected 16 goals and 20 assists in 56 games last season to help lead Edmonton to a 35-19-2 record and a playoff appearance. This season may not be going quite as smoothly as he and the team would like, but results have had no bearing on the leader he tries to be.

The security in knowing he’s in Edmonton for the long haul has made him even more aware of what’s happening around him and how people respond to his actions. He wants to make sure his teammates are all pulling in the same direction for the sake of the team, knowing that that’s the winning mentality which rewarded him individually after being on bridge deals his first couple years.

“A lot of these kids are coming from immigrant families and my father was an immigrant to Canada, so that hits home for me. So giving them an opportunity and a space and a community to be a part of ... things like that are so important.”

As a Black man, Nurse also embraces being a leader in his community off the ice. The 26-year-old took advantage of a business course on offer courtesy a cross-over partnership between the NHLPA and Harvard University, where conversations with a mentor who graduated from Harvard Business School and who is also Black-focused on generational wealth and how that can extend beyond just setting up your family and teaching them financial literacy—though that’s certainly a priority.

The Nurse family is full of athletes, and so the conversations on how to maximize a relatively shorter career definitely hit home. Kia Nurse stars for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA, represented Canada in the Olympics, and can be heard on Raptors broadcasts during her off-season. His sister Sarah just won a gold medal representing Canada in hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, becoming the first Black woman to win gold in hockey at the Olympics. Turns out the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree: their father Richard played in the CFL and mother Cathy played college basketball.

“It’s come up a lot more now and it’s more so me pushing the conversation,” Darnell said. “Kia loves asking me questions because this is a field I’ve slowly dipped my hand in. I’m not saying I’m investing and making all this money; more so just saying I like to do the research, whether it’s taking classes or finding the best financial classes out there, whether it’s even reading certain books or blogs that are recommended to me by the people I really trust.

Darnell Nurse wearing a suit

“I’m always hungry to learn more and more, especially as of late, about how to grow your wealth and at the same time not just blow it or have it sit there and not make anything.”

Looking back on his childhood in Hamilton is what centers Darnell. He had a large group of friends that ranged from kids who didn’t have much to kids who had a lot. They all cared for each other deeply and that range made those who had more make sure there was enough for those who didn’t. If they wanted to eat pizza, they made sure everyone got a slice—it was that simple. That’s why he’s become an ambassador for Free Play for Kids, a non-profit organization that seeks to provide marginalized kids with the opportunity to play in a safe, accessible, and exclusive environment.

“All these children are coming home from school and maybe don’t have as much as the person they’re sitting next to in class,” Nurse said. “On top of that, a lot of these kids are coming from immigrant families and my father was an immigrant to Canada, so that hits home for me. So giving them an opportunity and a space and a community to be a part of, on top of that involving sports which has allowed me to see the world, allowed me to have conversations with them about financial literacy—things like that are so important.

Edmonton Oilers Darnell Nurse

“The combination of how they give back to the community, how involved they are, how they want to help these kids who have grown so much not just through sports but everything. Giving them a community to be a part of, for me, it really tackled all aspects of the program and charity I wanted to be a part of.”

Clearly, giving back is something he’s passionate about. Last week, Nurse launched the Darnell Nurse Excellence Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to two graduating students at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School, his alma mater, for three years. Its intention is to help students facing financial obstacles to pursuing post-secondary education.

Calgary Flames legend Jarome Iginla was a big hero for Nurse growing up. Seeing a familiar face was what allowed him to dream that he could be in the NHL one day, and Nurse hopes that kids seeing his face leading fundraising events or establishing the Darnell Nurse Young Leaders Scholarship will find that same belief.

How Nurse helps shape the future for the next generation has taken on an even deeper meaning after having his first child Aiden with fiance Mikayla eight months ago. He’s found diaper duty to be a lot easier than some of the hits he’s taken over the years and, being a morning person, he’s had no issues waking up to a smile that’s rapidly become one of the best parts of his day. Aiden is at that age where he’s grabbing everything in sight, so Nurse’s biggest home challenges come in constantly needing to move things away from him as he charges them down, army crawl style.

“There’s definitely changes that you make just in everyday life,” Nurse said. “When you’re looking at the world you’re thinking, ‘How’s it gonna be 26 years from now when he’s my age?’”

With time and money on his side, Nurse hopes the answer is one that his child, and the many others he aims to help, can look forward to.

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