Darnell Nurse made clear his displeasure at being framed as a low IQ hockey player in Edmonton, clapping back at this notion when he was asked by Sportsnet’s Mark Spector about the differences between playing in San Jose and in Edmonton, where Nurse spent the first 11 years of his NHL career.

Asked Spector: “What’s the biggest difference that you’ve noticed so far playing in a California market from where you grew up in this league?”

Said Nurse: “You know with my low IQ I don’t know if I’m able to answer your questions.:”

Spector laughed off the remark.

Nurse continued: “I think your questions are a little bit above my head.”

The player then paused, looked right at Spector and said, “Next!”

There was no shortage of commentary from fans and pundits in Edmonton about Nurse displaying a “low hockey IQ,” especially after Nurse’s game came unravelled in the playoffs year after year.

In a column written four weeks before Nurse was traded July 1, 2026, Spector reported the Oilers had been open to moving Nurse since the summer of 2025. He made no reference to Nurse’s IQ, but suggested the player lacked “hockey sense” and quoted a former Oilers coach saying, “He always gave you the feeling that he saw himself more as an offensive defenceman and would make some terrible reads with and without the puck at critical times in games… Hockey sense was always a concern for me.”

Reaction came in fast and furious from around the NHL in response to Nurse brushing off Spector and the player’s mocking of this framing of him as a player:

Former Oilers player Evander Kane @evanderkane (who has feuded with Spector)
Nursey! 😂

NBC TV host for Sharks coverage Tara Slone @TaraSlone
Ooooooooh!

What Chaos podcaster Pete Blackburn @PeteBlackburn
This sh*t’s gotta feel soooo good

Former Oilers blogger Rob Soria, @Oil_Drop
Sorry but Nurse sounds like a baby. As per usual, doesn’t accept his piece in his struggles. I like Darnell a lot but there’s no reason for it. Also, at no point did Spec say he had a low IQ. He and others have said his on-ice hockey IQ wasn’t good. Not the same thing… Darnell can be pissed all he wants. All good. My point, when he played like crap, it was almost always two word answers to the media. To be fair, Nurse didn’t get it nearly as hard as others from the media.

Former NHL ref Tim Peel @TimCPeel20
Good for Darnell. Spector might be the biggest loser in hockey!

Oilers podcaster Karman Gill @Kgill39
I still love Darnell Nurse!

Oilers fan Jeremy Kaus @JeremyKaus
I don’t know the context of the original “low IQ” comment. But I’m assuming Spector meant as a hockey player. Which he does have a low hockey IQ.

Oilers fan Robbie Joseph @Robbiej34
Oilers fans cant really talk either; we all said the same things Spec said about Nurse. He’d tell any of us the same thing lol

Las Vegas hockey commentator Chris Gawlik @TDChrisG
That’s the best display of defence from Nurse in 5 years

OIlers fan Shane Carter @ShaneACarter77
Best way I heard to describe Nurse is he has all the tools but doesn’t have a toolbox.

1. I’m not like Spector in that I’m not down at the rink every day asking questions of the players and being held accountable for what I write in those discussions. I have no idea about Spector’s relations with the players, but I will say Spector is highly successful at his work. He certainly isn’t afraid to stir up things.

2. From afar, my own sense of Nurse the person is that he’s an extremely proud and prickly man. He’s a warrior on the ice, yes, but I was not impressed by Nurse’s reaction last winter after a spell of bad play, which had a huge number of Oilers fans riled up and wanting answers.

Reporters asked Nurse about his poor performance. He brushed them off in snarky fashion.

Where was the accountability from the player? Where was the leadership?

This latest comment to Spector seemed more of the same from Nurse, him lashing out instead of accepting fair comment on his play.

3. All kinds of Oilers players have been severely criticized by Edmonton fans. Evan Bouchard, for one, has gotten it much worse from Oilers mainstream media commentators and fans than Nurse ever did. It can’t be easy to face such criticism. The best thing to do is completely ignore it, not read or listen to any of it, not go on social media or listen to sports radio.

4. Nurse is clearly an intelligent man, but his hockey sense did seem lacking at times. For example, he had a shocking proclivity to screen his own goalie. He deflected far more pucks into Edmonton’s net than any other Oilers d-man.

In the playoffs, as the pressure ramped up, he often tried to do too much and was caught out of position. He also struggled at times to make great decisions with the puck. For all these reasons, along with his hefty contract, the vast majority of Oilers fans were relieved when he was traded away.

I thought the move would likely be a win for Nurse, a win for the Oilers, and a win for the Sharks. I still think that way. But I also think the controversy around Nurse’s time in Edmonton won’t be forgotten any time soon, least of all by Nurse himself.