EDMONTON — 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.

When asked at the opening of camp on Thursday how serious his injuries were from last season and the playoffs, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse refused to get into details with the media.

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

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.