from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

“It takes a lot of heartbreak,” Nurse explains. “This is my eighth year here, so I’ve gone through seven seasons where you haven’t reached the goal that you want to reach. There’s a lot of heartbreak, a lot of work that goes into it.

“I read Nick Lidstrom’s book [Nicklas Lidstrom: The Pursuit of Perfection, written with Gunnar Nordstrom and Bob Duff], and the amount of times that [Detroit] had to actually go and play in the playoffs, and get through the ups and downs of the playoffs before they were actually successful? I mean, it’s time and time again.

“You look at the teams that win — the amount of work, the amount of attempts that they had to take at it to get to that Stanley Cup. It’s not an easy task.”

“There’s a hunger in the room that there’s still another level that we need to get to.”

Welcome to Edmonton in 2023, where a rebuild that began back in 2010 with the first-overall selection of Taylor Hall has finally produced a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. The sun may have dawned a handful of seasons ago, finally bringing an end to The Decade of Darkness, but the trip back into the light has been like a walk from the banks of the North Saskatchewan River to 101st and Jasper Ave.

All uphill.

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