History of the Edmonton Oilers
[8] The Oilers drew fans with players such as defenceman and team captain Al Hamilton, goaltender Dave Dryden and forwards Blair MacDonald and Bill Flett.
The team's fortunes improved dramatically in 1978 when, with new coach Sather playing a key role, Pocklington's Oilers acquired underage player Wayne Gretzky,[12][13] as well as goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll, for cash, from Skalbania's moribund Indianapolis Racers.
Within three years, Sather and chief scout Barry Fraser had drafted several players who would have an important role in the team's success, including Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Kevin Lowe, Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog.
In the division finals, the Oilers faced a tougher challenge from the Calgary Flames, but ultimately prevailed in Game 7, disposing of their provincial rivals 7–4 after trailing 4–3 midway through the second period.
In the third period of a 2–2 tie, on his 23rd birthday, rookie defenceman Steve Smith banked his breakout pass off goaltender Grant Fuhr's left skate and into the Oilers' net.
Paul Coffey won his second consecutive Norris Trophy, and Glen Sather took home the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's Coach of the Year.
[43] At the 1987 NHL trade deadline, the Oilers acquired Kent Nilsson in exchange for a second-round draft pick in 1988, which solidified Edmonton's top two lines in time for the playoffs.
The season is notable for the emergence of Mark Messier as an acknowledged elite player: he led the team with 45 goals and 84 assists for 129 points, finishing second in the NHL scoring race.
In all, seven players were a member of every Edmonton Stanley Cup team: Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Kevin Lowe, Randy Gregg, Charlie Huddy and Grant Fuhr.
Partway through training camp, Fuhr and Anderson were traded to Toronto in exchange for Vincent Damphousse, Luke Richardson, Scott Thornton and Peter Ing.
The Oilers acquired Scott Mellanby from Philadelphia for Dave Brown, who asked to be traded back to the Flyers, and the rights to Jari Kurri, who was subsequently dealt to Los Angeles.
[58] Finally, one day after the season began, Messier was dealt to the New York Rangers in exchange for Bernie Nicholls, Steven Rice, Louie DeBrusk, future considerations and US$5 million.
In 1992–93, the Kings, with six former Oilers on the roster (Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Marty McSorley, Charlie Huddy, Jimmy Carson and Pat Conacher) made a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Then in 1994, the Rangers won the Cup with seven former Oilers on the roster—Messier (the first player to captain two different Stanley Cup-winning teams), Lowe, Anderson, Graves, MacTavish, Esa Tikkanen and Jeff Beukeboom.
The en masse departure of the dynasty-era stars left the Oilers so bereft of talent that Sather was forced to rush young prospects to Edmonton sooner than planned.
This streak was not formally ended until 2006, when the second-seeded Stars (in the Western Conference) were eliminated in the first round by the Avalanche, while, for the first time in 16 years, the eighth-seeded Oilers went to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Although the club had to give up Mike York and Eric Brewer to the Islanders and Blues respectively, fans now hoped the team could at least return to the playoffs, if not to the glory the franchise enjoyed during its mid to late 1980s dynasty era.
But right before Trading Deadline 2006, the Oilers added 2004 All-Star goaltender Dwayne Roloson from the Minnesota Wild, and speedy forward Sergei Samsonov, a former rookie of the year, from the Boston Bruins.
The Sharks' regular season scoring leader Joe Thornton (also acquired from the Bruins to go to San Jose) and goal champ Jonathan Cheechoo had just defeated the Nashville Predators in five games in their previous series.
Four days after their loss to the Hurricanes, Chris Pronger surprised Oiler fans and management when he issued a trade request on June 23, citing unspecified personal reasons.
Playoff heroes and locally born Fernando Pisani and Dwayne Roloson, aged 37, signed as unrestricted free agents (UFAs) on the first day of eligibility, July 1.
With the emergence of young players like Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Robert Nilsson, Tom Gilbert and Denis Grebeshkov, the Oilers would finish the second half of the season a remarkable 25–14–2 in 41 games.
In the off-season, Kevin Lowe traded centreman Jarret Stoll and defenceman Matt Greene for the experienced Lubomir Visnovsky of the Los Angeles Kings.
Edmonton let both Roloson and Kotalik walk, and they subsequently signed replacements, in the form of veteran goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin and a former Oiler, centre Mike Comrie.
[70] In Chiarelli's first transactions as Oilers general manager, he traded a first and a second-round pick during the first day of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft to the New York Islanders, in exchange for defenceman Griffin Reinhart.
[76] On February 27, 2016, mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, the Oilers traded defenceman Justin Schultz to the Pittsburgh Penguins, in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
[79] Following the Hall trade, Chiarelli also pursued impending free agent Milan Lucic, signing him to a seven-year contract, in a bid to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
The Oilers finished with a 47–26–9 record, thanks largely to a 100-point season from McDavid and breakout performances from fellow forwards Leon Draisaitl and Patrick Maroon, whilst backstopped with strong play from netminder Cam Talbot.
But by the end of the season, the Oilers finished with a 49–27–6 record, being 46–18–5 under new head coach Kris Knoblauch and clinched the second seed in the Pacific Division, earning an opening round playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Kings for the third consecutive year.
[103] After eliminating the Canucks to be the last Canadian team standing in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Oilers were up against the Central Division champions, the Dallas Stars, in the Western Conference finals.
