Edmonton Oilers History.
Edmonton Oilers,
professional hockey team and one of five teams in the Northwest Division
of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Based in
Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta, the Oilers
play at the Skyreach Centre and wear uniforms of blue, copper, and
white. Originally the Alberta Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA),
the team’s name was inspired by Alberta’s vast oil reserves. The club
won the NHL championship, known as the Stanley Cup, five times during
the 1980s.
In 1979 Edmonton and three
other teams from the WHA joined the NHL in a merger of the two rival
leagues. In the process, the Oilers introduced to the NHL a group of
talented players who dominated the 1980s. Leading this team was the
player generally regarded as the finest in league history: Wayne
Gretzky, known as The Great One. In his nine NHL seasons with the Oilers,
Gretzky won seven straight league scoring titles (goals plus assists)
and eight straight Hart Memorial Trophies as the league’s most valuable
player (MVP). He led his team to four Stanley Cup championships in five
seasons, from 1984 to 1988.
During the 1980s the Oilers became one of the strongest teams in NHL
history, with Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Craig MacTavish at center;
Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Dave Hunter, and Erik Tikkanen at wing; Paul
Coffey, Kevin Lowe, and Charlie Huddy on defense; and Grant Fuhr in
goal. The team dominated every aspect of the game through quick passing,
a rough and tenacious defense, and high-scoring lineups. Gretzky, Kurri,
and Coffey ranked among the top five scorers in both the 1984-85 and
1985-86 seasons; Gretzky, Kurri, and Messier ranked among the top four
scorers in 1986-87. Glen Sather won the league’s coach of the year award
for the 1986 season after steering the Oilers to their third league
championship.
As a member of the WHA, the Alberta Oilers played their first season in
1972-73. At the start of the 1973-74 season the team was renamed the
Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers went through six coaches before settling on
Sather, the head coach who would eventually lead them to five Stanley
Cups. Sather joined the club during the 1976-77 season and in his second
full season led the Oilers to the 1979 WHA Finals. Gretzky, then 17
years old, joined the Oilers early in the season; he moved to the Oilers
when the team he started with, the Indianapolis Racers, folded. He
finished the year with 46 goals and 110 points.
Soon after joining the NHL, the Oilers became annual contenders for
conference leader. Edmonton made the first of 13 straight appearances in
the NHL playoffs in 1979. Beginning in the 1980-81 season, Gretzky won
an unprecedented seven consecutive Art Ross Trophies as the NHL’s top
scorer. In the 1981-82 season, he scored 92 goals, breaking an
11-year-old league record for the most goals scored in a single season;
Phil Esposito had set the previous record with 76 goals during the
1970-71 season while playing for the Boston Bruins.
In the 1983-84 season Gretzky and Coffey finished first and second in
NHL scoring and the Oilers compiled the best win-loss record in their
team history, with 57 wins, 18 losses, and 5 ties. The winning season
was highlighted by the Oilers’ first Stanley Cup title, following a
defeat of the New York Islanders. Stanley Cup victories over the
Philadelphia Flyers followed in 1985 and 1987, and over the Boston
Bruins in 1988 and 1990.
In August 1988 Gretzky and two teammates were traded to the Los Angeles
Kings for $15 million, two resource, and three first-round draft
choices. Sather departed in 1989 after the Oilers lost in the division
semifinals. He was replaced by John Muckler, who had previously coached
the Minnesota North Stars. Despite being a team in transition—and
without The Great One—the Oilers captured another Stanley Cup title in
1990, and Hart Memorial Trophy-winner Messier took over as Edmonton’s
top scorer. After several losing seasons, however, the talented team had
dispersed. Sather returned briefly in the 1993-94 season, but the Oilers
finished the season at the bottom of the division. By the late 1990s the
Oilers had improved.
|
Bergeron |
Marc-Andre
|
Defence |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$700,000.00 |
|
Brewer |
Eric
|
Defence |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$2,650,000.00 |
|
Conklin |
Ty
|
Goal |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$1,500,000.00 |
|
Cross |
Cory
|
Defence |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$1,100,000.00 |
|
Dvorak |
Radek
|
Right
Wing |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$2,100,000.00 |
|
Ferguson |
Scott
|
Defence |
Edmonton
Oilers |
Unsigned
|
|
Harvey |
Todd
|
Right
Wing |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$675,000.00 |
|
Hemsky |
Ales
|
Right
Wing |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$1,130,000.00 |
|
Horcoff |
Shawn
|
Centre |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$850,000.00 |
|
Isbister |
Brad
|
Left
Wing |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$1,450,000.00 |
|
Laraque |
Georges
|
Right
Wing |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$1,400,000.00 |
|
Markkanen |
Jussi
|
Goal |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$675,000.00 |
|
Moreau |
Ethan
|
Left
Wing |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$1,450,000.00 |
|
Pisani |
Fernando
|
Centre |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$680,000.00 |
|
Reasoner |
Marty
|
Centre |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$800,000.00 |
|
Semenov |
Alexei
|
Defence |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$900,000.00 |
|
Smith |
Jason
|
Defence |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$2,600,000.00 |
|
Smyth |
Ryan
|
Left
Wing |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$3,550,000.00 |
|
Staios |
Steve
|
Defence |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$2,000,000.00 |
|
Torres |
Raffi
|
Left
Wing |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$800,000.00 |
|
Ulanov |
Igor
|
Defence |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$750,000.00 |
|
York |
Michael
|
Centre |
Edmonton
Oilers |
$2,400,000.00 |
|
