Edmonton Oilers

For a ten-year stretch through the 1980s into early 1990s, the Edmonton Oilers were the best team in the National Hockey League, possibly ever. From Grant Fuhr in goal to Kevin Lowe and Paul Coffey in defense to the rugged yet silky-skilled forwards Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, and Jari Kurri, the Oilers were absolutely stacked. Oh right, and they also had this one guy who wore #99, a tiny helmet, and always tucked his jersey into the right side of his pants. Wayne Gretzky – the Oilers’ last WHA first round draft pick – would go on to become known as the Great One, breaking 61 NHL records over the course of his career. As well as being a potent goalscorer himself, Gretzky was the kind of player who made everyone around him better, as shown by his 1,963 career assists, which would put him above any other player in history on points (goals + assists = points) even if he had never scored a single goal (but he did, another record at 894 career goals for a mind-boggling total of 2,857 career points). More important to Edmonton Oilers fans was the way he led their fledgling expansion team from obscurity into respectability and then on to glory after the team joined the NHL in 1979. The Oilers made the playoffs every year from their debut season until 1993, raising eyebrows for the first time in 1981 when they blanked the mighty Montreal Canadiens in the First Round. Eyebrows were truly activated league-wide in 1983 when the Oilers won three playoffs rounds while only losing a single game (to their local rivals, the Calgary Flames) to reach their first-ever Stanley Cup Finals, where they were swept by the mighty New York Islanders, who had won the last three consecutive Stanley Cups and would not be denied a fourth. The Oilers would come back stronger to the Finals in 1984, however, smashing the Islanders in five games to claim their first Stanley Cup (and end the Islanders’ dynasty). They added another Stanley Cup in 1985, defeating mercurial goaltender Ron Hextall and his Philadelphia Flyers in the Finals. The Oilers missed out on a rare three-peat in 1986, losing to the Flames in Game Seven of a Battle of Alberta Division Finals after rookie Oilers defenceman Steve Smith scored the winning goal (for the Flames, on his own net). The Oilers would storm back to the Finals in 1987, where they met a strengthened Flyers team filled with confidence by Hextall’s incredible play in net. Hextall gave the Oilers’ talented forwards a tough time (including a horrendous hatchet chop on Kent Nilsson that would be punished by a suspension deferred to the following season), but the team from Edmonton came through in the end, winning Game Seven by a score of 3-1. The Oilers added a fourth Stanley Cup the next year in 1988 with a sweep of the Boston Bruins, but it was to be the last for Wayne Gretzky, as he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings that very summer in one of the most shocking trades in NHL (and sporting) history. The Kings beat the Oilers in the playoffs in 1989, but the team from Edmonton had the last laugh in 1990, winning the franchise’s fifth Stanley Cup over the Bruins and proving once and for all that a strong team is bigger than any one player. Since the glory years, the Oilers have been through ups and downs. The team had another shot at a Cup in 2006 but lost out in Game Seven to the Carolina Hurricanes Recent years have seen them surge again thanks to the goals and playmaking of the gifted Connor McDavid. In the upcoming years, Edmonton’s loyal and passionate fans will be hoping that another Golden Age for the Oilers is just around the corner.