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Top 50 Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers began their existence as an inaugural franchise of the World Hockey Association, though for their first year of existence, they were the Alberta Oilers.  Their run in the WHA was largely unproductive, as until the end of their run in the upstart league, they accomplished very little.  They would reach the Avco Cup Finals in 1979, where they had the young phenom, Wayne Gretzky leading the way.   He would be the lynchpin when Edmonton joined the National Hockey League.

Gretzky would be the megastar of the team and other future Hockey Hall of Famers would join him.  This would include Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr, and they would win four Stanley Cups in the 1980s.  After dealing Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings, Edmonton would still win another Cup based on the leadership of Mark Messier.  To date, that is the last championship that the Oilers have won.

Since that time, the Oilers have only made one more Finals, a surprise run as an eighth seed.  They did not win and would plunge to the basement of the NHL standings.

As of this writing, they are a young team with upcoming stars that could add to their post-season success.


This list is up to the end of the 2022/23 season.

Note: Hockey lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.


Mike Krushelnyski’s career began in Boston for three seasons, and he was traded straight-up for Ken Linseman to the defending Stanley Cup Champion in the summer of 1984.  It was a good trade for both sides, and Krushelnyski was an All-Star in 1985 and put forth a career-high 88 Points. …
Ethan Moreau played 653 Games with the Edmonton Oilers, and while he was not forward with a scoring touch on the NHL level, he was considered an upper-echelon leader. 
Dave Hunter first signed with the Edmonton Oilers as an underage Free Agent in 1978, and the Edmonton brass was impressed with his checking skills, despite only scoring 32 Points.  That was the last year that the Oilers were in the World Hockey Association, and they would covet Hunter, whose…
Brett Callighen was traded from the New England Whalers to Edmonton in his first pro year, and it proved to be the right home for the forward.  Callighen would have 50 Points in his first full year with the Oilers, and he would 70 the season after while making history…
In the 1997-98 season, the Edmonton Oilers were able to trade for Roman Hamrlik from the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were selling off assets.  Hamrlik was a former number one draft pick, who was gifted at both ends of the ice and could be utilized in any situation.  He scored…
From Finland, Risto Siltanen was one of the first Finnish Defenseman to make his way to North America to play professional hockey.
As of this writing, Swedish born Defenseman Oscar Klefbom is the Oilers’ best shutdown Defenseman, who rarely gets costly penalties (or any penalties at all) to affect his team in a negative way.
Bill Guerin only played 211 Games for Edmonton, but his combination of speed, skill, and grit made him a fan-favorite for any small market Canadian city.
Tom Poti was a third round pick in 1996, and he would join the Oilers roster in 1998-99, where he the shutdown Defenseman scored 21 Points and finished seventh in Calder Trophy voting.  Poti’s first priority was always to protect his own end first, but he was excellent on the…
In Ed “Rusty” Patenaude, we have the only former player on this list whose Oilers career was spent entirely in the World Hockey Association.  Patenaude would not make the NHL when drafted in 1969, but after a run in the AHL and IHL, he made the roster of the initial…