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Connor Mah, Connor McDavid 07042015, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who are the top Edmonton Oilers of all time? Here is our top 10 countdown:
10. Kevin Lowe: while his Hall of Fame selection was controversial, Lowe was one of the leaders of the 1980s Oilers teams that won five Stanley Cups, earning four top-10 Norris Trophy finishes and a Clancy Trophy across 15 seasons with the team.
9. Leon Draisaitl: already arguably the greatest German-born forward in NHL history, Draisaitl has been a superb Robin to Connor McDavid’s Batman, averaging more than a point-per-game for his career while winning the Hart/Ross/Pearson trifecta in 2019-2020.
8. Ryan Smyth: the heart and soul of the Oilers during the late 1990s and 2000s, Smyth was the longtime captain during some of the team’s dark days, tallying four 30-goal seasons en route to 631 points in 15 years with Edmonton.
7. Glenn Anderson: with nine 30-goal seasons, Anderson was an elite goal-scorer in the 1980s for the Oilers and an integral part of all five Stanley Cup-winning teams en route to the Hall of Fame.
6. Grant Fuhr: though he was often part of goalie tandems in Edmonton (first with Andy Moog and then with Bill Ranford), Fuhr nevertheless won the 1987-1988 Vezina Trophy (with six other top-10 finishes as an Oiler) and earned 226 victories in net during a decade with the team as part of four championship teams, becoming both the first black player to win a Stanley Cup and make the Hall of Fame.
5. Connor McDavid: drafted #1 overall by the Oilers in 2015, McDavid has posted four 100-point seasons and earned three Ross Trophies, three Pearson Awards, and two Hart Trophies thus far.
4. Paul Coffey: one of the greatest offensive defensemen of all-time, Coffey spent his first seven seasons with the Oilers, scoring a record 48 goals for a defenseman in 1985-1986 and winning back-to-back Norris Trophies and three Stanley Cups with the 1980s dynasty.
3. Jari Kurri: perhaps the best all-around player on the Oilers dynasty of the 1980s, Kurri led the league in goals scored once and the playoffs in goals scored 4x while winning five Stanley Cups with Edmonton; upon retirement, he was the highest-scoring Finn in league history, as well as the top career scorer among European-born and bred players.
2. Mark Messier: despite playing in Wayne Gretzky’s shadow for much of his tenure with the Oilers (he may be the best second-line center ever), Messier was a superstar in his own right: the third all-time leading scorer and the only player to ever captain two different teams to Stanley Cup titles (later the New York Rangers), he was a Hart Trophy and Pearson Award winner and also took home a Conn Smythe as part of all five Edmonton championships.
1. Wayne Gretzky: known as “The Great One”, Gretzky holds a slew of NHL single-season and career records, including most career goals, assists, and points (if you took away all of his goals, he would STILL have the most points in NHL history!); moreover, during his nine seasons with Edmonton, he won eight Hart Trophies, seven Ross Trophies, five Pearsons, a Lady Byng, and four Stanley Cups with two Conn Smythes.
Agree/Disagree? As always, debate/discuss, and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Note: All statistics as of time of publication.
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Countdown 103: Top 10 Detroit Tigers of All Time
