a rambling overview of the oilers trashfire
To understand the Oilers, we really have to go all the way back to Wayne Gretzky. You can’t really understand why Edmonton is the way it is without fully comprehending the scope of The Trade
Gretzky was kept on the roster by the Edmonton Oilers when it was established in 1979. He is the greatest hockey player of all time, bar no one. It’s entirely unlikely that anyone will ever accomplish as much as he did during the scope of his career. He leads the scoreboard in literally everything, goals, assists, shots, you name it. Even adjusted for things like salary cap and all-star linemates and goalie save percentages back then, he’s the most talented/successful player of all time. And with him, the Edmonton Oilers (and Canada) were the best team in the world.
Edmonton loved him, you understand. He was beloved by every fan in hockey, but he was Edmonton’s.
And he loved Edmonton too.
They had the best player in the world.
But this era of incredible hockey came to an abrupt end in 1988, nearly ten years after the Oilers were formed.
The then-Oilers owner, Pocklington, needed money. He couldn’t afford Gretzky, and he definitely couldn’t afford how expensive the Oilers were with him and all his other all-star teammates on the roster. This was before the salary cap, so all these players could be paid a lot to keep them on the team, and that’s what Edmonton was doing.
Two hours after the Oilers won the Stanley Cup in 1988, Gretzky found out from his dad that the Oilers were planning on trading him. His dad had apparently known for a while but he didn’t tell Gretzky because he didn’t want to upset him, and Gretzky was upset at first but then he thought about it and decided to get ahead of the trade. He was actually on his honeymoon when the LA Kings owner called him and asked to negotiate, and he said yes, and then he said that he’d agree to go to the Kings if he could bring his two all-star wingers with him.
Kings agreed, and Gretzky called Pocklington to request a trade
This was over the head of the Oilers GM. When he found out that Gretzky was being traded, both him and the head coach tried to stop it, but the deal had already been made. The head coach requested a person in exchange for Gretzky from the Kings, but the Kings said no, and this whole thing was so far above their heads that the trade went through anyway
Wait, what did the Oilers end up getting then?
They got two guys from the Kings, 15 mil in cash (which back then was worth a lot more) and the Kings’ first round pick the next year
The draft pick was traded to the Devils anyway so Oilers didn’t even use it
Basically they literally traded Wayne fucking Gretzky for chump change
This trade, which is known as The Trade (whenever anyone says The Trade it means the Gretzky trade), is the single biggest course-changer in NHL history
Gretzky for 15 mil and a bag of pucks
Before this, legacy players like Gretzky were not traded
They lived and died with their teams
Before this, players didn’t negotiate trades either
But Gretzky changed all that
The Trade was at the time posited as for “the good of the game”
Now, whatever we might say about this trade, fact of the matter is that Oilers couldn’t afford him. The franchise couldn’t afford him. So trading him to another team and giving another team a chance to grow was preserving the sport of hockey and the teams in existence instead of keeping one team at the top of the league for two decades and losing out on competition in the league etc
Because while Gretzky was with the Oilers no one could beat them
Gretzky kept playing until 1999. He stayed with the Kings from 1988-1996, then played with the Blues for a year in 1996, then went to the Rangers from 1996-1999
He broke dozens of records during this time of course
No one has ever matched any of those
It’s impossible in today’s league, but even if Gretzky played in today’s league, with the benefit of hindsight and analytic projections we know he’d still probably be the greatest player of all time
Mario freaking Lemieux never beat Gretzky’s records, although that one is a little iffy because Mario retired at 27
Now, this is the important part that brings it back to modern day
The last time the Oilers won the Stanley Cup was in 1990
After they traded Gretzky, they’ve won one Cup
While they had Gretzky, they won every Cup
Except in ‘86 I don’t know what happened there I don’t know that much history
And ever since then, not only have they not won a Cup
So since Wayne Gretzky, the entirety of Edmonton has been waiting for the Next One, the next Wayne Gretzky that would come to them and save them
This is the context of Sidney Crosby being called the Next One
When Sid was 14 years old, Wayne Gretzky saw him for the first time
He was so impressed by him he went down to the ice and played with him
And then he told the media, he reminds me of Mario Lemieux
He said that Sid was the best hockey player he’d ever seen, when Sid was 14 years old
So that gave Sid the title of the Next One, because he would be the Next Gretzky, and at that point in time you have to remember, Sid was 14. He wouldn’t be draft eligible until 18.
From when Sid was 14 every single team wanted him, especially the Oilers
Every team was salty that they lost Sid to Pittsburgh in the bizarre lottery (I’ll do a proper Sid primer some other day, there’s a lot to go into that), but Edmonton was furious
Since they traded Gretzky and their Curse started, Edmonton hockey world has had this sort of vibe of, idk how to say it
Like they’re owed, if that makes sense?
They lost Gretzky so they deserve a new Gretzky, and they’ve been waiting for one
This is where our tale really starts, in 2010, when Edmonton gets their first first overall draft pick of the salary cap era, and the modern Oilers story begins
In 2010, Edmonton Oilers select Taylor Hall, an amazing goalscoring right winger as their first overall pick.
First overalls are supposed to be the saviors of the franchise, so to speak, because they go to the worst team in the NHL. But in Edmonton, the first overall pick was expected to actually be what Wayne Gretzky was to them, which is a) impossible, and b) Taylor Hall was a lot of amazing, amazing things, but he was no Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux or Sidney Crosby. But Edmonton didn’t care for that. They wanted their next Wayne Gretzky, and Taylor Hall was going to be it whether it was realistic or not.
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