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.............................. Edmonton Oilers NHL Hockey Club
Logo and Trademark..............................
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Oilers have won the Stanley Cup on five occasions, in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990. The team was founded as the Edmonton Oilers, a WHA founding franchise, in 1972 and renamed the Alberta Oilers when the Calgary Broncos, a fellow WHA founding franchise in Alberta, relocated to Cleveland. The team returned to the name Edmonton Oilers the following year. The Oilers joined the NHL in 1979 as one of four teams merged from the WHA.
The NHL's dominant team in the 1980's, the Oilers greatest success since the dynasty era was a run to Game Seven of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals. The Oilers have an intense rivalry with the Calgary Flames, known as the Battle of Alberta, since the Flames relocation from Atlanta in 1980.
The Oilers struggled with their small-market status for years as big-market teams scooped up high-priced help, but after the wiped-out 2004-05 season, the Oilers looked poised to compete again. 2004-05 NHL lockout negotiations led to a collective bargaining agreement between the NHL owners and players that included a league-wide salary cap, forcing all teams to essentially conform to a budget, as many small-market teams had been doing for years. Sold out buildings and a more reasonable conversion rate of Canadian dollar revenues to US dollar payroll in the new millennium have also helped the Oilers to return to profitability.
Although Edmonton was one of the last teams to make a big splash in the free-agent market, they were able to acquire the rights to and sign former Hart- and Norris Trophy-winner Chris Pronger from the St. Louis Blues to a 5-year/$31.25 million contract, as well as trade for New York Islanders forward Michael Peca, two-time winner of the Frank J. Selke Trophy for best defensive forward. Although the club had to give up Mike York and Eric Brewer to the Islanders and Blues, respectively, fans now hoped the team could at least return to the playoffs, if not to the glory the franchise enjoyed during its late 1980s dynasty era.
However, the team suffered again from inconsistency during the first few months of the regular season, especially in goal and on offence. Goaltender Ty Conklin was injured during training camp, and when he returned, was unreliable in net. Nominal backup Jussi Markkanen showed flashes of brilliance, but still was not quite ready for regular NHL goaltending duty. Edmonton even tried third-string goalie Mike Morrison, called up from the East Coast Hockey League, but after a strong start, he too faded. A streaky goal-scoring production led by left-wingers Ryan Smyth and Raffi Torres had trouble putting pucks in the net at times, but Torres did produce back to back two goal games on his 24th birthday, October 8, 2005 against the Vancouver Canucks and on October 10, 2005 against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Chris Pronger also struggled early on with the rule changes restricting the amount of obstruction and front-of-the-net abuse — Pronger's previous specialty — that could be performed without a penalty, while Peca simply had trouble adapting to the Oilers' system and expectations, desperately underachieving. Many called for head coach Craig MacTavish to be fired; others wanted a big trade, some miracle. Nothing major materialized, but by the end of December, the Oilers led the Northwest Division with a 22-18-4 record for 48 points.
However, the Oilers remained inconsistent. By the end of January, the Oilers traded for scoring defencemen Jaroslav Spacek from the Chicago Blackhawks and Dick Tarnstrom from the Pittsburgh Penguins, and both defencemen, Spacek in particular, secured their shaky blue line. However, their goaltending was still in doubt, and the Oilers struggled after the Winter Olympic break. But right before Trading Deadline 2006, the Oilers added 2004 All-Star goaltender Dwayne Roloson from the Minnesota Wild, and speedy forward Sergei Samsonov, a former rookie of the year, from the Boston Bruins. The Oilers gave up a pair of picks for Roloson, and checking centre Marty Reasoner and prospect Yan Stastny (previously acquired from the Bruins) along with a 2006 2nd round draft pick for Samsonov. Reasoner returned to Edmonton after the 2006 playoffs ended.
The new acquisitions paid off, and Edmonton finished the regular season with 95 points, clinching the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference over Vancouver. Oiler youngsters Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff, and Jarret Stoll led the way in scoring, with break-out seasons of 77, 73, and 68 points, respectively. Smyth finished with 36 goals and 66 points, the second-best seasons of his career in both respects. Smyth led the team in goal-scoring, with Raffi Torres next on the list at 27.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Oilers played the Presidents' Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings. Though not given much of a chance by experts around the league, the Oilers pulled off a six-game upset, neutralizing Wings' offensive weapons Brendan Shanahan, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, in an "oil press" that MacTavish designed. It was the team's first playoff series win since 1998. Edmonton would meet the San Jose Sharks in the Conference Semifinal. The Oilers weren't expected to win here either, after point champion Joe Thornton (also acquired from the Bruins to go to San Jose) and goal champ Jonathan Cheechoo had torn through Nashville Predators in just 5 games. After trailing the series two-games-to-none, the Oilers won the next four, vaulting them into Conference Final. In Game Six, Roloson had a 2-0 shutout — his first ever — and Michael Peca netted the game- and series-winning goal. In doing so, the Oilers became the first eighth-seeded team to reach a Conference Final since the NHL changed the playoff format in 1994. There the Oilers would beat the sixth-seeded Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in five games, claiming the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl for a record seventh time.
Edmonton faced the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Finals (marking the first time two former World Hockey Association teams met in Stanley Cup play). Tied at 4 in the first game, Oilers starting goalie Dwayne Roloson was hurt and put out of action for the rest of the playoffs after a collision when Oiler blue-liner Marc-Andre Bergeron knocked 'Canes winger Andrew Ladd into him with under 6 minutes to play in Game One. With Roloson out, Rod Brind'Amour scored the game winner on a mix up by Ty Conklin and Jason Smith with only thirty seconds left. After trailing the series 2-0 and 3-1, the Oilers forced a seventh game while riding backup Jussi Markkanen, a miracle overtime shorthanded goal in game 5 by local hero Fernando Pisani, and a 4-0 shutout win at home in Game 6. They could not complete the comeback, however, as the Hurricanes won Game 7 by a score of 3-1 (third goal was an empty net) to capture their first ever Stanley Cup championship.
Two days after their heartbreaking loss to the Hurricanes, Chris Pronger surprised Oiler fans and management when he issued a trade request on June 21, citing unspecified personal reasons. On July 3, he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for sniper Joffrey Lupul, top defensive prospect Ladislav Smid, Anaheim's first round draft pick in 2007, Anaheim's second in 2008, and a conditional first. In addition, many of the Oilers' 2005-06 acquisitions signed for contracts elsewhere: Jaroslav Spacek went to the Buffalo Sabres on July 5, Sergei Samsonov signed with the Montreal Canadiens on July 12, and Michael Peca with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs on July 18. In addition, enforcer and fan favourite Georges Laraque, despite offering the Oilers a substantial pay cut in exchange for a no-trade clause, wound up signing with the Phoenix Coyotes, and goaltender Ty Conklin, seeking to rebuild his reputation, signed a two-way contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets the following day. The Oilers also lost 2002-03 New York Rangers acquisition Radek Dvorak to unrestricted free agency as the St. Louis Blues signed him on September 14.
Despite these losses, many of the Oilers' core players were re-signed. Playoff heroes Fernando Pisani and Dwayne Roloson signed as unrestricted free agents (UFAs) on the first day of eligibility, July 1. Jarret Stoll, Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky filed for arbitration as restricted free agents, but all settled for multi-year deals before their hearings came up; Hemsky, in particular, signed for six years and $24.6 million. The Oilers also brought back centre Marty Reasoner, whom they had traded for Samsonov in March, prospect Tom Gilbert from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, defenceman Daniel Tjarnqvist from the Minnesota Wild, and defenceman Jan Hejda from Mytishchi Khimik of the Russian Super League, whose rights were acquired from the Sabres for a seventh-round pick. On August 11, Rangers UFA forward Petr Sykora and the Oilers agreed on a one-year contract. Just over a month later, on September 12, Joffrey Lupul and the Oilers agreed to a three-year contract worth $6.935 million.TSN.ca.
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