Originally posted on ClutchPoints
The Edmonton Oilers have one of the richest histories in the NHL. From Wayne Gretzky to Connor McDavid, great players have donned the orange and blue. Along with those great players, there have been some of the best teams we’ve ever seen.
Which of the dynasty teams ranks on top of the list? And where does the runner-up team from this year fall?
The first Stanley Cup championship in Oilers history ranks atop the list. The ’83-’84 Oilers came off a defeat in the Cup Final a year before and ran through the regular season. Gretzky led the team and league with 87 goals, 118 assists, and 205 points. The Oilers held the top record heading into the postseason.
Their run back to the Cup Final started with a sweep of the Winnipeg Jets before a game seven against the rival Flames. After winning that game they swept the North Stars to advance to the Cup Final. They faced the Islanders again, winners of 19 consecutive playoff series. The Oilers finally slayed the beast, winning in five. Mark Messier won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP with 26 points in 19 games.
The Oilers represent the end of the dynasty era in the NHL. The Canadiens won four straight Cups before the Islanders won four of their own. After finishing New York’s, Edmonton came into the ’84-’85 season with massive expectations to be the next great dynasty. They were Stanley Cup favorites at +100 coming into the season. They finished second in the league as Gretzky won another MVP with 208 points.
The Oilers did not face elimination in the ’85 playoffs. They swept the Kings and Jets, beat the Black Hawks in six games, and then faced the Flyers in the Cup Final. They dispatched Philadelphia in five to win their second straight title. Gretzky won the Conn Smythe with 47 points in 18 games.
After a one-year hiatus from winning the Cup, the ’86-’87 team made no mistake in getting back to the Final. They won the President’s Trophy as the top regular season team with 106 points. Gretzky won his eighth consecutive Hart Trophy with a league-leading 62 goals, 121 assists, and 183 points.
The Oilers rolled through the Campbell Conference playoffs. They beat the Kings in five games, swept the Jets, and beat the Red Wings in five games to reach the Final. They faced the Flyers once again, a series that went all the way to game seven. Flyers goalie Ron Hextall won the Conn Smythe as a rare losing team winner.
The Oilers would go back-to-back again in Gretzky’s final season with the club. They did not win their division that season, falling six points behind the Flames. Gretzky had his consecutive Hart streak broken by 22-year-old Mario Lemieux. The sky was falling! That is until the playoffs.
The 1988 Oilers represent one of the most dominant playoff runs in history. They went 16-2 on their way to the fourth Stanley Cup. The Oilers swept the President’s Trophy-winning Flames in the second round and the Bruins in the Cup Final. They lost one game to the Jets in the first round and the Red Wings in the semi-final. Gretzky ended his Oilers tenure with 43 playoff points and a second Conn Smythe.
The first season without Gretzky did not go very well, it won’t be featured on this list, but the Messier-led Oilers came back in the ’89-’90 season. They finished second in the league behind the Flames again despite Messier’s MVP season. His 129 points led the Oilers but were still behind Gretzky with the Kings.
The playoffs came around and it was a relatively difficult path for them. They faced a game seven against Winnipeg in the first round, which they won. After sweeping Gretzky’s Kings, they beat the Blackhawks in six games to set up a matchup with the President’s Trophy-winning Bruins. The Oilers won in five games and Kevin Simpson won the Conn Smythe with 31 points in 22 games.
The first non-championship team on the list is last year’s runner-up. The ’23-’24 Oilers fired Jay Woodcroft after a putrid start and never looked back. They had win streaks of eight, sixteen, and five to finish second in their division. McDavid finished third in Hart voting despite his 132-point season.
After beating the Kings in the first round again, they went on the road in game seven and beat the division champion Vancouver Canucks in the second round. The conference final featured a matchup with the Dallas Stars which they won in six games. The Oilers went down 3-0 in the Cup Final, ripped off three straight wins to force a game seven but could not pull off the comeback, losing in the final game.
Back to the Gretzky era, the 1983 season represents the franchise’s first trip to the Cup Final. They finished with the most points, 106, in the Campbell Conference because of Gretzky’s 196-point Hart Trophy campaign. That is the fifth-highest point total in Gretzky’s career and sixth-highest in league history.
In the playoffs, the Oilers seemed destined for a matchup with the Islanders. they swept the Jets, beat the Flames in five, and swept the Black Hawks in the Campbell Conference playoffs. Their domination ended abruptly in the Cup Final, as the Islanders swept them to win their fourth straight Cup. Gretzky credits this defeat with lighting the fire that led to the four Cups.
The ’85-’86 season is the one stumble that prevented the Oilers from winning five consecutive Cups. Gretzky scored 215 points, the most in one season in league history. His seventh consecutive Hart and sixth straight Art Ross trophy for most points pushed the Oilers to the first-ever President’s Trophy.
The playoffs did not go quite as well. After sweeping the Vancouver Canucks in the first round, they fell to the Flames in game seven in the second round. After nine consecutive playoff series victories, they were finally bested by their biggest rival. The Flames would go on to lose in the Final to the Montreal Canadiens.
The only team on the list without Messier or McDavid on it is the runner-up in the 2006 season. The Oilers were a 95-point team in the regular season and ranked 13th in goals for and goals against. The top scorer was Ales Hemsky with 77 points but the story of this team was Chris Pronger.
The Hall of Fame defenseman led the team in playoff scoring and played nearly 31 minutes a night in the postseason. He proved once again that he was one of the great defensemen of his generation, dragging this just-okay team to the Cup Final. 36-year-old Dwayne Roloson played just 19 games in net during the regular season but was the goalie for the playoffs due to injuries. He shined before getting hurt himself in the Final.
A season that showed the roots of the upcoming dynasty, the regular season gets the ’81-’82 season on the list. Their 111-point campaign was the second-most in the league and most in the Campbell Conference. Gretzky isn’t the captain yet, but he scored his career-high 92 goals and added 120 assists to win his third MVP.
The playoffs were a total bust, losing to the Kings in the first round. The game seven loss was the last time the Oilers would lose in the first round until 1989. While it was a disastrous playoff run, the Oilers burst onto the scene in 1982.
The post Ranking 10 greatest Edmonton Oilers teams of all time appeared first on ClutchPoints.
Originally posted on ClutchPoints
Published: 4 weeks ago
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