Edmonton Oilers All Time Roster: Centre

The thrilling conclusion of the Edmonton Oilers All Time Roster, with in my opinion, the easiest spot to fill on the Edmonton Oilers: Centre.

For prior roster listings check out the links below:

Right Wing

Left Wing

Defensemen

Goaltender

1.Wayne Gretzky

You know what helps? Having not only the best centre of all time, but the best player of all time. Wayne Gretzky is a living legend. Gretzky was the most dominant player to ever play in the NHL (even though there is a healthy debate for both Orr and Lemieux) but Gretzky is a cut above from both of them. The lanky kid from Brantford Ontario, originally started in the WHA with the Indianapolis Racers, but his time there was short as the Oilers acquired him. Gretzky would debut in the NHL in 1979-80 where he would not win the Calder Trophy (because the WHA was considered a professional league, he was ranked invalid. Yet, watch Panarin of the Blackhawks win it this season despite playing in a professional league for three years, but hey that’s another argument for another day).

Gretzky won the Hart Trophy in his first season and was tied for the Art Ross trophy with Marcel Dionne with 137 points. It was the first of many Hart and Art Ross Trophies as Gretzky would win 9 Hart Trophies and 10 Art Ross Trophies in his career. Gretzky holds 60 NHL records including most goals in a season with 92 and points with 215. Gretzky was the key cog of the Oilers dynasty winning all four of his Stanley Cups while a member of the Edmonton Oilers.

He was famously traded in August of 1988 to the Los Angeles Kings where his impact of the game was now featured in the bright lights of Hollywood. Gretzky was also a direct factor for expansion in the south: While as a member of the Los Angles Kings, The NHL expanded to San Jose, Florida, Anaheim and Tampa Bay, markets that were not traditionally Hockey Markets.

Gretzky would injure his back in the Canada Cup of 1991 and would miss a large amount of games due to a potentially career ending back injury in 1992-93. However, Gretzky came back and made his final Stanley Cup appearance, where the Kings fell the Montreal Canadiens.

In 1995-96 Gret
zky was traded a second time to the St. Louis Blues as a playoff rental and would finish his final three years with the New York Rangers. His number was retired league wide and was the second Oiler number retired in 1999. His introduction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999 marked a special class where the three year waiting period was waived.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFhB_VyoEro

2. Mark Messier

Mark Messier is the number one New York Ranger of all time and is the number two on the Edmonton Oilers Roster for Centre. If Gretzky was about the finesse of the game, Mark Messier was the brutish force of nature on skates. Messier was drafted in the third round of the 1979 NHL Draft and like Gretzky, had his NHL debut in 1979. Messier was initially a Left Winger but would switch to Centre in for the 1984 playoffs where he never looked back: Messier ended up winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as he won his first of six Stanley Cups of his career. Messier scored 50 goals just once in his career in 1981 and would have his career best in 1989-90 with 127 points, where he also won his Hart Trophy in his finest season as an Edmonton Oiler.

When Gretzky was traded in 1988, Mark Messier emerged from Gretzky’s shadow, acting as captain and the 1989-90 season was his best season. Not only did he have career highs and was named NHL MVP, he lead the Edmonton Oilers to an unlikely Stanley Cup in the 1990 season. Messier proved that the Edmonton Oilers could win without number 99. However, that time was short.

Messier was traded in the 1991-92 season to the New York Rangers, where he best known as the Captain of the New York Rangers and as the man who guaranteed victory against the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1994. Messier would be surrounded with former Oilers as he raised the cup for the Rangers, their first cup in 54 years.

Messier would have a disastrous three year stint in Vancouver, before returning to the Rangers in 2000. He would retire after the 2003-04 season.

Messier would join the Hall of Fame in 2007 and would his number retired on February 27th 2007 (which was overshadowed by the heartbreaking deal of Ryan Smyth to the New York Islanders).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEgp-URw070

3. Doug Weight

Doug Weight played in an Era of the Edmonton Oilers where the Oilers just could not compete with the big dollar spending of the other teams. Acquired from the New York Rangers in 1993 for Esa Tikkanen, Doug Weight was the last Edmonton Oiler to reach 100 points, reaching 105 points in 1995-96. Doug Weight is my favorite Edmonton Oiler of all time. Growing up as an Edmonton Oilers fan, kids in my elementary classes would be drawn to Jason Arnott, Curtis Joseph and Kelly Buchberger (yes there was the one kid, his name was Joey, and he loved Bucky). You see as a kid, we used to play soccer as recess and we would always try to pretend we were hockey players. When we were the Edmonton Oilers, I was always Doug Weight. He was the guy I looked up to.

Weight as a player was the wizard playmaker. He would form some great chemistry with fellow American Bill Guerin. Weight would serve as the Edmonton Oilers captain from 1999-2001, where to the then heartbroken 12 year old me, he was dealt to the St Louis Blues, shortly after my birthday to boot.

I would continue to follow Weight and he would have some good years in St Louis. In 2005-06, he was dealt to the Carolina Hurricanes as a rental player for their Stanley Cup run, where he won his only Stanley Cup against his former team, the Edmonton Oilers. He would return to St Louis, but was later dealt to Anaheim in 2007-08. He would join the New York Islanders for his final three years, which were injury plagued.

I’m biased, but I feel that Weight’s number should be honoured but not retired. No Oiler other than Bodgan Yakimov and Anders Nilsson of recent, wore the number 39.

4. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Hey! Nuge joins Hall and Eberle as the only current Oilers to join the All Time Roster. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was drafted on my birthday in 2011 (which holds some special connection). I remember watching Nugent-Hopkins in the WHL especially in the Playoffs against the Edmonton Oil Kings. I remember watching him closely, even though I hated the Rebels. I remember there was a scrum and Nuge slashed a player and skated away. My friends were howling saying he was a little punk and I just quipped “well, that little punk is probably going to be drafted first overall by us”.

Nugent-Hopkins is a slick play making centre who is having a down season this year, which is unfortunate as I was hoping he would break out. As it stands, he currently has a career high of 56 points, although his rookie year had his best Point Per Game Average with 52 points in 62 games where he was robbed of the Calder trophy. Nugent-Hopkins has also emerged as a solid two way pivot with excellent smarts on both ends of the ice.

He ranks lower than two other Oilers in terms of career points, but his career points per game sits at 0.717 compared to the 0.562 and 0.506 of the other two pivots which will be mentioned below.

Honorable Mentions: Shawn Horcoff and Todd Marchant were the two players with the 0.5 ish point per games. I gave Nugent-Hopkins the nod because I feel that he is a better player than both of them. However, I do think within five years, Connor McDavid will be on this list. There’s not much that needs to be said about McDavid: he’s the most hyped up prospect since Sidney Crosby and has been dubbed the saviour of the franchise. He’s exciting whenever he is on the ice and touches the puck. There are people who still do not think he’s that good, but ignore them. I still can’t wrap my head around how good Connor McDavid is.

Thanks for the read guys. I hope you all enjoy my all time list!