Welcome back for another trip down memory lane of Edmonton Oilers history! If there’s one thing I’ve learned this team certainly has never been boring, for better or worse and here’s a few more examples of that.
October 26th, 2011
Rogers Place didn’t just magically appear out of the dirt with a snap of Daryl Katz’s fingers, although that would have been pretty nifty if it happened. On this day Edmonton’s city council approved the frame work for what would end up being the future home of the Oilers.
While the framework was approved it was far from a done deal as Katz and city council would go back and forth on the arena for years. The possibility of Katz relocating the team to Seattle if the arena didn’t happen became a hot topic after he was seen in Seattle with Wayne Gretzky and Seattle businessman Chris Hansen at a Seahawks game in 2012.
In the end things would work out as shovels would eventually be in the ground and the new crown jewel of YEG formally opened this September.
October 28th. 2010
He’s now a New Jersey Devil but Taylor Hall’s time as a member of the Edmonton Oilers was one of the bright spots in an era of darkness. During his time here, the franchise was consistently averaging 62-75 points a season, and stocked up with more number 1 picks than they knew what to do with.
The first time the former Windsor Spitfires captain would strike in the NHL it would be on the road vs the Columbus Blue Jackets where he’d beat a screened Steve Mason. While Edmonton would go onto a 62 point season, Hall would finish his rookie year with 42 points and be 4th in team scoring.
Unconfirmed reports tell us that Editor in Chief Megan Fowler began building the Taylor Hall shrine around mid November of the 2010-11 season.
(Editor’s note: This is true, though it wasn’t completed until October 2016)
October 28th, 1992
If you needed any more indication that the Oilers dynasty had come to an end, look no further than the start of the 1992-93 season. By their final home game of the month on Halloween they’d limp into November with a mark of 1-8-1, and on this day 24 years ago recorded just their 2nd win of the season over the soon to be moving Minnesota North Stars.
That was worst October in team history, barely beating out the start of the 1990-91 Oilers who incredibly turned the season around from a 2-11-2 and managed to be a .500 club at the end of the season and make it to the Campbell Conference final. Only the Tampa Bay Lightning at 53 points and the San Jose Sharks with what still to this day seems like a massive typo at 24 points, would prevent the Oilers from finishing dead last in the conference.
No such turn around would come for the Oilers a couple of seasons later as for the first time since entering the NHL in 1979-80 they’d miss the post season and finish the year with a mark of 26-50-8. Attendance at Northlands starting to dwindle as a result of the team’s record and the departure of many fan favourites. The franchise of the 1980s crashed harder than your uncle Jim down the basement steps at 3:35 AM.
Three times in the 1992-93 season Edmonton would allow eight or more goals with the biggest kick in the groin coming on November 21st, 1992 to the tune of a 9-0 loss to Vancouver.
Petr Klima would lead the Oilers in goals with 32 and in points with 48. A far cry from the days of Gretzky leading the team with triple the amount of that in points.
These Oilers would go on to miss the playoffs the next four seasons before returning in 1996-97 but this rebuild made the current one seem like a walk in the park. Seriously.
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