Edmonton Oilers History.

Edmonton Oilers, professional hockey team and one of five teams in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Based in Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta, the Oilers play at the Skyreach Centre and wear uniforms of blue, copper, and white. Originally the Alberta Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA), the team’s name was inspired by Alberta’s vast oil reserves. The club won the NHL championship, known as the Stanley Cup, five times during the 1980s.

In 1979 Edmonton and three other teams from the WHA joined the NHL in a merger of the two rival leagues. In the process, the Oilers introduced to the NHL a group of talented players who dominated the 1980s. Leading this team was the player generally regarded as the finest in league history: Wayne Gretzky, known as The Great One. In his nine NHL seasons with the Oilers, Gretzky won seven straight league scoring titles (goals plus assists) and eight straight Hart Memorial Trophies as the league’s most valuable player (MVP). He led his team to four Stanley Cup championships in five seasons, from 1984 to 1988.

During the 1980s the Oilers became one of the strongest teams in NHL history, with Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Craig MacTavish at center; Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Dave Hunter, and Erik Tikkanen at wing; Paul Coffey, Kevin Lowe, and Charlie Huddy on defense; and Grant Fuhr in goal. The team dominated every aspect of the game through quick passing, a rough and tenacious defense, and high-scoring lineups. Gretzky, Kurri, and Coffey ranked among the top five scorers in both the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons; Gretzky, Kurri, and Messier ranked among the top four scorers in 1986-87. Glen Sather won the league’s coach of the year award for the 1986 season after steering the Oilers to their third league championship.

As a member of the WHA, the Alberta Oilers played their first season in 1972-73. At the start of the 1973-74 season the team was renamed the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers went through six coaches before settling on Sather, the head coach who would eventually lead them to five Stanley Cups. Sather joined the club during the 1976-77 season and in his second full season led the Oilers to the 1979 WHA Finals. Gretzky, then 17 years old, joined the Oilers early in the season; he moved to the Oilers when the team he started with, the Indianapolis Racers, folded. He finished the year with 46 goals and 110 points.

Soon after joining the NHL, the Oilers became annual contenders for conference leader. Edmonton made the first of 13 straight appearances in the NHL playoffs in 1979. Beginning in the 1980-81 season, Gretzky won an unprecedented seven consecutive Art Ross Trophies as the NHL’s top scorer. In the 1981-82 season, he scored 92 goals, breaking an 11-year-old league record for the most goals scored in a single season; Phil Esposito had set the previous record with 76 goals during the 1970-71 season while playing for the Boston Bruins.

In the 1983-84 season Gretzky and Coffey finished first and second in NHL scoring and the Oilers compiled the best win-loss record in their team history, with 57 wins, 18 losses, and 5 ties. The winning season was highlighted by the Oilers’ first Stanley Cup title, following a defeat of the New York Islanders. Stanley Cup victories over the Philadelphia Flyers followed in 1985 and 1987, and over the Boston Bruins in 1988 and 1990.

In August 1988 Gretzky and two teammates were traded to the Los Angeles Kings for $15 million, two resource, and three first-round draft choices. Sather departed in 1989 after the Oilers lost in the division semifinals. He was replaced by John Muckler, who had previously coached the Minnesota North Stars. Despite being a team in transition—and without The Great One—the Oilers captured another Stanley Cup title in 1990, and Hart Memorial Trophy-winner Messier took over as Edmonton’s top scorer. After several losing seasons, however, the talented team had dispersed. Sather returned briefly in the 1993-94 season, but the Oilers finished the season at the bottom of the division. By the late 1990s the Oilers had improved.