Edmonton Oilers who have done multiple tours of duty

Igor Ulanov, Right D

Ulanov is a bit of an interesting player.  He was never much of a scorer but seemed to find the Midas stick with the Oilers as he put up 2 pretty solid seasons of offence with the Oilers that couldn’t be duplicated anywhere else.

With the fall of the Soviet Union making it much less hazardous to bring Russian players to the NHL, Ulanov was drafted by Winnipeg (Jets part 1) in the 10th round of the ’91 draft.  He was a tough, gritty guy who finished with only 162 career points in 739 games but with 1,151 PIMs in his career.

He had 3 OK seasons in Winnipeg, putting up 11-17 points in his first 3 NHL seasons with stops in the AHL and 1 more season in Russia in between.  After that, he spent time in Washington, Chicago, Tampa Bay, and Montreal.

He found his way to Edmonton via trade from Montreal at the 2000 trade deadline as the Oilers traded Christian Laflamme and Matthieu Descoteaux to Montreal for Ulanov and Alain Nesreddine.

He didn’t do much the rest of that season, only putting up 3 assists in 14 games for the Oilers and no offence in the playoffs.  However, it was in the 2000-01 season where he really shone, putting up a career-best 3-20-23 in 67 games for the Oilers that season with a +15 and 90 PIMs.  No offence in 6 playoff games still that year.

He then signed with the Rangers as a free agent the next season, and spent time in Florida and more time in the AHL before wrapping up his career with 2 more seasons with the Oilers in 2003-04.  That first season in his 2nd tour he put up 5-13-18 with a +19 and 28 PIMs.  He wrapped up his NHL career the season after the lockout with 3-6-9 in 37 games and 29 PIMs with a -11.

He hung up his skates for good after 2 more seasons in Russia.  He was a head coach in the KHL as recently as 2018-19, but no indication what he’s done after that.  I’ll always remember Ulanov for being an Oilers-only puck mover.  It’s forever a mystery why he could only put up offence with the Oilers and no one else.  He came close in Winnipeg but never had seasons of 23 and 18 points like he did with the Oilers.

Josef Beranek, L Center

Unlike a lot of players on this list, Beranek was actually an Oilers draft pick.  Drafted in the 4th round in ’89, Beranek was brought to the Oilers in 1991-92 after finishing 27-27-54 in 50 games with 98 PIMs the season before in the Czech pro leagues.

He went 12-16-28 with 18 PIMs and a -2, adding 2-1-3 in 12 playoff games for the Oilers that season.  Not a bad rookie debut.  Next season he spent 6 games in Cape Breton before coming back up and putting up 2-6-8 and 28 PIMs and a -7 in 26 games before being traded along with Greg Hawgood to Philly for Brian Benning, recent Oilers d-man Matt Benning’s father.

After Philly, he went to Vancouver and Pittsburgh with single seasons in the Czech pro leagues again before circling back to the Oilers as he was traded back here from Pittsburgh in exchange for Bobby Dollas and Tony Hrkac, the “Hrkac circus.”

He had a pretty good year that first season, putting up 19-30-49 in 66 games with a +6 to boot.  He played 2 games in the playoffs that year but put up no offence.

He followed that up by struggling the next year, though, as he only put up 9-8-17 in 58 games with a -6.  Unsurprisingly, he was traded back to Pittsburgh in exchange for d-man German Titov.

After 2 seasons with Pittsburgh, he finished up his career in the Czech pro leagues, spending his last 9 seasons with the same team.

Ken Linseman, L Center

Back to the 80s, we go for the next one.  Bottom 6 forward Ken Linseman was a role player and he played his role well.  On most teams back then he probably would’ve been a top 6 forward but on the Oilers, he spent most of his career as a bottom 6 forward.  Drafted in the NHL by Philly in the 1st round in 1978 and by Birmingham of the WHA in 1977 in the 10th round, Linseman in my books might be one of the best bottom 6 forwards of all time.

He put up career totals of 256-551-807 with a whopping 1,727 PIMs in 860 NHL games.  That PIMs number is even more impressive considering Linseman only stood at 5’11” and 175 lbs.  That’s pretty small for an NHL player.  Anyway, Linseman played 1 season in Birmingham before the WHA folded and he then spent his 1 and only season in the AHL before going up to Philly for the 78-79 season.

He came to the Oilers via trade in 1982 with Hartford, who had just traded with Philly for Mark Howe and acquired Linseman in that trade, and Hartford subsequently traded Linseman to the Oilers with Don Nachbaur for Risto Siltanen and Brent Loney.

Being that this was just before the Oilers had all the pieces of their puzzle together, this was the 1 year that Linseman was a regular top 6 guy for the Oilers, putting up 33-42-75 and a +16 with a hardcore 181 PIMs in 72 games.  IIRC he got a “Gretzky bump” riding shotgun to the great one to get those numbers.  He added another 14 points in 16 playoff games.

The next season for Linseman wasn’t quite as electric, but still very solid as he put up 18-49-67 with a +30 and “only” 119 PIMs.  He added the same 14 points in 19 playoff games that year, winning the 1 and only Cup of his career as he and the Oilers would win it all in ’84.

The Oilers then dealt him to Boston for Mike Krushelnyski during that offseason – Krushelnyski would go on to infamy as one of the players included in the Gretzky “trade” to the Kings in the ’88 offseason.  Anyway, Linseman would go on to spend 6 seasons in Boston and 1 with the Flyers before signing with the Oilers as a free agent in the 1990 offseason.  He was a bit more mortal this around but still had a pretty solid season, going 7-29-36 in 56 games with a +15 and 94 PIMs to boot – the latter as you’d expect from “The Rat.”

Then cash-strapped owner Peter Pocklington, in the middle of dismantling the dynasty due to financial problems that stemmed from alienating his key network after being a shady businessman, had then GM Glen Sather trade Linseman to Toronto for cash.  After only 2 games he would be released by the Leafs and finish up his career in the Italian pro leagues.

Marty Mcsorley, RW/Right D

Mcsorley was a tough guy primarily known as Wayne Gretzky’s “bodyguard” in the late 80s and early 90s.  He played 961 NHL games, and as you’d expect, he only put up 108-251-359 in his career during said games but a crazy 3,381 PIMs.  In case you’re wondering, that last mark is 4th all-time in the NHL.

He started his career as an undrafted free agent for Pittsburgh after 2 seasons with the OHL’s Belleville Bulls and some time in the AHL.  He was traded to the Oilers, along with Tim Hrynewich and bottom pairing D Craig Muni, in exchange for goalie Gilles Meloche.  Look up Meloche’s stats and boy will you see this trade worked out big time for the Oilers.

Mcsorley would go on to spend about 15 games over 2 seasons in Cape Breton and 3 seasons with the Oilers.  Mcsorley was another guy involved in the Gretzky “trade” to LA.  After LA he went back to Pittsburgh, then back to LA again, then to the Rangers and Sharks before the Oilers signed him as a free agent for the 1998-99 season, where he put up 2-3-5 in 46 games with a -5 and 101 PIMs, with no offence and 2 PIMs in another 3 playoff games that season.

He then left the Oilers to sign as a free agent with Boston, which was where he committed his stick swinging incident against Donald Brashear and was convicted of assault charges and suspended by the NHL for 1 year.  That incident abruptly put an unofficial end to his career, as he only played 14 games in the IHL after that, before retiring for good.

Dick Tarnstrom, Left D

This one might not count in some people’s books, but because it’s 2 separate transactions I’m counting it.

Anyway, drafted by the Islanders in the 11th round in 1994, Tarnstrom started his career by spending 9 seasons in the Swedish pros.  After 9 AHL games, the Islanders brought him over to New York, then after that 1 season traded him to Pittsburgh.  In 2006 he requested a trade from the Pens and the Oilers traded Cory Cross and Jani Rita in exchange for him.  He was a bottom pairing guy for the Oilers as they went on their Cinderella run to the 2006 Stanley Cup finals.

His contract finished, he left to go play in the Italian pro leagues for 1 season before re-signing with the Oilers as a free agent in 2007.  However, with point totals of only 4 points in 22 games (another 2 assists in the 2006 playoffs) and 5 points in 29 games for the Oilers by 2008, he was deemed expendable by the Oilers and traded to Columbus in exchange for Curtis Glencross.  After 1 season in Columbus, he went back to Europe to once again play in the Swedish pros and finish up his career.

Kent Nilsson, L Center

Swedish center Nilsson was drafted 4th overall by the Atlanta Flames in the 1976 NHL draft, and in the 2nd round by the Toronto Toros of the WHA in the same year.  He played his first 3 years in Sweden and eventually chose the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA to start his North American pro career.  After the WHA folded, his rights reverted to Atlanta, where he played for 1 season before the team moved to Calgary.

From Calgary, he was traded to Minnesota for 2 seasons.  It’s unknown how he came to be an Oiler, but he came to the Oilers from Minnesota for 17 games in the 86-87 season, where he put up 5-12-17 in 17 games with a +10 and another 6-13-19 in 21 playoff games as the Oilers won the cup in ’87.

He then left the NHL to play in Europe where he played in the Italian, Swedish, Austrian, and Swiss pro leagues before returning to the Oilers in the 1994-95 season where he played 6 games, scored 1 goal and finished with a -5.  He then played 1 more season in Germany before retiring.  A brief time as an Oiler but he made it count by winning a cup.

Mike Comrie, L Center

Now we get into the really interesting names.  Drafted by the Oilers in the 3rd round of the ’99 draft, local boy Comrie starred for the University of Michigan and the NCAA for 2 seasons and the Kootenay Ice of the WHL for 1 season before bypassing the AHL and jumping straight to the Oilers.  In his rookie season, he put up 8-14-22 and a +6, with another 1-2-3 in 6 games in the playoffs.

After seasons of 33 goals and 60 points with a +16 and 45 PIMs in 82 games the next season and 20 goals and 51 points with a -18 and 90 PIMs the season after, things started to go south for Comrie.

He turned in a lacklustre performance in the 2003 training camp, and by this time had developed a bit of an ego so he elected to holdout in a contract dispute.  The GM of the day, however, Kevin Lowe, was no stranger to having an ego and a competitive streak himself.  These attributes are fine as a player, but as a GM not so much.  Lowe had a deal in place to ship off Comrie to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Corey Perry in his prime and a 1st round pick.

However, Lowe ended up cratering that deal with an 11th-hour request that Comrie returns his $2.5 million signing bonus.  Comrie rightly balked, so this became a soap opera of a player and a GM – both with huge egos – holding their ground to see who would blink first.

Lowe was forced to settle for a lesser deal with Philly when he shipped Comrie off to Philly in exchange for Jeff Woywitka, a 1st round pick in 2004, and a 3rd round pick in 2005.  Neither the draft picks nor Woywitka turned out to be anything, so this trade was very much a failure for the Oilers.

Comrie became plagued with injuries for the rest of his career, though, so he moved around a lot after this trade.  From Philly, he went to Phoenix, Ottawa, the Islanders, then back to Ottawa again.  Wanting to bury the hatchet with the organization, Comrie signed an inexpensive 1-year deal to return to the Oilers for the 2009-10 season.  He still suffered from injuries, but put up a respectable 13-8-21 in 43 games.  He had 30 PIMs and a -9 to go along with that.

He only had 1 more season in Pittsburgh after that in his career, then injuries forced him to retire.  In retrospect, there are 2 important questions to ask about Comrie:  1)  Would Comrie have been a poor man’s Mario Lemieux if he’d been able to stay healthy?  and 2)  Imagine what might’ve been if that trade for Perry had been pulled off.  Even if we had to trade him, we could’ve traded him for a huge trade haul and potentially gotten the team out of the decade of darkness a lot sooner.  Otherwise, we would’ve had a core player for many years, possibly 2 depending on how that 1st rounder panned out.

Petr Klima, L/R winger

Klima was a Czech-born winger who had to secretly defect to the Detroit Red Wings to have an NHL career.  One of many cloak and dagger moves necessary to get Iron Curtain citizens to the NHL back in the days of the Soviet Union.

Klima played 4 full seasons and parts of another one for Detroit, eventually being part of the blockbuster trade to the Oilers for Jimmy Carson in 1990.  Carson, you may remember, was the centerpiece of the Gretzky “trade”  the previous 2 offseasons in 1988, and demanded a trade out of Edmonton because he felt too much pressure having been traded for Gretzky.

So, 13 games into the 89-90 season, the Oilers traded Carson, Kevin McClelland, and a 5th round pick to Detroit in exchange for Petr Klima, Adam Graves, and Joe Murphy.  Klima had a pretty solid career as an Oiler, winning a cup in his first season here in 1990 and scoring between 21-40 goals every year he was here the 1st time and between 53-68 points.

Having a toughness streak helped too, as he cracked the 100 PIMs mark 2 out of 4 years.  He was -1 and +24 his 1st 2 years here, but was a bit of a defensive adventure the last 2, going -18 and -15 respectively.  In 1993 Klima was traded to Tampa Bay, and from there to LA and Pittsburgh, later finishing up his season back with the Oilers, his 3rd team that year.

He put up 1-5-6 in 16 games as an Oiler that year – 1996-97 – with a -1 and 6 PIMs to go along with it.  He also played 6 games in the playoffs but produced no offence.  He’d also spent time in the IHL and the Czech and German pro leagues.

After his time with the Oilers, he went back to the German pro leagues, then to the AHL, then his final season in the NHL with Detroit, then 2 seasons in the Czech pros again to finish off his career.  All told Klima played 786 NHL games, finishing 313-260-573 in that time with 671 career PIMs.  Not bad.

Bill Ranford, Goalie

Ranford reminded me a lot of Grant Fuhr as a goaltender – his underlying stats are pretty cringeworthy but the numbers don’t tell the whole story – once the games count, he elevates his game and shuts the door.

Drafted by Boston in the 3rd round in ’85, Ranford played his junior hockey with New Westminster of the WHL.  He had a 4 game cup of coffee with the Bruins in the 85-86 season before making the Bruins again the next season but getting sent down to the AHL.

Then Boston had a coaching change, and as is often the case, certain players fall out of favour with the new coach and that’s exactly what happened with Ranford.  Meanwhile, in Edmonton, Andy Moog, who had tandemed with Grant Fuhr for years, was dissatisfied with his playing time, and the Oilers dealt Moog to Boston for Ranford straight up.

Ranford started out by backing up Fuhr for a couple of seasons but became the Oilers starter when Fuhr had to leave the team to get into the NHL’s substance abuse program due to a coke problem that had emerged over the last few seasons.  Ranford was entrenched as the starter after Fuhr was subsequently dealt to Toronto in a blockbuster trade that included Glenn Anderson.

Ranford would win the cup in 1990 as a starter with the Oilers, winning the Conn Smythe trophy in the process with a .912 sv% and a 2.53 GAA – for that era those were phenomenal stats.  He went on to start for the Oilers for the next 6 seasons, always with an sv% just below .900 and a GAA of 3.5 to 4.0.

Just after his 30th birthday, he would be dealt back to Boston in a trade that produced Mariuz Czerkawski, Sean Brown, and a 1st round pick in the ’96 entry draft.  After another 2 seasons in Boston, he would go on to Washington, Tampa Bay, and Detroit before Ranford came back to the Oilers as a free agent in the 1999-00 season to back up Tommy Salo before announcing his retirement at the end of the season.  Ranford has been the LA Kings goalie coach since the 2006-07 season.

Ryan Smyth, LW

If you were an Oilers fan as a kid in the 90s, chances are your favourite player was Ryan Smyth, or Smytty, as his nickname went.

One of the few 1st round picks in the 90s that actually panned out for the Oilers, Smyth was drafted in the 1st round in 1994.  He started out in the WHL with Moose Jaw, where he had a stellar junior career and finished his last 2 seasons in junior with 50 and 41 goals respectively and 105 and 86 points respectively in 72 and 50 games, again respectively.

He had a 3 game cup of coffee in 94-95 producing no offence and a -1.  He started next season in the AHL but only spent 9 games there before coming back to the big leagues.  For the next 10 seasons Smyth, unless he was injured, rarely finished below the 20 goal mark, even cracking the 30 goal mark 4 times.

After a very bitter and public contract dispute between Smyth and Kevin Lowe – once again as the egos of player and management clashed, the Oilers were unable to sign him to a contract and dealt him to the Islanders at the 2007 trade deadline in exchange for Ryan O’Marra, Robert Nilsson, and a 1st round pick in 2007.

He signed with Avalanche as a free agent but eventually was dealt to LA for another 2 seasons.  It was in that 2nd season with LA that Smyth demanded a trade to the Oilers so he could finish his career where it started and raise his kids in what he felt was a better environment in Edmonton vs. Tinseltown.

He was traded back to the Oilers in the 2011 offseason for 4th line C Colin Fraser and a 2012 7th round pick.  That trade worked out well for Fraser, who was playing for the Kings when they won their 1st Stanley Cup in 2012, something Smyth missed out on due to the trade.

In his first season back he put up pretty good numbers, scoring 19-27-46 in 82 games.  However, age would catch up to the then 37-year-old Smyth and he was relegated to a bottom 6 position for the next 2 seasons.  He retired after the 2013-14 season as an Oiler having played 1270 NHL games, going 386-456-842 to go along with 976 PIMs.  971 of those games would be with the Oilers.

Glenn Anderson, R/LW

One of the core players of the 80s dynasty, Anderson was drafted in the 4th round in the 1979 NHL draft.  He played 1 season of NCAA hockey and 1 season in the WHL, before doing what few rookies can do and transferring seamlessly to the NHL, completely bypassing the minor leagues.  A fantastic achievement for a 1st rounder, never mind a 4th round pick.

He would go on to play 11 seasons as an Oiler in his 1st tour, only once scoring less than 20 goals, and scoring 30 goals in 9 of those seasons, 40 goals in 4 of those seasons, and 50 goals in 2 of them.  He also cracked the 100 point barrier on 3 of those occasions.

But, faced with rising salaries and an owner’s crumbling business empire around him, GM Glen Sather at the time knew he couldn’t afford to keep Anderson, and packaged him in a blockbuster trade with Toronto that included Grant Fuhr and Craig Berube, Anderson was sent to TO for Scott Thornton, Vincent Damphousse, Peter Ing, Luke Richardson, and future considerations.

Anderson would spend 3 seasons in TO before stops with the Rangers (being part of the Rangers team that won the cup in ’94) and Blues, then going over to Europe to play in the Swedish and German pro leagues.

Due to the strange CBA rules of the day, any player coming back from Europe had to clear re-entry waivers, even if they signed as a free agent with a team.  Anderson was victimized by this rule as he signed as a free agent with his hometown Vancouver Canucks, but would never play a game for them as the Oilers claimed him on re-entry waivers in the 1995-96 season.

He wasn’t happy but played through it, putting up 4-6-10 in 17 games with the Oilers.  Either because the organization sensed they may have erred in doing this, or maybe due to the fact he was 35 years old at this point, or maybe both, Anderson was put on waivers and claimed by St. Louis, where he spent the last 15 games of the season and 11 playoff games, putting up 4 points in those 15 games and another 5 in 11 playoff games.

Anderson went back to Europe the next season, where he finished up his career in the Italian and Swiss pro leagues before retiring for good.  All told, Anderson played 1129 NHL games and put up 498-601-1099 points and 1120 PIMs.  Not including playoff games.  Truly one of the NHL’s all-time great players.  If it weren’t for bigger names in the 80s like Gretzky and Messier, Anderson likely would’ve been a bigger name in his career.

Anderson might be the only player on this list who came back to the Oilers begrudgingly.

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Kevin Lowe, Left D

Lowe is one of the Oiler’s all-time great puck-moving D.  He was the first NHL draft pick of the team after they got absorbed by the NHL when the WHA folded.

He started out in junior with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, in his last 2 seasons putting up stellar point totals of 65 and 86 points, totals that are virtually impossible for defencemen but more attainable for forwards.

Bypassing the minors altogether, Lowe became a full-time NHLer after 3 seasons of junior.  Over 13 seasons with the Oilers, Lowe would 10 times score 20 points, 6 times score 30 points, and 3 times score 40 points.

Sather was then forced to trade Lowe as his contract was coming to an end due to rising salaries and the extreme crumbling of Peter Pocklington’s business interests.

He was part of the New York “Oilers” team that won the cup in ’94 and played for the Rangers for 4 seasons.  He then came back to the Oilers for 2 seasons starting in 1996-97 after that time as a bottom pairing D but was forced to retire in his last season after only 7 games due to injury.  He ended up putting in another 71 games over those 2 seasons putting up 14 points and 72 PIMs during that time, and a -1 and -3 respectively.

Lowe would go on to finish playing 1,254 games putting up 84-348-432 in those games, not including playoffs.  He also finished with a whopping 1,498 PIMs over his career.  At the end of his playing career, Lowe would go on to have a checkered career post-hockey.  It’s believed Lowe signed as a free agent with the Oilers in part due to a promise of a post-playing career in hockey operations.

After he retired as a player, Lowe would go on to be an assistant coach, then a head coach, then a GM, then as president of hockey ops.  His time as a GM was much different from his time as a player.  Other than the aforementioned public disputes with Mike Comrie and Ryan Smyth, there was the threat of renting a barn to fight Brian Burke, which was stopped by Gary Bettman.

There was his tone-deaf comment about “Tier 1 and Tier 2” fans.  Lowe was the poster boy for the nepotism that existed for years in the Oilers management ranks.  Oh, it wasn’t all bad.  The sign and trade deal for Chris Pronger, the genius of a trade that brought Dwayne Roloson to Edmonton, the trading for Jaroslav Spacek and Dick Tarnstrom to solidify the defence, and the trade for Sergei Samsonov to help out in the forward ranks all led to the cinderella cup run of ’06, and he was the GM of the team at the time.  But Lowe’s management will always go down in history more for the bad he did than the good he did.

But, one of the things that Bob Nicholson has put a stop to in his time as president is to stop the nepotism in its tracks as Lowe works on the business side of the organization and Craig Mactavish isn’t here anymore.

Bonus material

After Oscar Klefbom was officially put on LTIR recently, and Anton Forsberg was assigned to Bakersfield as expected, the Oilers are now below the NHL’s 23 man roster limit, and they have an extra $4.1 million in cap space because of Klefbom’s contract being on LTIR.  Personally, I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop as far as cleaning up the glut in the bottom 6 forwards.  We’ll see what Holland does with that.