Oilers – the TO rescue 911 crew

It’s amazing what a difference a couple of decades can make in the history of an NHL franchise the Edmonton Oilers are a prime example of this.

The ’94 Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers were a team that played in a pre-salary cap NHL era that was one of only six teams that were actually rich enough to pay the biggest stars.

In the early 90s the Oilers were a cash poor team run by an owner whose business empire was crumbling around him, even facing criminal charges here before he bolted for the US.

The Rangers routinely took advantage of teams like us at that time. Their Cup winning team back then was largely composed of ex-Oilers whom Edmonton could no longer afford to keep. Peter Pocklington, due to his own questionable business ethics back in the day, was forced to dismantle the Oilers dynasty team for financial reasons. The trades, in the short term at least (in the long run we made out pretty good on that Craig Mactavish for Doug Weight trade) were incredibly tilted towards the Rangers as they sent us picks and prospects in exchange for their player of choice and usually cash too (something that is now illegal in today’s CBA).

The Oilers had no chance at competing for the cup and at that time were basically a glorified farm team for the six rich teams – a fate eventually shared by most of the league. We had the master of GMs at the helm at the time so we at least could still make the playoffs for part of the decade based on his trades (that was still at a time when the Oilers had a horrendous drafting record which certainly didn’t help). That ’94 Rangers team was littered with Ex-Oilers, with a smattering of Ex-Hawks and Ex-Blues thrown in. Very little of that roster was homegrown Rangers players.

The Ex-Oilers of that team were Mark Messier, Adam Graves, Jeff Beukeboom, Craig Mactavish, and Kevin Lowe. Among some of their best players.

I guess we should feel fortunate in one regard – the Oilers still made it out of that decade alive, unlike the Winnipeg Jets v 1.0 and the Quebec Nordiques, who still haven’t come back to the league but rumour persists that they’re in line for an expansion team, or possibly a destination for a team to move should Gary Bettman ever come to his senses about teams like the Arizona Coyotes.

But fast forward to today and now the tables have turned. For the first time in their existence, the Oilers have stable ownership in the form of drugstore magnate Daryl Katz, and this in combination with the salary cap means now the Oilers have the same pipeline of players here that the Rangers used to have with them – except now it’s with the Toronto Maple Leafs, rescuing their players from a fishbowl on steroids where media and bloggers alike routinely ignore reality and become overly critical of players for no good reason.

Ask Phil Kessel if he’ll ever go back there again as a member of the home team if you don’t believe me. Don’t hold your breath, let’s just put it that way. He eventually left for the greener pastures of Pittsburgh and became a cornerstone player who contributed heavily to winning back to back Cups in 2016 and 2017. I’m sure the Maple Laffs could’ve used him…..

The Leafs have the strangest cap use of any team in the NHL. They’re paying almost half of their salary cap to four forwards, and as a result have seen themselves up against the cap every year for a long time now, and have been forced to say goodbye to incredibly useful core or complementary pieces. GM Kyle Dubas has been forced to weave a lot of magic over the years to make sure the Maple Laffs stay cap compliant.

The Oilers have made out like bandits because of the Leafs cap issues, routinely plucking players from them in free agency where the players seem to rehab and rebound their careers and inevitably become better players. Without the glare of loud yet ignorant voices in Canada’s New York, these players contribute greatly to the Oilers, many of whom played key roles in the Oilers ascendance to the conference finals last season, while the Leafs themselves bowed out in the first round for the sixth year in a row. Pity the players who don the Maple Leaf and wilt under the pressure of insanity.

Let’s take a look and see who the Oilers have rescued from the Leafs in free agency now.