tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1489736415740665478.post8704311935140802516..comments2023-09-21T06:56:55.437-06:00Comments on Strange Deadfellows Oilerblog: Don't Let It Hit You On The Way Outraventalon40http://www.blogger.com/profile/09882869475576224211noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1489736415740665478.post-17689106770528219322008-10-22T13:35:00.000-06:002008-10-22T13:35:00.000-06:00Going back a couple decades, there were a few famo...Going back a couple decades, there were a few famous holdouts in the late 1980s. <BR/><BR/><B>Paul Coffey:</B> After his contract expired at the end of the 1987 playoffs, wanted a raise from (IIRC) ~$200,000 to $600,000. His timing was lousy, coming off an injury-plagued year after scoring 570 points the previous five seasons and winning two Norris Trophies in the process. In part due to Coffey's injuries, the Oilers used 10 defencemen in 1986-87 who collectively played over 10,000 (!!) NHL games. There was quality sitting in the PB every night. So Sather let Coffey dangle for a few weeks while the potential trading partners upped the ante, then ultimately traded him and Dave Hunter to Pittsburgh, for Craig Simpson, Chris Joseph, Dave Hannan and Moe Mantha. Simpson would go on to score 56 goals that year -- over the course of his dream season Simpson's three centres were Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, and Mark Messier! -- and the Oil would win their fourth Cup. Simpson also was the leading scorer of the 1990 playoffs in which the Oil won their fifth Cup. Coffey meanwhile would become the first ex-Oiler great to win a Cup elsewhere, with the Penguins in 1991. <BR/><BR/><B>Andy Moog:</B> Moog tired of being the #1A goalie during the season and then #2 in the playoffs. And not without justification: from 1984 when Fuhr became the playoff starter through 1987, Moog posted a playoff W-L record of 7-0. After he won Games 2 and 3 against the Kings in '87 (posting a horrible .784 Sv% in the process; those Oilers were <B>good</B>!) he never got off the bench again. So he wanted out. In 1987-88 Moog played for Canadian Olympic team in preparation for, and at, the Calgary Olympics; once the Games were over Sather dealt him to the Bruins for Bill Ranford and Geoff Courtnall. Fuhr would go on to play 75 games that season in winning the Vezina Trophy, then post a sparkling 16-2-1 in the post-season that included a four-game sweep over Moog's Bruins in the SCF. Game 1, a 2-1 Oiler victory, was one of the more compelling goaltender duels in Oiler history. <BR/>In 1990 the Oilers would again beat Moog's Bruins in the SCF, this time with Ranford emerging as the hero and winning the Smythe. <BR/>And in 1997 the Oilers would beat Moog yet a third time, on the strength of Todd Marchant's G7 OT goal in Dallas that marked the beginning of the end for Andy as a top rank goalie. <BR/><BR/><B>Jimmy Carson:</B> The centrepiece of the Oilers return for Wayne Gretzky, the trade involved the only two teenage 50-goal scorers in NHL history, as Carson had scored 55 at age 19 in his sophomore season. An average-to-poor skater, Carson nonetheless had a strong 1988-89 season for the Oilers, scoring 49 goals and 100 points primarily in Gretzky's old spot between Kurri and Tikkanen. But the pressure to be "the next one" mounted on the young man, and early in the 1989-90 season he walked out and demanded a trade. Sather held out for a few weeks before unloading Carson on Detroit along with Kevin mcClelland in return for Adam Graves, Joe Murphy, Petr Klima and Jeff sharples. Graves and Murphy played a huge role on the so-called Kid Line (with Marty Gelinas, also acquired in the Gretzky trade) in the Oilers unexpected run to the 1990 Cup. Klima contributed a huge goal that resolved what remains the longest game in SCF history. Despite a couple more 30+ goal seasons Carson never really recovered his early promise, or from his Edmonton experience. After scoring 254 goals by the age of 24, he managed just 21 more as his career petered out. As a result of his third trade, from Detroit back to L.A., Carson does co-hold, with Bob Kudelski, the NHL record for GP in a season with 86.<BR/><BR/>The common thread was that players Sather acquired in all three holdouts -- Ranford, Simpson, Graves, Murphy, Klima -- all played huge roles in that last Cup triumph.Brucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01190620732067746768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1489736415740665478.post-74952134840717371342008-10-21T21:34:00.000-06:002008-10-21T21:34:00.000-06:00I picked J-bow in both my hockey pools - my keeper...I picked J-bow in both my hockey pools - my keeper league and my fantasy pool. I really hope he gets out of Florida soon...<BR/>I would love to see him come to Edmonton. I actually crunched the numbers earlier in the summer, and I think it could be done - although I'd have to go back to the numbers and check again.<BR/><BR/>Also, just a question on the layout - I find the type a bit small. It might be because I'm on a Mac and using firefox - I know my blog looks a lot different on my work computer than my home computer - but just a note. I don't know what others think...Addicted-to-oilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15356004110516567943noreply@blogger.com