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Oilers' quarter century team [message #840623]	Thu, 30 January 2025 15:49

benv
Messages: 617
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

The NHL is unveiling a quarter century team for each team and they just released the Oiler selections:

1st team:
Forwards: McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins
Defense: Bouchard, Nurse
Goalie: Roloson

2nd team:
Forwards: Hemsky, Horcoff, Smyth
Defense: Ekholm, J Smith
Goalie: Salo

https://www.nhl.com/oilers/news/release-nhl-unveils-oilers-q uarter-century-team

Can't say there's much to dispute there--particularly the forwards (I could see some quibbling on the defense). Five out of the six first teamers plus one on the second team are current Oilers. Of the remaining six, five were on the 05-06 SCF team, so they entirely ignored the decade of darkness--again not surprising.

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840624 is a reply to message #840623 ]	Thu, 30 January 2025 15:50

Adam
Messages: 7255
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

benv wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 15:49

I'd probably have Pronger on Team 1 on the left side. Only one year but man...what a year.

Would suggest Hall over Horcoff too...

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840627 is a reply to message #840624 ]	Thu, 30 January 2025 16:48

nullterm
Messages: 1056
Registered: July 2007
Location: Port Moody, BC

1 Cup

Adam wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 14:50

benv wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 15:49

I'd probably have Pronger on Team 1 on the left side. Only one year but man...what a year.

Would suggest Hall over Horcoff too...

Hall was never a center, and I'd take prime Hemsky or Smyth over him (in his time as an Oiler).

Pronger definitely deserves to be in there.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840628 is a reply to message #840627 ]	Thu, 30 January 2025 16:58

benv
Messages: 617
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

nullterm wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 16:48

Adam wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 14:50

benv wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 15:49

I'd probably have Pronger on Team 1 on the left side. Only one year but man...what a year.

Would suggest Hall over Horcoff too...

Hall was never a center, and I'd take prime Hemsky or Smyth over him (in his time as an Oiler).

Pronger definitely deserves to be in there.

For the record, they made it clear that the forwards were selected regardless of position (i.e. it's fine that the three first team forwards are all officially centers).

So replacing Horcoff with Hall would be fine

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840629 is a reply to message #840628 ]	Thu, 30 January 2025 18:53

Adam
Messages: 7255
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

benv wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 16:58

nullterm wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 16:48

Adam wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 14:50

benv wrote on Thu, 30 January 2025 15:49

I'd probably have Pronger on Team 1 on the left side. Only one year but man...what a year.

Would suggest Hall over Horcoff too...

Hall was never a center, and I'd take prime Hemsky or Smyth over him (in his time as an Oiler).

Pronger definitely deserves to be in there.

Hall was better than Smyth too. Smytty's beloved by many Oilers fans, but he wasn't an elite player. Just had a sweet flow and an "aw shucks" vibe that people loved. I don't think Smyth was ever the best player on the team, and Hall was prior to McDavid getting drafted.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840676 is a reply to message #840629 ]	Fri, 31 January 2025 16:48

smyth260
Messages: 1122
Registered: November 2007

1 Cup

The annual Smyth hater post by Adam! I welcome it.

Let’s break this down then. Considering all their time as Oilers.

Smyth led the team in goals 7 times.
Smyth led the team in points 4 times.
Highest NHL finish in goals: 13th (39 goals in 96-97)
Highest NHL finish in points: 46th (70 pts in 03-04)

Hall led the team in goals 2 times.
Hall led the team in points 3 times.
Highest NHL finish in goals: 33rd (13-14)
Highest NHL finish in points: 7th (80 pts in 13-14)

You are wrong that Smyth was never the best player on his team. Smyth was the best player on the team in the 3 years post-Weight and pre-Pronger (2001-2004). Those were not great teams, but better finishes than any team Hall played for. Unless you want to make a case for Salo or Brewer or something.

Hall had higher peaks, obviously more talent, and was the better overall player at his best. There is a good argument for him for sure, but probably suffers from injuries, longevity , and consistency. At the end of his career, he looks on track to be one of the few players to win a hart trophy and not make the hall of fame because he couldn’t stay elite.

Smyth undoubtedly was the better goal scorer, the best on the team for a long time, and certainly not just flow and “awe schucks” vibes as you say. You have a good memory for things and usually care to look stuff up…but it always surprises me your thoughts of Smyth. He was THE guy to score goals for the Oilers a long time.

Clean house or bust

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840678 is a reply to message #840676 ]	Fri, 31 January 2025 17:15

Adam
Messages: 7255
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

smyth260 wrote on Fri, 31 January 2025 16:48

I will say, I lost a lot of respect for Smyth over his departure and return and then how things played out in his final years, as well as his use of the media to beat the drum for him to get a post-career gig with the team, only to then refuse to travel at all and to eventually quit to move to Nashville.

He was super insistent that he wouldn't take "any more" team discounts after previously holding out, I believe twice. He never was a team discount guy, that was always super revisionist. He then continued to grind for every possible penny to the 11th hour, forcing the Oilers to make a choice as if they hadn't traded him when they did.

He then forced his way back to Edmonton in the weirdest possible way and seemed to insist upon a certain role on his return, including going in to sulk again when he was healthy scratched.

It definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.

There was a lot I liked about his game. But he's not the guy you ever would build a team around.

I think we could have built around Hall (w/ Nuge & Eberle) if we'd had competent management at the time. Injuries definitely held Hall back both with Edmonton and after, but he was a better player than Ryan Smyth, no question about it. I also would have loved to see a season where we had Hall and McDavid for the full year together...

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840681 is a reply to message #840678 ]	Fri, 31 January 2025 19:45

nullterm
Messages: 1056
Registered: July 2007
Location: Port Moody, BC

1 Cup

Adam wrote on Fri, 31 January 2025 16:15

smyth260 wrote on Fri, 31 January 2025 16:48

All fair and everyone has a valid opinion. That’s the fun of these “for fan” hypotheticals.

But career wise Smyth as an Oiler was much more impact than Hall as an Oiler. Hall had the potential to be more but it never worked out that way, atleast as far as the Oilers go. (My opinion)

Hall’s best season was as a Devil. And was an Oiler 6/15 of his NHL seasons. And never saw playoffs here.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840626 is a reply to message #840623 ]	Thu, 30 January 2025 15:55

oilfan94
Messages: 439
Registered: June 2006
Location: USA

No Cups

There are only 2 other names I would consider for this and both are likely disqualified because they didn't play enough games during the specified time period. Chris Pronger nearly willed the team to a Stanley Cup in his one season, and if they win in 2006 there is no way they could exclude him. The other being Doug Weight who was 8th in league scoring in 2001 and was 21st the year before. Horcoff played more years during this period though, so he gets the nod.

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840665 is a reply to message #840626 ]	Fri, 31 January 2025 09:23

Dragon_Matt
Messages: 787
Registered: January 2009
Location: edmonton

No Cups

Also the only Oiler with 100 points between Gretz and McDavid.

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840682 is a reply to message #840665 ]	Fri, 31 January 2025 20:13

tardigrade81
Messages: 2710
Registered: November 2022
Location: Regina, Saskatchewan

2 Cups

Agreed with having pronger on team one

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840685 is a reply to message #840682 ]	Fri, 31 January 2025 20:48

CrusaderPi
Messages: 7867
Registered: December 2003
Location: AB Highway 100

6 Cups

tardigrade81 wrote on Fri, 31 January 2025 20:13

Agreed with having pronger on team one

I thought at times over the last two playoff runs that Ekholm was getting awfully close to being a Pronger-like player. Not as good as Pronger, of course, but at the level where I'd just trust him to play however much he wants. Still, I'm not sure who I'd vote for.

Pronger - Ekholm
J. Smith - Sébastien Bisaillon

Please do not feed the bears. Feeding the bears creates a dependent population unable to survive on their own. Bears.

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Re: Oilers' quarter century team [message #840971 is a reply to message #840685 ]	Tue, 11 February 2025 10:11

benv
Messages: 617
Registered: May 2006
Location: Edmonton

No Cups

CrusaderPi wrote on Fri, 31 January 2025 20:48

tardigrade81 wrote on Fri, 31 January 2025 20:13

Agreed with having pronger on team one

Interesting that few of you are mentioning Pronger--I think you've got to consider the entire body of work during the period, so to me Pronger and Weight would have to be excluded.

So the team was basically constructed with longevity considerations (and I generally agree with the league's choices), but I think it's an interesting exercise to suppose each player was selected based only on his best season during this period (no longevity considerations). Here's how my team would look in that case:

First team:
McDavid (20-21 or 22-23), Draisaitil (19-20 or 24-25), Weight (00-01)
Pronger (05-06), Bouchard (23-24)
Talbot (16-17)

Second team:
Nugent-Hopkins (22-23), Hyman (22-23), Hall (13-14)
Ekholm (23-24), Souray (08-09)
Salo (01-02)

Talbot's 16-17 was easily the best goaltending performance by an Oiler in the last 25 years, but it was really his only great season with the team. On the flip side, Roloson never had a fully great season with the team (05-06 he was only there for the end), so I think he drops off. Pronger and Souray each had one execptional Oiler campaign that knocks off Nurse and Smith. And finally I think Weight, Hyman, and Hall's best seasons would remove Hemsky, Horcoff and Smyth who's presence all really relied on their long term careers with the team.

Anyway, just some fun thought experiments while we're in a prolonged NHL break.

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