The Oilers dynasty was born 43 years ago today.
It's safe to say that 1980 was an excellent year. It was the dawn of a new decade, it's the year of my birth and the Edmonton Oilers took three legendary players in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft who are so pivotal for their five cup-winning years in the 1980s.
According to Bob Stauffer, during that draft, the Oilers selected Paul Coffey at 6th overall, Jari Kurri at 69th overall and Andy Moog at 132nd overall.
With Wayne Gretzky on the team and Mark Messier, these new players gave the Oilers the right mix to build a contender. They did and owned NHL for a long time. The Hall of Fame defenseman finished with 1531 points in his career. Kurri finished with 1398.
The present-day Oilers are looking forward to this summer as they are expected to reshape and retool this team to be cap compliant and to make another run at the cup with superstars centermen Connor McDavid and Leon dry seidel leading the charge.
General manager Ken Holland has his work cut out for him as he only has $5.9 million to work with seven free agents to balance.
Safe to say, the team will not look the same come October.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 12 | 58 ANSWERS The Oilers dynasty was born 43 years ago today. Will the Oilers ever have a better lineup than this era? | ||
| Yes | 25 | 43.1 % |
| No | 33 | 56.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
