Established in 2022 and adding members at the rate of two per year, the Edmonton Oilers’ Hall of Fame is in no danger of running out of deserving candidates any time soon. This was proven yet a third time on Thursday with the reveal of the Class of ’24:
“Class” is the operative word. Both men have it in spades.
The Oilers’ Hall started from a position of strength, seeded with the eight Oilers whose numbers have been retired: #3 Al Hamilton, #4 Kevin Lowe, #7 Paul Coffey, #9 Glenn Anderson, #11 Mark Messier, #17 Jari Kurri, #31 Grant Fuhr and #99 Wayne Gretzky. GM/Coach Glen Sather’s banner has no number, but does bear a representation of the five Stanley Cups the Oilers won on his watch.
The earliest retiree, Hamilton, was honoured primarily for his contributions in the franchise’s earliest days in the World Hockey Association. All of the rest are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, admission to which became the de facto manner in which to qualify for a number retirement.
Edmonton’s Hall of Famers all date back to the dynasty years of the 1980s. What was once a steady stream of inductions and number retirements slowed to a trickle after the early 2000s and surely reached its natural conclusion with the double honour of Lowe in 2020 to complete the inner circle.
But there have been numerous other great Oilers who didn’t quite clear that high bar, so ultimately the club decided to create its own Hall to honour them. The outer circle, if you will. Each of the first two years featured a defenceman from the dynasty team and a forward of more recent vintage.
They’ll be joined in 2024 by rearguard Randy Gregg and centre Craig MacTavish, both key contributors to the dynasty years. Presented here in chronological order:
Randy Gregg
Or as many now call him, Dr. Randy Gregg. To say he followed an unconventional path to the NHL would be an understatement. The Edmonton native joined the University of Alberta Golden Bears at age 19, already in his fourth year of med school. He would go on to play four years there as he pursued his M.D., the last two of which would see the Bears win the national title. Gregg himself would captain the squad while copping the CIAU Player of the Year in 1978-79. The following year he changed gears, becoming the captain of Team Canada as our country returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1968.
Gregg would spend the subsequent two years in Japan, playing for Kokudo Bunnies before returning to his home continent, and town, to join the Oilers at age 26. Not often does one see players jump from the Asian League directly to the NHL, but Randy Gregg was no ordinary case.
He joined the team for the 1982 playoffs, and would become a constant on the blueline for the next eight seasons, in which time he and the Oilers would win the Stanley Cup five times. He was one of the “Magnificent Seven” who were members of all five championship clubs, joining Hall of Famers Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Anderson and Coffey and his fellow undrafted free agent Charlie Huddy, honoured last year. Gregg’s addition completes the set, or should I say the septet.
Like his fellow grinding blueliners Huddy and Lowe, Randy Gregg delivered stability, consistency and quality on the back end. I attempted to describe his playing style in this provocatively-headlined feature piece I contributed to the long-lived but now defunct Oilers blog Copper & Blue back in 2009:
- Randy was not a proactively rugged player, which given his size was guaranteed to drive a segment of the fan base nuts. For one thing he eschewed fighting entirely, saying “I never fought in hockey because I couldn’t stand the thought of anybody, especially my kids, seeing me lose it, seeing me that far out of control … My attitude toward fighting was, if you win you’ve got sore hands, if you lose you’ve got a sore face!”
But Gregg used his size to advantage in other ways, positioning himself perfectly, getting in the way of any thrust towards goal, using his reach, a quick stick and his oversized feet to deflect pucks out of the danger area. He could be exposed on a one-on-one against a fleet opponent, but had a way of forcing them to go way wide into the corner where the strong goaltending tandem of Fuhr and Moog could easily handle bad angle shots. He possessed a safe and sure first pass, and wasn’t beyond jumping into the rush when the situation presented itself, as happened often with Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers. Not that often, mind you; as Gregg himself wryly observed, “I’ve often said I was a fifty-goal scorer in the NHL, but that it took me nine years to get the fifty.”
He topped out at 13 goals and 40 points with the record-setting 1983-84 Oilers, but was more frequently found in the mid-20s with a plus to match. Over his 453 games as an Oiler, Gregg scored 188 points with +173.
Even better was his performance in the playoffs, where his +81 in just 137 games ranks as the fifth-best career number since that stat came on the scene in 1959-60.
No doubt some will remind that the plus/minus stat is problematic, but I’d make the case there are some pretty good hockey players on that list.
Besides his successes in Edmonton, Gregg continued to follow the national team dream throughout his career, participating in the Canada Cup in 1984 and again for the Canadian Olympic team in 1988, both played in his home province of Alberta.
His time in Edmonton came to an unsatisfying close when he was claimed by the Vancouver Canucks in the old waiver draft in the fall of 1990. He would ultimately join the Canucks for an injury-plagued run in 1991-92 that nonetheless coincided with the west coast team’s sudden rise to first place in the Smythe Division. They were ultimately beaten by the Oilers in the division finals, with Gregg’s last game fittingly taking place in Northlands Coliseum.
In retirement he has remained a model citizen: as a medical doctor specializing in sports injuries, as the founder of FunTeam Alberta whose vision is “to see children, youth and adults in every community in Alberta participating in sport activities in an atmosphere of fun, co-operation and fair play”, and most recently as the managing director of the Edmonton Riverhawks baseball club which has brought that great sport back to prominence in our city. We’ll give the Riverhawks organization the last word here:
Craig MacTavish
The man who would become known in these parts simply as “MacT” came to Edmonton under a cloud in 1985. The former Boston Bruin had made a terrible mistake with tragic consequences, driving while impaired which resulted in the death of a Massachusetts woman, Kim Radley. Suspended by the NHL for the 1984-85 season, MacTavish served a year in prison for vehicular homicide. Upon release was also given his release from the Bruins, whose GM, Harry Sinden, determined he was in need of a fresh start and recommended him to his friend Glen Sather in Edmonton.
To say MacT made the most of that opportunity would be a significant understatement. He arrived in Edmonton that fall and immediately claimed a spot on the two-time defending champions. That spot was 3C, a position which he retained for the next 9 seasons.
As a player MacTavish brought an unremitting work ethic and team-first attitude. Not the most gifted athlete, he nonetheless excelled at puck possession, tirelessly working the walls and slot with his trademark stops, starts, and reverses, protecting the puck all the while. He was equally strong playing without the puck and was a natural fit for both the checking line and the penalty kill.
Despite not a lot of opportunity with the big guns who defined that team, MacT found ways to chip in offensively. The nature of his role in Edmonton becomes clear with just two numbers: during his 701 games here he scored just 10 goals on the powerplay but mustered 29 on the penalty kill.
He produced no fewer than six 20-goal seasons during his career, topping out at 23 during his first season in Edmonton. Two seasons of 21, three of exactly 20, and six others in double digits. Did I mention he was consistent?
He was also remarkably durable, playing a franchise record 519 consecutive games between 1986-93.
As with many Oilers of that era, MacTavish saved his best work for the playoffs, where he was a master of the timely goal. One such was the three-way passing play he started on a makeshift line with Jari Kurri and Petr Klima that resulted in Klima’s goal that ended the longest game in the history of the Stanley Cup Finals and served as the srpingboard to Edmonton’s last Cup win in 1990. Another was the overtime winner he powered past Kelly Hrudey from close range to end a hard-fought six-game series with the Kings in 1991.
MacT was not a major outscorer but he held his own and then some, a fine result for the role he played. No modern fancy stats available for his time, but he played the prototypical tough-minutes assignments, with lots of d-zone starts with extra faceoff duties. His job was to hold the fort while offensive stars like Gretzky, Kurri and Messier caught their breath on the bench, and he was quite simply the best 3C the Oilers had throughout that entire period.
He would serve a term as captain of the club before eventually being traded to New York Rangers, where he would win his fourth Stanley. The Oilers did OK by that trade, acquiring Todd Marchant who himself became a 9-year Oiler and a good one, primarily at MacT’s old 3C position.
Indeed, Marchant was still an Oiler when MacTavish made his suited return to the team, first as an assistant coach before being promoted to head coach in 2000. He would keep that high-pressure job until 2009, with his best moments coming in the 2006 playoffs when the 8th-seeded Oilers tore through the Western Conference to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.
After another period away from the team, he returned again in a “manager without portfolio” role, and ultimately was promoted to the General Manager position when Steve Tambellini was discharged in 2013. He had two years in the GM’s chair with a mixed record best remembered for his drafting of current Oiler mainstays Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl. But when the Oilers won the Connor McDavid lottery in 2015 the club saw fit to go to a more experienced manager.
To this day he remains on the scene, most frequently seen these days as a panelist during Oilers games. He’s the ultimate insider, given his past history as Oilers player, captain, coach, GM over a three-decade stretch. Now he’s an Oilers’ Hall of Famer, in the same year he was also selected to the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
Parting thoughts
I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with both new members of the Oilers Hall of Fame, as a fellow hockey dad with Randy Gregg when our sons both played in the same Tom Thumb program, and as a member of the start-up Oilers Analytics Working Group when Craig MacTavish returned in a management role in 2012. I have huge respect for both, and note with approval that as other famous ex-Oilers spread to the four winds, these two chose Edmonton as their home.
Hearty congratulations to both men. I look forward to attending the game (Oct 25 vs. Pittsburgh) in which they will be formally welcomed to the club.
Recently at the Cult of Hockey
STAPLES: Can Bowman, Draisaitl find the middle ground?
McCURDY: Draisaitl was a major bargain on his last deal
McCURDY: Personal reflection on the world’s greatest story
LEAVINS: Stan Bowman is already on the clock — 9 Things
STAPLES: Oilers get second most bang for buck, says salary cap analyst
McCURDY: Trying to make sense of the Stan Bowman hiring in Edmonton
Follow me on X-Twitter @BruceMcCurdy