General Information about the Edmonton Oilers

The professional ice-hockey team Edmonton Oilers is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In 1972, the Edmonton Oilers became a founding member of the the World Hockey Association. Since 1979, they are members of the National Hockey League (NHL).

People speak of The Edmonton Oilers and the Alberta Oilers referring to one and the same hockey team. Originally, the team had been named the Alberta Oilers, because there was a plan to hold their home games in Edmonton and Calgary. However, it happened that the team played all of its games in Edmonton and changed their name for Edmonton Oilers to reflect this.

Having such stars as Al Hamilton, defenseman and team captain, goalie Dave Dryden, forwards Blair MacDonald, and Bill Flett, the team quickly proved popular with people. In, 1978, when the team brought in Wayne Gretzky (as an under-aged), the Edmonton Oilers started showing even better results. Having Gretzky as a member of the team, allowed the Oilers to get to the top of the WHA standings, making a league-best 48-30-2 record. However, regular season wins of such a kind, did not turn into a championship for the team. The reason was that in the Avco World Trophy Final they fell to the rival Winnipeg Jets.

The Oilers joined the National Hockey League for 1979-80, together with 3 other fellow WHA teams - Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and the Jets. It is remarkable that of these four teams, only Edmonton was not relocated or renamed, while the two other teams changed their names. Thanks to enormous physical strength, energy and enthusiasm of the young players, including Gretzky, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, and Kevin Lowe, the Edmonton Oilers turned into one of the greatest teams in the history of hockey.

The Oilers from that decade are regarded by many as the best NHL team ever in the long and bright history of the NHL.

In 2006 season the Oilers made the playoffs. In the first round despite low chances given by experts they defeated the Wings. It was an evident progress for them because since 1998 they managed to win the playoff-series for the first time. After all the Oilers got into the Conference final, where they defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup Finals where unfortunately they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes. After that a lot of Oilers’ stars signed contracts with other to their mind more promising and profitable clubs. Nevertheless, the Oilers managed to bring back some other outstanding players. Moreover, the stars like Fernando Pisani and Dwayne Roloson were appointed as unrestricted free agents, which will probably help the Oilers get to the top again.