Bud Adams established the Titans / Oilers Hall of Fame after the 40th season of the franchise to honor past players and management.

After game four, the Oilers players walked past the Islanders ' dressing room and were surprised to see the champions subdued and nursing injuries.

Having " nine elite players ", " the most talented top six forwards on one team since the days of the Edmonton Oilers " was not good enough as the franchise failed to win the Northwest Division title, ending the NHL record streak.

The Oilers drew fans with players such as defenceman and team captain Al Hamilton, goaltender Dave Dryden, and forwards Blair MacDonald and Bill Flett.

The Oilers lost most of the players from 1978 – 79 when the NHL held a reclamation draft of players who had bolted to the upstart league as they were allowed to protect two goaltenders and two skill players.

However, due to the fact that 16 of the 21 NHL teams made the playoffs at the time, the Oilers were still able to get their young players experience in the playoffs ( they would make the playoffs for their first thirteen years in the NHL ).

The Oilers began losing star players in 1987 – 88.

The final star players from the Oilers left before the 1991 – 92 season.

The Oilers had done a poor job of drafting during the dynasty years, and the younger players hadn't had nearly enough time to develop before the core of the 1980s dynasty left town.

The Oilers struggled with their small-market status for several years, but after the wiped-out 2004 – 05 season, they were aided by a collective bargaining agreement between the NHL owners and players.

Having lost so many players, though, the Oilers only posted a 32 – 43 – 7 record in 2006 – 07 ( their worst record since the 1995 – 1996 season ) and finished in eleventh place in the Western Conference.

Throughout the season, the Oilers lost various players to injury and illness.

Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers teammate Mark Messier are the only players to win the Hart Trophy with more than one team.

Players from the Montreal Canadiens have won the award sixteen times ; players from Boston Bruins are second with twelve winners, and the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers have seen players win the award nine times.

* Bill Saul and his twin brothers Rich Saul and Ron Saul, professional football players during the 1960s and 1970s, were born and raised in Butler – Bill played 9 years ( 1962 – 1970 ) as a linebacker for the Colts, Steelers, Saints and Lions, Rich played 12 years ( 1970 – 1982 ) at center for the Los Angeles Rams and Ron played 13 years ( 1970 – 1983 ) for the Houston Oilers and Washington Redskins.

Category: Houston Oilers players

The trophy has been won nine times by Montreal Canadiens players, five times by Detroit Red Wings players, and four times by Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, and New York Islanders players.

While players from the Calgary Flames have won three times, players from the Edmonton Oilers have won two times, five other teams ( Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and Winnipeg Jets ) have won it once.

In the late 1980s, the Penguins finally gave Lemieux a strong supporting cast, trading for superstar defenseman Paul Coffey from the Edmonton Oilers ( after the Oilers ' 1987 Stanley Cup win ) and bringing in young talent such as scorers Kevin Stevens, Rob Brown and John Cullen from the minors.

The one advantage to such a bad season was that the Oilers were able to make the first pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Among many sports sponsorships, Molson and / or Coors also have deals with the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Coyotes and Detroit Red Wings, and their beverages can be purchased at other sports venues, such as the home of the Philadelphia Flyers, the Wachovia Center and the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center

The remaining NBL teams reformed and changed the name to the National Industrial Basketball League ( NIBL ) where teams such as the Denver Truckers, Chicago Saints, Akron Wingfoots, Phillips 66ers, Peoria Cats, Philadelphia Tapers, Lexington Marathon Oilers and Cleveland Pipers thrived as club teams.

The AFL Championship games featured classics such as the 1962 double-overtime championship game between the Dallas Texans and the defending champion Houston Oilers.

After the Stanley Cup win in 1990, the Oilers were no longer a powerhouse ( they last won the division title in 1986 – 87 ) as key players such as Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, and Esa Tikkanen left to seek higher salaries elsewhere ( caused in part by the Gretzky trade in 1988 ), the high turnover often being attributed to owner Peter Pocklington's cost-cutting moves.

Nowadays, most of Hawaii's population tends to support Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Area teams, and Alaska's population tends to support either Seattle teams or Western Canadian-based teams such as the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers / Titans franchise finished with a 2-5 record in such games before moving to the AFC South, while the Jaguars ( who also later played the Steelers in the playoffs after the two teams were placed in separate divisions ) finished 0-1.

Over the next three seasons, Smith continued to shape the team through trades and free-agent signings, acquiring several players from the Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the 1980s, such as Kevin Lowe, Adam Graves, Esa Tikkanen, Jeff Beukeboom, Craig McTavish and Glenn Anderson.

The protection offered by Semenko allowed Edmonton's stars, such as Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, and Paul Coffey more freedom on the ice, greatly helping the Oilers win Stanley Cups in 1984 and 1985.

In the Oilers, he would turnaround a team that had struggled through most of the 1980s into an aggressive, hard-hitting group that preached a " hit the beach " mentality while making players, such as future Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon, into household names.

Bailey returned to Edmonton to play with the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association in 1978 – 79, where he took rookie Wayne Gretzky under his wing.

Gretzky scored his first professional goal against Dave Dryden of the Edmonton Oilers in his fifth game, and his second goal four seconds later.

Skalbania sold Gretzky, Mio and Driscoll to his former partner, and then-owner of the Edmonton Oilers, Peter Pocklington.

Gretzky captured the Lou Kaplan Trophy as rookie of the year, and helped the Oilers to first overall in the league.

Under normal circumstances, Gretzky would have been removed from the Oilers and placed in the pool for the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, but his personal services contract prevented this.

A statue, located outside Rexall Place in Edmonton, of Gretzky hoisting the Stanley Cup, which the Oilers won four times with him.

The Oilers were a young, strong team featuring, in addition to Gretzky, future Hall of Famers including forwards Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Jari Kurri, defenceman Paul Coffey, and goaltender Grant Fuhr.

The Oilers also won the Cup with Gretzky in, and.

Two hours after the Oilers won the Stanley Cup in 1988, Gretzky learned from his father that the Oilers were planning to deal him to another team.

When Pocklington revealed his plans to trade Gretzky to Oilers general manager and head coach Glen Sather, Sather went to work trying to stop the trade, but, when he found out Gretzky played a part in it, he changed his attitude to GM as he requested Luc Robitaille in exchange.

On August 9, 1988, in a move that heralded significant change in the NHL, the Oilers traded Gretzky, along with McSorley and Krushelnyski, to the Kings for Carson, Martin Gelinas, $ 15 million in cash, and the Kings ' first-round draft picks in 1989 ( later traded to the New Jersey Devils – New Jersey selected Jason Miller ), 1991 ( Martin Rucinsky ), and 1993 ( Nick Stajduhar ).

Despite being underdogs against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers in the Smythe Division semifinals, Gretzky led the Kings to a shocking upset of his old squad, spearheading the Kings ' return from a 3 – 1 series deficit to win the series 4 – 3.

Gretzky rejected a three-year deal worth $ 15 million with the Blues, and on July 22, he signed with the New York Rangers as a free agent, rejoining longtime Oilers teammate Mark Messier for a two-year $ 8 million ( plus incentives ) contract.

" In 1980, an exercise physiologist tested all of the Edmonton Oilers, and when he saw the results of Gretzky ’ s test of recuperative abilities, he said " he thought the machine had broken.

But Gretzky himself dispelled the rumor at the end of one grueling season with the Edmonton Oilers, in which he had suffered a mild concussion as a result of what writer Michael Benson called a " cheap shot " from Winnipeg Jets star centre Dale Hawerchuk.

Edmonton honoured Gretzky by renaming the freeway that passes by the Oilers arena, Capilano Drive, one of Edmonton's busiest, to " Wayne Gretzky Drive " in October 1999.

Although Gretzky had previously stated he would not participate in any " old-timers exhibition games ", on November 22, 2003, he took to the ice one last time to help celebrate the Edmonton Oilers ' 25th anniversary as an NHL team.

In the following season, the Devils were publicly humiliated by Wayne Gretzky after they were blown out 13 – 4 by his team, the Edmonton Oilers.

The next year, although the Islanders had won three straight Stanley Cups, more attention was being paid to the upstart Edmonton Oilers, whose young superstar Wayne Gretzky had just shattered existing scoring records.

Their regular-season success continued into the playoffs, as the Flyers swept a young Wayne Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers in the first round, then went on to get revenge against Fred Shero and his Rangers by beating them in five before disposing of Minnesota in five to lock up a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

However, Pocklington had signed him to a twenty-one year personal services contract in 1979 and Pocklington used the contract to force the NHL to admit the Oilers and allow the Oilers to keep Gretzky.