Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are set to hit the ice today (Feb. 3) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game. McDavid and Draisaitl are serving as captain and assistant captain of Team McDavid, respectively.
This will be the 37th time the All-Star Game has taken place since Edmonton joined the NHL in 1979, and the Oilers have had at least one player in all of them, with a high of nine Oilers appearing in the 1986 edition.
It’s not easy for a player to shine brightest when they’re surrounded by stars, which makes a standout performance at the All-Star Game extra special. Here are the top 3 performances by an Oilers player at the NHL’s midseason classic.
Wayne Gretzky, 1983 All-Star Game
The Great One became the first player with more than three goals in an All-Star Game when he scored four times in the Campbell Conference’s 9-3 victory over the Wales Conference at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale on Feb. 8, 1983. That itself would have been spectacular, but here’s the kicker: all four goals came in the same period.
Leading a scoring barrage by the Campbell Conference that turned a one-goal game into a complete blowout, Gretzky lit the lamp at 6:20, 10:31, 15:32, and 19:08 of the third period. His first of the four goals would turn out to be the game-winner.
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Not surprisingly, Gretzky was named the game’s most valuable player, the first of three All-Star Game MVPs he would win in his career, but his only as a member of the Oilers.
Doug Weight, 2001 All-Star Game
Edmonton’s captain reunited with his former Oilers linemate and close friend Bill Guerin to lead Team North America to a 14-12 victory over Team World at the All-Star Game in Denver on Feb. 4, 2001. Guerin had been traded by the Oilers to the Boston Bruins less than 12 weeks earlier.
Just like during their two and a half years playing together in Edmonton, the close friends combined to make magic, with Weight assisting on two goals by Guerin and Guerin assisting on a goal by Weight. Guerin was named MVP after recording a hat trick and picking up two assists, but he couldn’t have done it without the help of Weight, who had a goal and three assists.
“He’s so gifted,” Guerin said of Weight after the game. “He’s so unselfish. All you have to do is get open and go to the net.”
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