From golden years to decades of darkness, Oilers history has become Edmonton’s story

The storied history of the Edmonton Oilers has made it impossible to separate the team from the city, which once dubbed itself City of Champions, that it calls home.

Now, for the first time in 18 years, the Edmonton Oilers are back in the Stanley Cup final, giving the city and its legion of Oiler fans a chance to revel in the full glory of playoff hockey, after getting mere tastes of it during short-lived appearances in recent years.  

The team’s run against the Florida Panthers is bringing back memories, both of the Oilers dynasty years and its periods of darkness.

Not quite the big league

The Alberta Oilers debuted in the World Hockey Association in 1972, one of a dozen teams that included the New England Whalers, Los Angeles Sharks, Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques. In 1979, the WHA folded and the renamed Edmonton Oilers joined the National Hockey League.

One of the players on the new Edmonton team was Wayne Gretzky, a 19-year-old who had been playing for the WHA because he was too young for the NHL, which had a minimum age of 20.

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“From that point on, the rest is history,” said Zach Laing, from Oilers Nation, an Edmonton Oilers-focused group blog. 

“Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier and a number of other players were all drafted by the team … and it took them a couple of years before they really kind of found their stride,” Laing said. 

But find it, they did.

In 1984, the Oilers would win their first Stanley Cup. And grounded by that core group of Gretzky, Messier, Anderson and Kurri, the team took home the Cup again in 1985, 1987 and 1988.

WATCH | A legacy carved in NHL ice:

A look back at the Edmonton Oilers, from the dynasty years to the decade of darkness

The storied history of the Edmonton Oilers has made it impossible to separate the team from the city, which once dubbed itself the City of Champions. Now, with the Oilers in the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 18 years, fans are remembering the dynasty years, when the team won the Cup five times.

“It was a time in hockey when there was a lot of scoring going on, and so they played a very fast-paced, high offence kind of game,” said Laing. 

“They had the ability to lock things…