The Oilers Diaspora (Updated)

So a while back, I got to thinking, just how many former Oilers are out there in the NHL this year? With the way players move around these days, it seemed to me there’d be quite a few; when I looked into it, I discovered that the number is actually closer to “a fucking lot of them.” Restricting it just to players who were at one point Oilers property (no Chris Higgins or Milan Lucic) and who have played at least one game in the NHL this year (no Mike York or Krys Kolanos) still turned up 53 of them (Edit: Make that 56.), from farmhands on a cup of coffee (Guillaume Lefebvre) to future Hall of Famers (Chris Pronger). Here they are, broken down by current team. (Edit: Updated as of this year’s trade deadline, March 3.)

Player	Team	Acquired	Departed
Troy Bodie		Draft (9/278, ’03)	FA (ANA, ’08)
Joffrey Lupul		Trade (ANA, ’06): with L. Smid, 1/30 ’07 (N. Ross, PHX), 1/22 ’08 (J. Eberle), and 2/53 ’08 (T. Hamonic, NYI) for C. Pronger	Trade (PHI, ’07): with J. Smith for J. Pitkanen, G. Sanderson, and 3/82 ’09 (C. Abney)
Todd Marchant		Trade (NYR, ’94): for C. MacTavish	FA (CBJ, ’03)
Lubomir Visnovsky		Trade (LAK, ’08): for M. Greene and J. Stoll	Trade (ANA, ’10): for R. Whitney and 6/??? ’10
Marty Reasoner		Trade (STL, ’01): with J. Hecht and J. Horacek for D. Weight and M. Riesen	Trade (BOS, ’06): with Y. Stastny and 2/50 ’06 (M. Lucic) for S. Samsonov
		FA (BOS, ’06)	FA (ATL, ’08)
Guillaume Lefebvre1		FA (NAHL, ’08)	FA (BOS, ’09)
Miroslav Satan		Draft (5/111, ’93)	Trade (BUF, ’97): for B. Moore and C. Millar
Tim Thomas		FA (SM-L, ’98)	FA (IHL, ’99)
Mike Grier		Trade (STL, ’95): with C. Joseph for S. Corson2	Trade (WSH, ’02): for 2/53 ’03 (E. Tunik, NYI) and 3/94 ’03 (Z. Stortini)
Jochen Hecht		Trade (STL, ’01): with M. Reasoner and J. Horacek for D. Weight and M. Riesen	Trade (BUF, ’02): for 2/31 ’02 (J. Deslauriers) and 2/36 ’02 (J. Stoll)
Raffi Torres		Trade (NYI, ’03): with B. Isbister for J. Niinimaa and 2/53 ’03 (E. Tunik)	Trade (CBJ, ’08): for G. Brule
Curtis Glencross		Trade (CBJ, ’08): for D. Tarnstrom	FA (CGY, ’08)
Ales Kotalik		Trade (BUF, ’09): for 2/58 ’09 (J. Blacker, TOR)	FA (NYR, ’09)
Steve Staios		FA (ATL, ’01)	Trade (CGY, ’10): for A. Johnson and 3/?? ’10 or ’11
Erik Cole		Trade (CAR, ’08): for J. Pitkanen	Trade (CAR, ’09): with 5/131 ’09 (M. Kennedy) for P. O’Sullivan and 2/58 ’09 (J. Blacker, TOR)
Joni Pitkanen		Trade (PHI, ’07): with G. Sanderson and 3/82 (C. Abney) for J. Lupul and J. Smith	Trade (CAR, ’08): for E. Cole
Sergei Samsonov		Trade (BOS, ’06): for M. Reasoner, Y. Stastny, 2/50 ’06 (M. Lucic)	FA (MTL, ’06)
Ray Whitney		FA (SJS, ’97)	Waivers (FLA, ’97)
Mathieu Garon		FA (LAK, ’07)	Trade (PIT, ’09): for D. Sabourin, R. Stone, and 4/??? ’11
Jan Hejda		Trade (BUF, ’06) for 7/187 ’07 (N. Eno)	FA (CBJ, ’07)
Toby Petersen		FA (PIT, ’04)	FA (DAL, ’07)
Jeff Woywitka		Trade (PHI, ’03): with 1/25 ’04 (R. Schremp) and 3/81 ’05 (D. Syvret) for M. Comrie	Trade (STL, ’05): with E. Brewer and D. Lynch for C. Pronger
Daniel Cleary		Trade (CHI, ’99): with C. Kilger, E. Moreau, and C. Laflamme for B. Mironov, D. McAmmond, and J. Elofsson	FA (PHX, ’03)
Kirk Maltby		Draft (3/65, ’92)	Trade (DET, ’96): for D. McGillis
Mike Comrie		Draft (3/91, ’99)	Trade (PHI, ’03): for J. Woywitka, 1/25 ’04 (R. Schremp), and 3/81 ’05 (D. Syvret)
Radek Dvorak		Trade (NYR, ’03): with C. Cross for A. Carter and A. Pisa	FA (STL, ’06)
Steve MacIntyre1		Waivers (FLA, ’08)	Waivers (FLA, ’09)
Mathieu Roy1		Draft (7/215, ’03)	FA (CBJ, ’09)
Matt Greene		Draft (2/44, ’02)	Trade (LAK, ’08): with J. Stoll for L. Visnovsky
Ryan Smyth		Draft (1/6, ’94)	Trade (NYI, ’07): for R. O’Marra, R. Nilsson, and 1/15 ’07 (A. Plante)
Jarret Stoll		Draft (2/36, ’02)	Trade (LAK, ’08): with M. Greene for L. Visnovsky
Kyle Brodziak		Draft (7/214, ’03)	Trade (MIN, ’09): with 6/161 ’09 (D. Kuemper) for 4/99 ’09 (K. Bigos) and 5/133 ’09 (O. Roy)
Petr Sykora1		FA (NYR, ’06)	FA (PIT, ’07)
Marc-Andre Bergeron		FA (QMHJL, ’01)	Trade (NYI, ’07): with 3/73 ’08 (K. Petrov) for D. Grebeshkov
Roman Hamrlik		Trade (TBL, ’97): with P. Comrie for B. Marchment, S. Kelly, and J. Bonsignore	Trade (NYI, ’00): for E. Brewer, J. Green, and 2/35 ’00 (B. Winchester)
Georges Laraque1		Draft (2/31, ’95)	FA (PHX, ’06)
Jaroslav Spacek		Trade (CHI, ’06): for T. Salmelainen	FA (BUF, ’06)
Jason Arnott		Draft (1/7, ’93)	Trade (NJD, ’98): with B. Muir for V. Zelepukin and B. Guerin
Denis Grebeshkov		Trade (NYI, ’07): for M. Bergeron and 3/73 ’08 (K. Petrov)	Trade (NSH, ’10): for 2/?? ’10
Dean McAmmond		Trade (CHI, ’93): with I. Kravchuk for J. Murphy	Trade (CHI, ’98): with B. Mironov and J. Elofsson for C. Kilger, D. Cleary, E. Moreau, and C. Laflamme
Tim Sestito1		FA (ECHL, ’06)	Trade (NJD, ’09): for a conditional pick (’10)
Dwayne Roloson		Trade (MIN, ’06): for 1/17 ’06 (T. Lewis, LAK) and 3/67 ’07 (S. Machacek, ‘ATL)	FA (NYI, ’09)
Rob Schremp		Draft (1/25, ’04)	Waivers (NYI, ’09)
Doug Weight		Trade (NYR, ’93): for E. Tikkanen	Trade (STL, ’01): with M. Riesen for M. Reasoner, J. Hecht, and J. Horacek
Steve Valiquette		FA (NYI, ’03)	Waivers (FLA, ’03)
		Waivers (FLA, ’03)	Trade (NYR, ’04): with D. Helminen and 2/48 ’04 (D. Byers) for P. Nedved and J. Markkanen
Chris Pronger		Trade (STL, ’05): for E. Brewer, D. Lynch, and J. Woywitka	Trade (ANA, ’06): for J. Lupul, L. Smid, 1/30 ’07 (N. Ross, PHX), 1/22 ’08 (J. Eberle), and 2/53 ’08 (T. Hamonic, NYI)
Danny Syvret		Draft (3/81, ’05)	Trade (PHI, ’08): for R. Potulny
Matthew Lombardi		Draft (7/215, ’00)	Draft (CGY, 3/90, ’02)
Bill Guerin		Trade (NJD, ’98): with V. Zelepukin for J. Arnott and B. Muir	Trade (BOS, ’00): with 1/19 ’01 (S. Morrisonn) for A. Carter, 1/13 ’01 (A. Hemsky), and 2/43 ’01 (D. Lynch)
Dwight Helminen		Draft (8/244, ’02)	Trade (NYR, ’04): with S. Valiquette and 2/48 ’04 (D. Byers) for P. Nedved and J. Markkanen
Eric Brewer		Trade (NYI, ’00): with J. Green for 2/35 ’00 (B. Winchester) for R. Hamrlik	Trade (STL, ’05): with D. Lynch and J. Woywitka for C. Pronger
Ty Conklin		FA (NCAA, ’01)	FA (CBJ, ’06)
Brad Winchester		Draft (2/35, ’00)	FA (DAL, ’07)
Yan Stastny		Trade (BOS, ’05): for 4/98 ’06 (J. Delory, SJS)	Trade (BOS, ’06): with M. Reasoner and 2/50 ’06 (M. Lucic) for S. Samsonov
Jason Chimera		Draft (5/121, ’97)	Trade (PHX, ’04): with 3/80 ’04 (B. Ryan, NYR) for 2/57 ’04 (G. Paukovich) and 4/112 ’04 (L. Reddox)
Tom Poti		Draft (3/59, ’96)	Trade (NYR, ’02): with R. Murray for M. York and 4/106 ’02 (I. Koltsov)

¹ Not currently on active roster.
² RFA compensation in lieu of 1/14 ’96 (M. Reasoner) and 1/15 ’97 (M. Zultek, LAK)

The final tally, before the deadline:

• 4 teams have four (CAR, CBJ, MTL, STL)
• 4 teams have three (ANA, BOS, LAK, NYI)
• 9 teams have two (BUF, CGY, DAL, DET, FLA, MIN, NJD, PHI, WAS)
• 7 teams have one (ATL, EDM, NSH, NYR, PHX, PIT, SJS)
• 6 teams have none (CHI, COL, OTT, TOR, TBL, VAN)

(Edit:) And after the deadline:

• 4 teams have four (ANA, CAR, MTL, STL)
• 6 teams have three (BUF, CGY, BOS, FLA, LAK, NYI)
• 8 teams have two (CBJ, DAL, DET, MIN, NSH, NJD, PHI, WAS)
• 7 teams have one (ATL, EDM, NYR, PHX, PIT, SJS, VAN)
• 5 teams have none (CHI, COL, OTT, TOR, TBL)

Additionally, three active players have recorded two separate stints as an Oiler: Mike Comrie, Marty Reasoner, and Steve Valiquette. Of course, the larger question is whether any of this is at all relevant, especially with the trade deadline coming up shortly after the Olympics to make this list almost instantly out of date. My response to this is, because I was curious. And I wanted to see how many I could come up with off the top of my head. I think I got about 3/4 of these guys, which I’m pretty happy with, all told.

(Edit:) There are a couple of patterns here, though. One is that they’ve made a hell of a lot of trades with the Islanders, Flyers, and less recently, the Blues, over the years. They haven’t traded often with Anaheim, but when they have — Pronger and Visnovsky — it’s been huge. Finally, yesterday marks the first time in 30 years the Flames and Oilers have made a deal, and I’m calling it a victory for the Oilers. Sorry, Steady Steve, but your day has passed.

Finally, it’s too bad I didn’t do this a couple of years ago, or I could’ve tied back to this little piece of history.

Player	Team	Acquired	Departed
Martin Gelinas		Trade (LAK, ’88): with J. Carson, 1/18 ’89 (J. Miller, NJD), 1/20 ’91 (M. Rucinsky), 1/16 ’93 (N. Stajduhar), and cash for W. Gretzky, M. Krushelnyski, and M. McSorley	Trade (QUE, ’93): with 6/137 ’93 (N. Checco) for S. Pearson

Gelinas and Rucinsky were both journeymen, briefly playing together in Quebec. Both left the NHL in 2008, and retired from active play after a year in Europe, the last two pieces of one of the most infamous trades in professional sport.

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