Glen Sather is rightfully referenced as the architect who, in tandem with chief scout Barry Fraser, built the Edmonton Oilers into the team that would win five Stanley Cups and go into NHL folklore as the last true dynasty of the pre-salary cap era. 
But even GMs as celebrated as Sather, inducted into the HHOF, have their share of face-palming moments they’d rather just forget. Sather’s decision to trade skinny, raw, talented Slovak winger Miroslav Satan after two promising seasons with the Oilers for a bunch of nothing is one of those moments.

Miroslav Satan  #81

Right Wing
NUMBER: 
81
BIRTHDATE:
October 22, 1974
HEIGHT:
6′ 3″
BIRTHPLACE: 
Topolcany, Slovakia
WEIGHT:
191
DRAFTED:
EDM / 1993 NHL Entry Draft
SHOOTS:
Left
ROUND:
5th   (111th overall)

BY THE NUMBERS

CAREER REGULAR SEASON STATISTICS

SEASONTEAMGPGAP+/-PIMPPGSHGGWGSS%
1995-96
OILERS
62
18
17
35
0
22
6
0
4
113
15.9
1995-96
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
5
0
3
3
6
1996-97
OILERS
64
17
11
28
-4
22
5
0
2
90
18.9
1996-97
SLOVAKIA-W-CUP
3
0
0
0
2
1996-97
SABRES
12
8
2
10
1
4
2
0
1
29
27.6
1997-98
SABRES
79
22
24
46
2
34
9
0
4
139
15.8
1998-99
SABRES
81
40
26
66
24
44
13
3
6
208
19.2
1999-00
SABRES
81
33
34
67
16
32
5
3
5
265
12.4
1999-00
DUKLA TRENCIN-SLOVAKIA
3
2
8
10
2
1999-00
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
9
10
2
12
14
5
2
1
37
27.0
2000-01
SABRES
82
29
33
62
5
36
8
2
4
206
14.1
2001-02
SABRES
82
37
36
73
14
33
15
5
5
267
13.9
2001-02
SLOVAKIA-OLYMPICS
2
0
1
1
0
2001-02
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
9
5
8
13
2
2002-03
SABRES
79
26
49
75
-3
20
11
1
3
240
10.8
2002-03
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
9
6
4
10
2
2003-04
SABRES
82
29
28
57
-15
30
11
1
5
206
14.1
2003-04
HC SLOVAN BRATISLAVA-SLOVAKIA
7
6
4
10
41
2003-04
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
9
4
4
8
4
2004-05
SLOVAKIA-W-CUP
4
0
0
0
-7
4
2004-05
HC SLOVAN SLOVNAFT BRATISLAVA-SLOVAKIA
18
11
9
20
14
2004-05
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
7
2
2
4
8
2005-06
ISLANDERS
82
35
31
66
-8
54
17
0
2
253
13.8
2005-06
SLOVAKIA-OLYMPICS
6
0
2
2
2
2006-07
ISLANDERS
81
27
32
59
-12
46
7
1
2
216
12.5
2006-07
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
7
1
7
8
4
2007-08
ISLANDERS
80
16
25
41
-11
39
5
0
4
171
9.4
2008-09
PENGUINS
65
17
19
36
3
36
6
0
2
120
14.2
2008-09
WILKES-BARRE PENGUINS-AHL
10
3
6
9
1
4
2
0
0
2009-10
BRUINS
38
9
5
14
8
12
0
0
1
59
15.2
2009-10
SLOVAKIA-OLYMPICS
6
1
1
2
0
2009-10
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
2
0
0
0
0
2010-11
OHK DYNAMO MOSCOW-RUS-KHL
6
1
2
3
4
2010-11
HC SLOVAN BRATISLAVA-SLOVAKIA
10
10
6
16
22
2010-11
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
6
3
2
5
4
4
0
0
1
2011-12
HC SLOVAN BRATISLAVA-SLOVAKIA
49
23
29
52
127
2011-12
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
10
4
2
6
0
4
0
1
1
2012-13
HC SLOVAN BRATISLAVA-KHL
21
7
5
12
22
2012-13
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
8
1
2
3
0
2
1
0
0
2013-14
HC SLOVAN BRATISLAVA-KHL
23
9
3
12
8
2013-14
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
7
1
2
3
1
4
1
0
0
21
NHL TOTALS
1,050 
363 
372 
735 
20
464
120
16
50
2,582 
14.1

CAREER PLAYOFF STATISTICS

SEASONTEAMGPGAP+/-PIMPPGSHGGWGSS%
1996-97
SABRES
7
0
0
0
-1
0
0
0
0
5
0.0
1997-98
SABRES
14
5
4
9
-9
4
4
0
1
20
25.0
1998-99
SABRES
12
3
5
8
3
2
1
0
1
25
12.0
1999-00
SABRES
5
3
2
5
2
0
0
0
0
11
27.3
2000-01
SABRES
13
3
10
13
4
8
1
0
0
40
7.5
2004-05
HC SLOVAN SLOVNAFT BRATISLAVA-SLOVAKIA
18
15
7
22
16
2006-07
ISLANDERS
5
1
2
3
0
0
0
0
0
10
10.0
2006-07
SLOVAKIA-WC-A
0
0
0.0
2008-09
PENGUINS
17
1
5
6
1
11
0
0
0
21
4.8
2009-10
BRUINS
13
5
5
10
4
16
2
0
3
37
13.5
2010-11
OHK DYNAMO MOSCOW-RUS-KHL
2
0
0
0
0
2011-12
HC SLOVAN BRATISLAVA-SLOVAKIA
12
8
14
22
10
2013-14
HC SLOVAN BRATISLAVA-KHL
2
1
0
1
0
NHL TOTALS
86
21
33
54
4
41
8
0
5
169
12.4

NOTABLE

By the time Satan played his first game in Edmonton in 1995-96, the Oilers were a bargain basement outfit being run on a shoestring payroll as owner Peter Pocklington cut corners. Outside of Doug Weight, Zdeno Ciger and Jason Arnott, they didn’t have an abundance of offensive talent up front.
Even so, Satan, just 21, scored 18 goals and had 35 points in just 62 games in his rookie season. Like many young players, Satan was obviously talented and capable of spectacular moments, but inconsistent. Warts and all, most people inside and outside the organization saw a real player there.
In his second season, Satan had 17 goals through 64 games when Sather, not making the progress wanted in contract talks with Satan’s agent and fearing he might return to the Czech Republic, went Full Palmer and pulled the trigger on a deal that sent him to Buffalo for Craig Millar and Barrie Moore.

THE STORY

If you’re wondering who they were, you’re not alone. Millar, a defenseman, would play 36 games with the Oilers. Moore, a winger, wore Oiler silks in just four games. After 126 games with the Oilers, Satan would go on to play another 924 games with the Sabres, New York Islanders, Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Satan hit the 20-goal mark 10 times, had 30-or-more goals four times and 40 goals once on the way to finishing up with 363 goals for his career – he added another 21 in 86 playoff games. The Oilers damn sure could have used some of what Satan delivered during some lean seasons in the late-1990s, but it wasn’t to be.
The Oilers never got the best of Satan because money got in the way, and that’s a shame. He’d be a dead-sure top-25 guy on this list if he’d have put up the numbers he did as a member of the Oilers, but fans here got only a glimpse of what was to come.
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up. 
Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TSN 1260.

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