In an era when many people get a good chunk of their information from media outlets that seem as interested in celebrity as in actual news, Jarret Stoll has probably been as well-known these last few years for all the hot women’s he’s dated and for getting arrested for drug possession as he has for playing hockey.
That is what it is, as the saying goes, but when I take a look at Stoll’s time with the Edmonton Oilers, a tenure than spanned 286 games over parts of five seasons, I see a young, versatile role player who was traded away by the Oilers just as he was entering his prime seasons as an NHL centre – the kind of player this team as too often been without since.
Jarret Stoll
Center — shoots R
Born Jun 24 1982 — Melville, SASK
Drafted by Calgary Flames
Round 2 #46 overall 2000 NHL Entry Draft
Drafted by Edmonton Oilers
Round 2 #36 overall 2002 NHL Entry Draft
BY THE NUMBERS
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- | PGP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002-03 | NHL | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -3 | — | — | — | — | — | |
2002-03 | AHL | 76 | 21 | 33 | 54 | 86 | 15 | 23 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 25 | |
2003-04 | NHL | 68 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 42 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | |
2004-05 | AHL | 66 | 21 | 17 | 38 | 92 | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | |
2005-06 | NHL | 82 | 22 | 46 | 68 | 74 | 4 | 24 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 24 | |
2006-07 | NHL | 51 | 13 | 26 | 39 | 48 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | |
2007-08 | NHL | 81 | 14 | 22 | 36 | 74 | -23 | — | — | — | — | — | |
2008-09 | NHL | 74 | 18 | 23 | 41 | 68 | -7 | — | — | — | — | — | |
2009-10 | NHL | 73 | 16 | 31 | 47 | 40 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
2010-11 | NHL | 82 | 20 | 23 | 43 | 42 | -6 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
2011-12 | NHL | 78 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 60 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 18 | |
2012-13 | NHL | 48 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 28 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
2013-14 | NHL | 78 | 8 | 19 | 27 | 48 | 9 | 26 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 18 | |
2014-15 | NHL | 73 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 58 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | |
2015-16 | NHL | 29 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 3 | ||||||
2015-16 | NHL | 51 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 16 | -4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
NHL Totals | 872 | 144 | 244 | 388 | 618 | 97 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 72 |
NOTABLE
I’m not going to get into Stoll’s life off the ice – other than to acknowledge that in the summer of 2014 as a member of the Los Angeles Kings he was charged with possession of cocaine and ecstasy In Las Vegas and later plead to two reduced misdemeanor charges – because I’m putting together a list of the Top 100 Oilers, not the Top 100 Choir Boys.
If off-ice issues carried as much weight as actually playing the games for me, there are some players far higher up the list who’d get knocked down a notch or two based on what happened away from the rink, so let’s just leave that there.
I was working the hockey beat when Stoll first arrived from the Kootenay Ice for the 2002-03 season, Originally selected by the Calgary Flames 46th overall in the 2000 Entry Draft, Stoll didn’t sign and re-entered the draft in 2002. He was taken 36th overall by the Oilers. Stoll hadn’t put up huge numbers the season before the Oilers took him (66 points in 47 games) and he wasn’t particularly fast. Stoll had a quirky stride. I remember thinking taking him that high was a bit of a reach.
THE STORY
What Stoll did bring was the ability to play a two-way game and kill penalties, a booming right-handed shot on the power play and a knack for winning face-offs, which he’s done at a 55 per cent clip in a career that’s now approaching 900 games. Stoll was versatile and gave coach Craig MacTavish a lot of options.
Stoll scored 22-46-68 in the Stanley Cup run season of 2005-06, leaving him third on the team behind Ales Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff. Eleven of Stoll’s goals came on the power play. That was Stoll’s high-water mark with the Oilers. He’d miss a big chunk of the 2006-07 season with post-concussion symptoms and his performance slipped in 2007-08 (14-22-36 in 81 games). The following summer, Stoll was dealt to Los Angeles, along with Matt Greene, for Lubomir Visnovsky. He won two Stanley Cups with the Kings.
Two highlights of Stoll’s time with the Oilers stand out for me. First, his game-winner in overtime of Game 3 against Detroit in the first round of the 2006 playoffs. The second is January 2007 against Dallas on the missed open-net shot by Patrik Stefan, when Stoll started the play with a pass up ice that resulted in Hemsky tying the game 5-5 with 2.1 seconds remaining.
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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