Marty McSorley never, ever needed Glen Sather or anybody else to draw him a picture about what his job description with the Edmonton Oilers was and he damn sure didn’t need a written invitation from opposing players to carry it out. McSorley’s job was to ride shotgun for Wayne Gretzky and the rest of a star-studded Oiler line-up and he did it with both barrels.

Happy and willing in his role was McSorley, and he was so good at it that when Edmonton owner Peter Pocklington sold Gretzky to Bruce McNall and the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 1988, the Great One insisted that the big lug from Hamilton with the flowing blond hair make the journey with him to Tinseltown. If Gretzky had to go, he wasn’t packing light.

Marty McSorley

Defense

Born May 18 1963 — Hamilton, ONT 

Height 6.01 — Weight 230 pounds

BY THE NUMBERS

Season	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1983-84	PIT	72	2	7	9	-39	224	75	2.7
1984-85	PIT	15	0	0	0	-3	15	11	0.0
1985-86	EDM	59	11	12	23	9	265	72	15.3
1986-87	EDM	41	2	4	6	-4	159	32	6.3
1987-88	EDM	60	9	17	26	23	223	66	13.6
1988-89	LAK	66	10	17	27	3	350	87	11.5
1989-90	LAK	75	15	21	36	2	322	127	11.8
1990-91	LAK	61	7	32	39	48	221	100	7.0
1991-92	LAK	71	7	22	29	-13	268	119	5.9
1992-93	LAK	81	15	26	41	1	399	197	7.6
1993-94	TOT	65	7	24	31	-12	194	160	4.4
1993-94	PIT	47	3	18	21	-9	139	122	2.5
1993-94	LAK	18	4	6	10	-3	55	38	10.5
1994-95	LAK	41	3	18	21	-14	83	75	4.0
1995-96	TOT	68	10	23	33	-20	169	130	7.7
1995-96	LAK	59	10	21	31	-14	148	118	8.5
1995-96	NYR	9	0	2	2	-6	21	12	0.0
1996-97	SJS	57	4	12	16	-6	186	74	5.4
1997-98	SJS	56	2	10	12	10	140	46	4.3
1998-99	EDM	46	2	3	5	-5	101	29	6.9
1999-00	BOS	27	2	3	5	2	62	24	8.3
8 yrs	LAK	472	71	163	234	10	1846	861	8.2
4 yrs	EDM	206	24	36	60	23	748	199	12.1
3 yrs	PIT	134	5	25	30	-51	378	208	2.4
2 yrs	SJS	113	6	22	28	4	326	120	5.0
1 yr	BOS	27	2	3	5	2	62	24	8.3
1 yr	NYR	9	0	2	2	-6	21	12	0.0
Career		961	108	251	359	-18	3381	1424	7.6

PLAYOFFS

Season	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1985-86	EDM	8	0	2	2	3	50	4	0.0
1986-87	EDM	21	4	3	7	8	65	21	19.0
1987-88	EDM	16	0	3	3	2	67	15	0.0
1988-89	LAK	11	0	2	2	-6	33	16	0.0
1989-90	LAK	10	1	3	4	-8	18	26	3.8
1990-91	LAK	12	0	0	0	-1	58	30	0.0
1991-92	LAK	6	1	0	1	1	21	10	10.0
1992-93	LAK	24	4	6	10	-2	60	42	9.5
1995-96	NYR	4	0	0	0	-1	0	3	0.0
1998-99	EDM	3	0	0	0	1	2	3	0.0
Career		115	10	19	29	-3	374	170	5.9

NOTABLE

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“Wayne said to me, ‘Make sure you get McSorley.’ I worked that out pretty quickly, although Sather was not happy about the idea,” McNall said about how the biggest trade in the history of the NHL unfolded. When the greatest player ever to lace on the blades in the NHL makes you a part of a deal like that, you’re doing something right. That was McSorley, a ruffian on the ice and a smart, engaging guy off it.

The other thing about McSorley, of course, is he could play the game. As rugged and raw as he was when he broke into the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1983-84 after being undrafted, McSorley spent his years in Edmonton, and later in Los Angeles, working non-stop to become a better player. He started out as an unskilled enforcer who could throw opponents around for fun and didn’t stop striving to be better until he was a reliable player who could throw opponents around for fun.

With the Oilers, McSorley not only took a regular shift, he eventually took over from Dave Semenko as Gretzky’s designated muscle. In an era when some tough guys could barely play the game at the NHL level, the ability to do double duty served McSorley well on the way to winning two Stanley Cups in his first stint with the Oilers before he packed for Los Angeles.  

THE STORY

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Slow of foot even with all the work he put in, McSorley played within his limits on the blue line and always had one eye out for trouble. Cross the line and you’d find Marty in the middle of the ensuing mayhem. In his first season with the Oilers he scored 11 goals. In his third, 1987-88, he had 26 points – not sluggo-level production, even in an era of inflated numbers.

Off the ice, McSorley was as easy-going as he was intense and ready to riot on it. I’ll never forget one early morning in Washington when we spent 30 minutes or so just walking around downtown and chatting about hockey and life in general before heading to the rink. Marty loved to walk. He loved to talk. But when the gate opened, he was ready to go.

Younger fans who don’t remember McSorley during his time in Edmonton might know him for the end of his career and an ugly incident during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks in 2000 – a hideous assault on Donald Brashear. It was an inexcusable act by the big lug and one that tainted his legacy as a tough, honest player who made the most out of the limited talent he had.

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.

PREVIOUSLY:

• 35. Jordan Eberle
• 36. Patt Hughes
• 37. Jeff Beukeboom
• 38. Craig Muni
• 39. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
• 40. Adam Graves
• 41. Ken Linseman
• 42. Jason Arnott
• 43. Todd Marchant
• 44. Don Jackson
• 45. Dwayne Roloson