On Friday, the Edmonton Oilers will face the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time this season.
When they step on the ice that day, it will have been 36 years, 11 months, and two days, or 13,486 days, since Edmonton traded Paul Coffey to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a blockbuster.
On Nov. 24, 1987, the Oilers sent Coffey, along with Wayne Van Dorp and Dave Hunter to the Penguins for Dave Hannan, Chris Joseph, Moe Mantha, and Craig Simpson. This trade spanned over two decades, featured several dynasty members in three separate trades, and even helped the Oilers attempt and fail to win their sixth Stanley Cup in the mid-aughts. The trade tree concluded during the 2011-12 season.
Let’s dig into the latest edition of Throwback Thursday!

The initial trade

This portion of the trade tree branched out as much as it did because of one player: Moe Mantha. Starting with Dave Hannan though, he scored nine goals and 20 points in 51 games, along with a goal and two points in 12 postseason games, as the Oilers won their fourth Stanley Cup. He re-signed with the Penguins the following off-season, winning another Stanley Cup in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche.
Chris Joseph played parts of seven seasons with the Oilers, scoring 12 goals and 51 points in 154 games, before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Bob Beers, one of the best names in National Hockey League history. Beers only played one season with the Oilers, scoring a career-high 37 points and 10 goals in 66 games. He signed with the Islanders at the end of the 1993-94 season.
Craig Simpson was the most notable player in the return. In parts of six seasons with the Oilers, he scored 185 goals and 365 points in 419 games, finishing with a league-record 23.7 shooting percentage for his career. Simpson’s final two seasons were played with the Buffalo Sabres, as the Oilers traded him for Jozef Čierny and a 1994 fourth-round pick (Jussi Tarvainen). Čierny played a game in the NHL, while Taravinen never played a game.
That leaves us with Mantha, who played only 25 games with the Oilers and recorded six assists. However, he was traded to the Minnesota North Stars a few months later, kicking off the second portion of the trade tree.

How the trade tree expanded

In return for Mantha, the Oilers acquired Keith Acton. He spent parts of two seasons with the Oilers, scoring 14 goals and 35 points in 72 games, winning the Stanley Cup with the team in the 1988 postseason. Acton even had a lengthy career behind the bench, most recently as the associate coach of the Oilers in 2013-14 and 2014-15, with his son Will playing 33 games between those two seasons.
However, Acton was traded alongside a 1991 sixth-round pick (Dmitry Yushkevich) in February of 1989 to the Philadelphia Flyers for Dave Brown. Yushkevich played 786 games in the NHL, scoring 43 goals and 225 points. Brown, on the other hand, played parts of three seasons with the Oilers, scoring three goals and 15 points, winning the Stanley Cup with the Oilers in 1988 before returning to the Flyers.
How did he return to the Flyers? Well, Brown was part of a package that starred Jari Kurri as well as Corey Fisher to the Flyers. In return, the Oilers received Scott Mellanby, Craig Fisher, and Craig Berube.
Mellanby’s tenure with the Oilers only lasted two seasons, scoring 38 goals and 82 points in 149 games in 1991-92 and 1992-93. At the end of the 1992-93 season, the newly formed Florida Panthers selected him in the expansion draft. Fisher never played for the Oilers and was traded to the original Winnipeg Jets in Dec. 1993 for cash.
Fellow Craig, the one of Berube-ian variety had more impact in the league, but also never played for the Oilers. Instead, he was included in a trade along with dynasty legends Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Vincent Damphousse, Peter Ing, Luke Richardson, and Scott Thornton. It’s fitting that Berbue is currently the head coach of the Maple Leafs.

The middle portion of the trade tree

Like so many players in this tree, Peter Ing didn’t have much of a career in the National Hockey League. The netminder played just 12 games for the Oilers, posting an .869 save percentage and a 4.28 goals-against average, but also managing to assist on three goals. He was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for a 1994 seventh-round pick that turned out to be Chris Wickenheiser, who never played an NHL game.
Luke Richardson had a lengthy NHL career, spanning from 1987-88 until 2008-09, playing for six teams. The stay-at-home defenceman played parts of six seasons with the Oilers, scoring 13 goals and 78 points in 436 games before signing with the Philadelphia Flyers after the 1996-97 season.
Scott Thornton also had a lengthy career, playing 17 seasons with 144 goals and 285 points in 841 games. Five of those seasons were spent with the Oilers, where he scored 23 goals and 53 points in 209 games. Thornton was traded to the Montréal Canadiens for Andrei Kovalenko before the start of the 1996-97 season.
Kovalenko played three seasons with the Oilers, scoring 51 goals and 109 points in 176 games before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Alexandre Daigle. Kovalenko serves as the Kontinental Hockey League Players Association’s chairman and served as a politician in Russia. His son, Nikolai, made the Colorado Avalanche’s main roster to start the 2024-25 season.
Daigle is widely considered the biggest bust in NHL history. He never played a game for the Oilers, as they traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Alexander Selivanov the same day. Selivanov actually had a successful tenure with the Oilers, scoring 35 goals and 61 points in 96 games, but signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the 2000-01 season before returning to Europe the following season.
Damphousse played a season with the Oilers, scoring 38 goals and 89 points in 80 games, but was traded (along with a 1993 fourth-round pick) in the off-season to the Montréal Canadiens for Shayne Corson, Brent Gilchrist, and Vladimír Vůjtek.
Starting with Brent Gilchrist, he played 60 games with the Oilers, scoring 10 goals and 20 points. He was traded to the Minnesota North Stars for Todd Elik, who had three 20+ goal seasons, just not with the Oilers. After 18 games in parts of two seasons, he was waived and picked up by the San Jose Sharks, where he proceeded to score a career-best 25 goals and 66 points.
Vladimír Vůjtek played two seasons with the Oilers, scoring five goals and 28 points in 82 games. Eventually, his rights were traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Brantt Myhres and a 1998 third-round pick that turned out to be Alex Henry. The latter only played three games with the Oilers before being waived, but he shares a hometown with another former Oiler who will appear in this article.
Myhres never played for the Oilers, but spent parts of seven seasons in the NHL, scoring six goals and eight points in 154 games. He was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in October 1997 for Jason Bowen, who played four games with the Oilers in 1997-98. Bowen was never traded again, ending this portion of the trade tree.
The best player in the trade tree was Shayne Corson, who played three seasons with the Oilers, compiling 53 goals and 137 points in 192 points, and had his captaincy striped. At the end of the 1994-95 season, he signed with the St. Louis Blues, with the Oilers receiving first-round picks in 1996 and 1997. They were eventually sent back to the Blues for Curtis Joseph and Mike Grier.

The last major trade

Curtis Joseph’s impact on the Oilers can’t be understated. In three seasons with Edmonton, he had a .910 save percentage and a 2.49 goals-against average. His best moments came in the 1997 and 1998 postseason, carrying the Oilers to the second round in each of those years. Also, you know, this save. He departed the Oilers, signing a contract with the Maple Leafs.
Grier had a sizable tenure with the Oilers, playing for the team from 1996-97 until the end of the 2001-02 season. Overall, he scored 81 goals and 183 points in 448 games before the Oilers traded him to the Washington Capitals for a 2003 second-round pick and a 2003 third-round pick.
Elliot Lake, Ontario has a population of 11,372 people, producing two NHL’ers in its history. One was already mentioned, Alex Henry, while the other player was Zack Stortini,  who the Oilers picked with the 2003 third-rounder. Stortini played 256 games for the Oilers, scoring 14 goals and 41 points while pitching up 718 penalty minutes.
The other pick, a 2003 second-rounder, was traded to the New York Islanders along with Janne Niinimaa and a 2003 fourth-round pick for Brad Ibister and Rafi Torres. Let’s start with the former.

Boston’s buyer’s remorse

On Aug. 1, 2005, the Oilers moved Brad Isbister to the Boston Bruins for a 2006 fourth-round pick. Not even a month later, the pick was sent back to the Bruins for Yan Stastny. He played three games for the Oilers before being traded. To who, you may ask. Well, it was none other than the Bruins!
At the trade deadline in 2006, the Oilers traded Stastny, Marty Reasoner (who the St. Louis Blues picked with the picks they got back for Curtis Joseph), and a 2006 second-round pick that turned out to be Milan Lucic for Sergei Samsonov.
Samsonov only played 19 regular season games with the Oilers, scoring five goals and 16 points. However, he was instrumental in their Stanley Cup run, scoring four goals and 15 points in 24 games. This section of the trade tree ended as he signed a contract with the Montréal Canadiens after the end of the 2007-08 season.

The trade tree officially comes to an end

Lastly, Torres spent four seasons with the Oilers, scoring 67 goals and 120 points in 276 games with 239 penalty minutes. He was a part of their 2006 Stanley Cup run as the Oilers fell in Game 7 of the Finals to the Carolina Hurricanes. 
On Jul. 1, 2008, this trade came to an end, as the Oilers traded Torres to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Gilbert Brulé. While Brulé was solid for the Oilers, scoring 26 goals and 49 points in 117 games, he was waived and claimed by the Phoenix Coyotes, ending this trade tree.
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