Throughout the summer and into the fall, we’ll be counting down the days until the Edmonton Oilers begin their 2023-24 season with a daily trip down memory lane. Today at No. 21 we have Vincent Damphousse, a one-and-done who led the Oilers in scoring during the 1991-92 season.

The Oilers shocked the hockey world when Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 1988 in exchange for futures and cash, but that was just the beginning of the unravelling of The Boys on the Bus.

A few weeks before the start of the 1991-92 season, Edmonton traded two key members of their dynasty teams, Grant Fuhr and Glenn Anderson, to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Coming back in return were Vincent Damphousse, Scott Thornton, Luke Richardson, and Peter Ing.

Damhousse was the centrepiece of the deal from Edmonton’s perspective. The Leafs had selected him with the sixth overall pick in the 1986 draft following a 155-point season with the Laval Titan of the QMJHL. He scored 329 points in 394 games across five seasons with the Leafs before the trade.

With the likes of Gretzky, Anderson, Mark Messier, and Jari Kurri playing on other teams, Damphousse immediately became the star player in Edmonton. He set a career-high with 38 goals during the 1991-92 season and led the team with 89 points.

The Oilers made the playoffs with a 36-34-10 record and surprised Gretzky’s Kings in the first round and then took down the Vancouver Canucks in the second round before getting swept by the Chicago Blackhawks. Edmonton’s top line of Damphousse, Bernie Nicholls, and Joe Murphy combined for 22 goals over 16 games during the playoffs.

In the off-season, Damphousse was again moved in a multi-player trade, this time to his hometown Montreal Canadiens. The Oilers received Shayne Corson, Brent Gilchrist, and Vladimir Vujtek in return.

Damphousse had the best season of his career for the Habs in 1992-93, as he scored 39 goals and set a career-high with 97 points. He added 23 points over 20 playoff games as the Canadiens won what’s still the most recent Stanley Cup captured by a Canadian team.

After a few more seasons in Montreal, Damphousse was traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a first- and a second-round pick. Damphousse played parts of six seasons in San Jose before retiring after the 2004-05 NHL lockout came to an end. He played 1,378 games and scored 432 goals and 1,205 points in his career.