RE-LIVE THE EDMONTON OILERS 1999-2000 SEASON

7 years ago

When the 1999-2000 season began, Peter Pocklington was already out as owner, the EIG was signing the cheques and the franchise’s penchant for leaning heavily on the Boys on the Bus continued unabated with more changes grabbing a lot of the headlines.

Glen Sather remained as GM, working uneasily with too many masters for his liking in the 38-member EIG. Ron Low was out as coach thanks to a low-ball contract offer. The team continued to fast-track former captain Kevin Lowe – he was promoted after one season as an assistant coach under Low to head coach. Lowe then brought in pal and long-time teammate Craig MacTavish from the New York Rangers to join his staff.

RECORD: 32-26-16-8 88 pts. 2nd in Northwest Division

GD 226-212 plus-14 SH% 9.8 SV% .909

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS

Edmonton Oilers acquire	Date	Pittsburgh Penguins acquire
German Titov	March 14, 2000	Josef Beranek

Montreal Canadiens acquire	Date	Edmonton Oilers acquire
Matthieu Descoteaux Christian Laflamme	March 9, 2000	Alain Nasreddine Igor Ulanov

Edmonton Oilers acquire	Date	Washington Capitals acquire
Alexandre Volchkov	February 4, 2000	2001 4th round pick (#118-Brandon Rogers)

Boston Bruins acquire	Date	Edmonton Oilers acquire
Mike Matteucci	December 29, 1999	Kay Whitmore

Arizona Coyotes acquire	Date	Edmonton Oilers acquire
Eric Houde	November 30, 1999	Rob Murray

Edmonton Oilers acquire	Date	Nashville Predators acquire
1999 3rd round pick (#91-Mike Comrie)	June 26, 1999	Craig Millar

LEADING SCORERS

Rk	Player	Pos	Age	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%	TOI	ATOI
1	Doug Weight	C	29	77	21	51	72	6	54	167	12.6	1585	20:35
2	Ryan Smyth	LW	23	82	28	26	54	-2	58	238	11.8	1574	19:12
3	Alex Selivanov	RW	28	67	27	20	47	2	46	122	22.1	969	14:28
4	Bill Guerin	RW	29	70	24	22	46	4	123	188	12.8	1262	18:01
5	Roman Hamrlik	D	25	80	8	37	45	1	68	180	4.4	2023	25:18
6	Todd Marchant	C	26	82	17	23	40	7	70	170	10.0	1405	17:08
7	Tom Poti	D	22	76	9	26	35	8	65	125	7.2	1836	24:10
8	Janne Niinimaa	D	24	81	8	25	33	14	89	133	6.0	1982	24:28
9	Mike Grier	RW	25	65	9	22	31	9	68	115	7.8	1024	15:45
10	Ethan Moreau	LW	24	73	17	10	27	8	62	106	16.0	1103	15:07

Goalies:

Player	Pos	Age	GP	W	L	T/O	GA	SA	SV	SV%	GAA	SO
Tommy Salo	G	28	70	27	28	13	162	1875	1713	.914	2.33	2
Bill Ranford	G	33	16	4	6	3	47	407	360	.885	3.59	0
Mike Minard	G	23	1	1	0	0	3	36	33	.917	3.00	0
Team Total			82	32	34	16	212	2318	2106	.909	2.54	2

SEASON RECAP

Lowe’s rapid ascent from retired player to assistant coach to head coach (and to GM as Sather’s replacement the season after this one) was orchestrated right from get-go by the new ownership group, but to be fair, for a guy with a very short coaching resume, Lowe got solid results in 1999-2000.

Already re-shaped by the loss of Curtis Joseph to free agency, a trade with Chicago that brought in Daniel Cleary, Chad Kilger, Ethan Moreau and Christian Laflamme (for Boris Mironov and Dean McAmmond) and the acquisition of Jason Smith from Toronto, the Oilers would finish the season with 88 points – their highest total since the 1990 Stanley Cup team.

The 88 points left the Oilers in seventh place, putting them in the playoffs for the fourth straight season. Tommy Salo was the go-to guy in goal, making 70 appearances. Captain Doug Weight, injured for much of the previous season, led the team with 72 points. Ryan Smyth led the team in goals with 28 and got a lot of back-up in the form of Alex Selivanov, who had 27 goals, and Bill Guerin, who had 24.

LOOKING BACK

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All in all, this was a pretty good team – middle of the pack in scoring, middle of the pack in goals-against with Salo in the crease and Roman Hamrlik, Janne Niinimaa and Smith anchoring the blue line. As fate would have it, a fourth straight berth in the post-season meant a fourth straight date with the Dallas Stars, who had made it their mission to bounce the Oilers from the playoffs after being upset by Edmonton in 1997.

It would be more of the same again the Stars would knock-out the Oilers in five games. It was tighter than five games would indicate, with the Stars winning three times by one goal, but in the end Ed Belfour was better than Salo, Ken Hitchcock’s Stars were the better team and Lowe’s first season as Oiler head coach ended in a 3-2 loss at old Reunion Arena.

There would be, of course, significant changes coming in the off-season as Sather would shed the financial shackles imposed by the budget-conscious EIG to join the free-spending New York Rangers, Lowe would inherit his chair as GM and MacTavish would take over as head coach. There was no question The Boys on the Bus had the wheel, but despite this fourth straight year back in the post-season, it wasn’t clear if the Oilers were headed back down the road to contention or into the ditch.

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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