Top 10 Unsung Heroes: Ethan Moreau (4)

Photo credit:Brad Jones

6 years ago

It’s only mid-January during a season in which many people, me included, were confident the Edmonton Oilers would build on their long-awaited return to the playoffs last spring. That long ago went sideways. Fans are pissed. They want answers. What they don’t want is the latest instalment of our ongoing Unsung Heroes list. I get it, but you’re getting it anyway.

In one sense the timing isn’t that bad. It’s been mentioned more than once in recent weeks, as people vent and search for answers, maybe the Oilers are missing what a veteran like Matt Hendricks brought to the team last season. Not so much on the ice but off it. Work ethic. Leadership. Accountability. I tend to agree. Times like this are when guys like Ethan Moreau, Jason Smith and Kelly Buchberger came in handy. All three of them former captains. Glue guys. Moreau was that.

Ethan Moreau

Left Wing — shoots L
Born Sep 22nd, 1975 — Huntsville, ONT
Height 6.02 — Weight 220 [188 cm/100 kg]

Drafted by Chicago Blackhawks

Round 1 #14 overall 1994 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%	TOI	ATOI
1995-96	20	CHI	8	0	1	1	1	4	1	0.0
1996-97	21	CHI	82	15	16	31	13	123	114	13.2
1997-98	22	CHI	54	9	9	18	0	73	87	10.3
1998-99	23	TOT	80	10	11	21	-3	92	96	10.4	990	12:22
1998-99	23	CHI	66	9	6	15	-5	84	80	11.3	825	12:30
1998-99	23	EDM	14	1	5	6	2	8	16	6.3	165	11:47
1999-00	24	EDM	73	17	10	27	8	62	106	16.0	1103	15:07
2000-01	25	EDM	68	9	10	19	-6	90	97	9.3	964	14:11
2001-02	26	EDM	80	11	5	16	4	81	129	8.5	1017	12:43
2002-03	27	EDM	78	14	17	31	-7	112	137	10.2	1054	13:30
2003-04	28	EDM	81	20	12	32	7	96	180	11.1	1221	15:04
2005-06	30	EDM	74	11	16	27	6	87	151	7.3	1183	15:59
2006-07	31	EDM	7	1	0	1	-4	12	18	5.6	106	15:08
2007-08	32	EDM	25	5	4	9	-4	39	54	9.3	398	15:55
2008-09	33	EDM	77	14	12	26	0	133	159	8.8	1183	15:22
2009-10	34	EDM	76	9	9	18	-18	62	143	6.3	1095	14:24
2010-11	35	CBJ	37	1	5	6	-9	24	56	1.8	462	12:29
2011-12	36	LAK	28	1	3	4	-3	20	29	3.4	295	10:32
11 yrs		EDM	653	112	100	212	-12	782	1190	9.4	9488	14:32
4 yrs		CHI	210	33	32	65	9	284	282	11.7	825	12:30
1 yr		CBJ	37	1	5	6	-9	24	56	1.8	462	12:29
1 yr		LAK	28	1	3	4	-3	20	29	3.4	295	10:32
Career			928	147	140	287	-15	1110	1557	9.4	11070	14:07

PLAYOFFS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%	TOI	ATOI
1996-97	21	CHI	6	1	0	1	3	9	10	10.0
1998-99	23	EDM	4	0	3	3	3	6	6	0.0	70	17:26
1999-00	24	EDM	5	0	1	1	0	0	5	0.0	79	15:46
2000-01	25	EDM	4	0	0	0	-2	2	5	0.0	42	10:35
2002-03	27	EDM	6	0	1	1	-4	16	10	0.0	74	12:23
2005-06	30	EDM	21	2	1	3	0	19	40	5.0	306	14:35
Career			46	3	6	9	0	52	76	3.9	572	14:17

WHY HE MAKES IT

Failed to load video.

Now, before you start (or continue) yelling at your computer screen — “Brownlee, a third-liner like Moreau isn’t going to fix the broken special teams, help score enough goals or snap his fingers and make Cam Talbot stop more pucks” — I don’t for a second think that Moreau or players like him are the answer for all that ails the Oilers right now. Lack of depth is lack of depth. Rotten special teams are rotten special teams. Not even the biggest dose of guts and grit changes that fact.

What I do know, though, is that Moreau had a way of making things better — even if better wasn’t necessarily good enough — because he was always ready to work and insisted his teammates do the same. Win or lose, he gave you all he had. Win or lose, he insisted everybody else do the same. Moreau was tenacious in every way — in the corners, in the room, in the gym. That’s just the way he went about his business, and he brought those qualities long before he assumed the captaincy from Smith.

With Hendricks gone, do the Oilers have that guy? I can’t say for sure. I’m not in the room like I was when Moreau was in his prime here — before injuries eventually broke him down and made it impossible for him to be the player or leader he’d been in his first six seasons after coming over from Chicago. Who settles things down behind closed doors when everything is falling apart now? Who kicks ass when it needs to be done? The stuff we don’t see. That’s the unsung part of what a player brings to a team.

THE FINE PRINT

Failed to load video.

Moreau was never close to being the best player on the teams he toiled with here. Doug Weight and Bill Guerin and Ryan Smyth were the go-to guys. Moreau would be even further down the marquee today with the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Milan Lucic here. McDavid, for my money, is the best player on the planet right now. Connor just needs to be Connor. He doesn’t need to that blood-and-guts glue guy. Just play, kid.

Somebody has to bring it, though. Lucic? Sure, but he’s a little high up on the salary scale to be considered unsung. Kris Russell, who made this list, brings it by virtue of insisting on throwing his black-and-blue body in front of shots to the point where it’s cringe-worthy. That’s part of the mix, too. I wonder what we’d get if we could somehow drop a 24-year-old Moreau into this group. Of course, we’ll never know.

I spent countless hours talking to Moreau during his years here. For all the interviews we did, I couldn’t find one quote from him for this item where he talked about his knack bringing what we call intangibles — saying the right thing at the right time on the bench or in the room, trying to change momentum with a big hit or a fight, those kinds of team-first things. Moreau just did them. That’s just the way it is with players cut from this cloth. More doing, less talking. Teams can never have too much of it.

This series of various Top 10 lists will focus on the post-1990 Oilers – the players who haven’t played on a Stanley Cup winner in Edmonton.

The List:

Nation Takes

Oilers Talk