Top 10 Unsung Heroes: Mike Grier (5)

6 years ago

Mike Grier was never one of the top names on the marquee after he arrived with the Edmonton Oilers to start the 1996-97 season. The top of the heap during the 448 games over six seasons Grier spent here was inhabited by the likes of Doug Weight, Ryan Smyth, Curtis Joseph and Bill Guerin, to name just four. Those players, and others, were higher up the pecking order and in the line-up during Grier’s tenure, but there wasn’t a player more appreciated in the dressing room than the big right winger from Detroit.

In that regard, Grier, who arrived as something of as a throw-in as part of a trade with the St. Louis Blues that landed Joseph, wasn’t really an unsung hero in the dressing room — more on that later — as much as he was outside it with fans. They knew him as big hitter, a board-banging, glass-rattling third-liner who did his best work as a checker on a line that at various times included Todd Marchant, Ethan Moreau and Rem Murray. No matter whom he played with, Grier was an irresistible force barreling up and down the right wall like a runaway train headed off the rails.

Mike Grier

Right Wing
Born Jan 5th, 1975 — Detroit, MI
Height 6.01 — Weight 224 [185 cm/102 kg]

Drafted by St. Louis Blues

Round 9 #219 overall 1993 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%	TOI	ATOI
1996-97	22	EDM	79	15	17	32	7	45	89	16.9
1997-98	23	EDM	66	9	6	15	-3	73	90	10.0
1998-99	24	EDM	82	20	24	44	5	54	143	14.0	1308	15:57
1999-00	25	EDM	65	9	22	31	9	68	115	7.8	1024	15:45
2000-01	26	EDM	74	20	16	36	11	20	124	16.1	1239	16:44
2001-02	27	EDM	82	8	17	25	1	32	112	7.1	1232	15:01
2002-03	28	WSH	82	15	17	32	-14	36	133	11.3	1459	17:48
2003-04	29	TOT	82	9	20	29	-9	36	133	6.8	1430	17:26
2003-04	29	WSH	68	8	12	20	-19	32	115	7.0	1185	17:25
2003-04	29	BUF	14	1	8	9	10	4	18	5.6	245	17:29
2005-06	31	BUF	81	7	16	23	-7	28	109	6.4	1164	14:22
2006-07	32	SJS	81	16	17	33	-5	43	125	12.8	1332	16:26
2007-08	33	SJS	78	9	13	22	-8	24	132	6.8	1264	16:13
2008-09	34	SJS	62	10	13	23	8	25	108	9.3	930	15:00
2009-10	35	BUF	73	10	12	22	-4	14	123	8.1	1153	15:48
2010-11	36	BUF	73	5	11	16	0	12	107	4.7	1051	14:24
6 yrs		EDM	448	81	102	183	30	292	673	12.0	4802	15:51
4 yrs		BUF	241	23	47	70	-1	58	357	6.4	3612	14:59
3 yrs		SJS	221	35	43	78	-5	92	365	9.6	3526	15:57
2 yrs		WSH	150	23	29	52	-33	68	248	9.3	2644	17:38
Career			1060	162	221	383	-9	510	1643	9.9	14584	15:5

PLAYOFFS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%	TOI	ATOI
1996-97	22	EDM	12	3	1	4	-2	4	21	14.3
1997-98	23	EDM	12	2	2	4	4	13	14	14.3
1998-99	24	EDM	4	1	1	2	3	6	9	11.1	94	23:26
2000-01	26	EDM	6	0	0	0	-2	8	6	0.0	128	21:23
2002-03	28	WSH	6	1	1	2	0	2	10	10.0	108	17:59
2005-06	31	BUF	18	3	5	8	3	2	32	9.4	293	16:17
2006-07	32	SJS	11	2	2	4	1	27	31	6.5	190	17:16
2007-08	33	SJS	13	0	1	1	-2	2	22	0.0	199	15:20
2008-09	34	SJS	6	0	0	0	-2	6	8	0.0	63	10:33
2009-10	35	BUF	6	2	0	2	0	2	19	10.5	111	18:34
2010-11	36	BUF	7	0	1	1	-3	0	5	0.0	66	9:29
Career			101	14	14	28	0	72	177	7.9	1253	16:17

WHY HE MAKES IT

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While I’m trying to keep from duplicating players in the series of lists that started with the Top 100 Oilers of all-time — Grier was No. 49 on that one — there’s just no way to keep him off this one. While players like Weight and Smyth would emerge as the leaders of the Oilers in the mid-1990s to 2000, the days when Edmonton seemed to run into the Dallas Stars every spring, it was also the lesser lights like Marchant and Grier who went about their business and helped to keep the payroll-strapped Oilers in contention against big budget outfits in the Western Conference.

Marchant, of course, had his moment in the spotlight with that breakaway goal in overtime of Game 7 against the Stars in the 1997 playoffs. Grier, meanwhile, never grabbed centre stage quite as dramatically. Up and down the wing he went, throwing that fire-hydrant body of his around — he was listed as six-foot-one and 224 pounds, which seemed about 20 pounds light to my eye — like a linebacker on skates. Grier scored 20 goals twice during his time with the Oilers, but was best known as a checker and penalty killer.

Well, that and the fact he had the pain threshold of a cadaver. As has been duly documented, Grier’s shoulder began making a habit of dislocating during the 2000-01 season. You’d hear him scream in pain out on the ice, struggle to the bench with his arm dangling like a spare part and then head down the tunnel with the medical crew. More times than not, he’d emerge during the same game with his shoulder popped back in and ready to go. He never made as big a deal of it as everybody else did.

THE FINE PRINT

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I can’t think of a player who was held in higher regard by his teammates than Grier during the years I covered the team. An example of that came on the day Grier was traded to the Washington Capitals, Oct. 7, 2002. A quick team send-off was organized, as is tradition when there’s time to do so. The gathering was an indication of the esteem in which Grier as held by his teammates. Everybody hated to see him moved to Washington.

All told, Grier would play 1,060 games with the Oilers, Washington, Buffalo and San Jose. Every stop along the way featured the same trademarks — put in the work, put the team first and patrol that right wing like he owned it — but there’s not any question in my mind Grier enjoyed his best seasons with the Oilers. Grier was named the team’s Unsung Hero in a vote by fans in 1998-99 and Top Defensive Forward in 1999-2000.

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.

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