Top 100 Oilers: Glenn Anderson (4)

6 years ago

The New York Islanders were the last team I ever cheered for. It was the early 1980s, before J-school sucked the fan out of me, and the Islanders were reigning Stanley Cup champions, although you could see Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers coming from a mile away. For that reason alone, I disliked the Oilers, cocky smart-asses who were well on the way to reeling in my heroes – Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Clark Gillies and the rest.

The guy I couldn’t stand? That @%#^@% Glenn Anderson. How many guys did he rake across the yap with his stick while cutting to the net from the right wing like a freight train with one wobbly wheel using that #$@$ swim move? “Hey ref, he did it again,” I’d yell at the TV. That #%#$ Anderson. Then he’d run Billy Smith. WTF? It would have been fine, of course, had No. 9 been wearing the colors of my Islanders. It always seemed the bigger the game, the better (and greasier) Anderson was. Money when it mattered, that @#%#$@.

Glenn Anderson

Forward
Born Oct 2nd, 1960 — Vancouver, BC
Height 5.11 — Weight 175 [180 cm/79 kg]

Drafted by Edmonton Oilers

Round 4 #69 overall 1979 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1980-81	20	EDM	58	30	23	53	4	24	160	18.8
1981-82	21	EDM	80	38	67	105	46	71	252	15.1
1982-83	22	EDM	72	48	56	104	41	70	243	19.8
1983-84	23	EDM	80	54	45	99	41	65	277	19.5
1984-85	24	EDM	80	42	39	81	24	69	258	16.3
1985-86	25	EDM	72	54	48	102	38	90	243	22.2
1986-87	26	EDM	80	35	38	73	27	65	188	18.6
1987-88	27	EDM	80	38	50	88	5	58	255	14.9
1988-89	28	EDM	79	16	48	64	-16	93	212	7.5
1989-90	29	EDM	73	34	38	72	-1	107	204	16.7
1990-91	30	EDM	74	24	31	55	-7	59	193	12.4
1991-92	31	TOR	72	24	33	57	-13	100	188	12.8
1992-93	32	TOR	76	22	43	65	19	117	161	13.7
1993-94	33	TOT	85	21	20	41	-5	62	149	14.1
1993-94	33	TOR	73	17	18	35	-6	50	127	13.4
1993-94	33	NYR	12	4	2	6	1	12	22	18.2
1994-95	34	STL	36	12	14	26	9	37	54	22.2
1995-96	35	TOT	32	6	8	14	-11	33	71	8.5
1995-96	35	EDM	17	4	6	10	0	27	36	11.1
1995-96	35	STL	15	2	2	4	-11	6	35	5.7
12 yrs		EDM	845	417	489	906	202	798	2521	16.5
3 yrs		TOR	221	63	94	157	0	267	476	13.2
2 yrs		STL	51	14	16	30	-2	43	89	15.7
1 yr		NYR	12	4	2	6	1	12	22	18.2
Career			1129	498	601	1099	201	1120	3108	16.0

PLAYOFFS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1980-81	20	EDM	9	5	7	12	-3	12	20	25.0
1981-82	21	EDM	5	2	5	7	-2	8	23	8.7
1982-83	22	EDM	16	10	10	20	5	32	49	20.4
1983-84	23	EDM	19	6	11	17	6	33	68	8.8
1984-85	24	EDM	18	10	16	26	11	38	47	21.3
1985-86	25	EDM	10	8	3	11	2	14	38	21.1
1986-87	26	EDM	21	14	13	27	13	59	62	22.6
1987-88	27	EDM	19	9	16	25	5	49	43	20.9
1988-89	28	EDM	7	1	2	3	-1	8	16	6.3
1989-90	29	EDM	22	10	12	22	12	20	46	21.7
1990-91	30	EDM	18	6	7	13	-2	41	31	19.4
1992-93	32	TOR	21	7	11	18	7	31	46	15.2
1993-94	33	NYR	23	3	3	6	5	42	31	9.7
1994-95	34	STL	6	1	1	2	0	49	3	33.3
1995-96	35	STL	11	1	4	5	5	6	20	5.0
Career			225	93	121	214	63	442	543	17.1

NOTABLE

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By the time the Oilers finally ripped the Stanley Cup from the clutches of my Islanders in five games in the 1984 final, ending a string of four consecutive Cups, and my partisan lens had been replaced by a press pass, it was obvious Anderson was a great player. Not as high up on the marquee, perhaps, as Gretzky, Mark Messier or the sublimely gifted Jari Kurri, but a great player nonetheless – especially when it counted. All that from a guy who grew up playing at Burnaby Winter Club in the suburbs of Vancouver, a building I’d played in as a kid.

By the time I got to Edmonton in December of 1989 in time to straggle along behind Jim Matheson down at the rink with The Journal, Anderson and the Oilers had won four Stanley Cups and were on their way to a fifth, even with the Great One having been sold to Los Angeles. Anderson still went to the paint like a man possessed. He still punished defenders with this stick on the way. He was still dirty as hell. And he was still at his best with the money on the table – Anderson had 10 goals and 22 points in 22 games as the Oilers beat the Boston Bruins to claim that fifth Cup.

Anderson wasn’t my cup of tea as a guy trying to do his job on the hockey beat. He seemed aloof and a bit “out there.” Getting a word with Andy, at least for a new writer around the Oilers’ room, was like pulling teeth more often than not. There was no question, though, even as he closed in on age 30, middle-age in hockey terms, Anderson had mastered the art of finding a way to be at his best in the big games.

THE STORY

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Anderson finished his career with 214 playoff points (193 of those with Edmonton), leaving him fourth all-time behind only Gretzky (382), Messier (295) and Kurri (233), ahead of Jaromir Jagr (201) in fifth spot. By the time he was done, Anderson scored five OT game-winners in the post-season (third all-time) and 17 game-winning goals in the playoffs (fifth all-time). Anderson’s 72 game-winners with the Oilers is first in franchise history. He finished with 498 regular season career goals (417 of those as an Oiler) and 1,099 points (906 in two stints with Edmonton).

Even with his five Cups and the numbers he put up during the glory days of the Oilers, Anderson wasn’t a first ballot HHOF inductee, or a second or a third. He didn’t get that call until November of 2008, more than a decade after he retired. By the time the call came, Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Coffey and Grant Fuhr had already been inducted. Anderson’s No. 9 was lifted to the rafters at Rexall Place in January of 2009.

“Those five guys, to a man, would say it’s ridiculous that Anderson is not in the Hall because they all view him on the same level as themselves,” former teammate Kevin Lowe said before Anderson’s induction. “When I sat in that dressing room with all those great players, when I looked around the room and we were in a big game, the one guy I thought would score the big goal was Anderson, and to his credit he did.”

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