Top 100 Oilers: Craig MacTavish (17)

6 years ago

Craig MacTavish’s tenure as a member of the Edmonton Oilers spans 32 years. That includes parts of nine seasons and 701 games as a player in which he won three Stanley Cups and served two seasons as team captain, which is the primary focus when it comes to his place on this list of Top 100 Oilers. It’s a tenure, of course, that is considerably broader and more complicated than that.

MacTavish’s time in Edmonton has seen him coach and manage with the Oilers since his playing days as a checking centre, face-off specialist and captain were done – with considerably less success than he enjoyed wearing jersey No. 14 with the Boys on the Bus. Of that, there is no debate. For those old enough to remember, it’s also a tenure that began with MacTavish as a reclamation project. Each day since then speaks volumes about MacTavish’s character as a man.

Craig MacTavish

Center — shoots L
Born Aug 15 1958 — London, ONT
Height 6.01 — Weight 195 [185 cm/88 kg]

Drafted by Boston Bruins

Round 9 #153 overall 1978 NHL Amateur Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1979-80	21	BOS	46	11	17	28	16	8	61	18.0
1980-81	22	BOS	24	3	5	8	-1	13	44	6.8
1981-82	23	BOS	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	0.0
1982-83	24	BOS	75	10	20	30	15	18	120	8.3
1983-84	25	BOS	70	20	23	43	9	35	135	14.8
1985-86	27	EDM	74	23	24	47	17	70	121	19.0
1986-87	28	EDM	79	20	19	39	9	55	140	14.3
1987-88	29	EDM	80	15	17	32	-3	47	90	16.7
1988-89	30	EDM	80	21	31	52	10	55	120	17.5
1989-90	31	EDM	80	21	22	43	13	89	109	19.3
1990-91	32	EDM	80	17	15	32	-1	76	113	15.0
1991-92	33	EDM	80	12	18	30	-1	98	86	14.0
1992-93	34	EDM	82	10	20	30	-16	110	101	9.9
1993-94	35	TOT	78	20	12	32	-14	91	122	16.4
1993-94	35	EDM	66	16	10	26	-20	80	97	16.5
1993-94	35	NYR	12	4	2	6	6	11	25	16.0
1994-95	36	PHI	45	3	9	12	2	23	38	7.9
1995-96	37	TOT	68	5	9	14	-9	70	58	8.6
1995-96	37	PHI	55	5	8	13	-3	62	42	11.9
1995-96	37	STL	13	0	1	1	-6	8	16	0.0
1996-97	38	STL	50	2	5	7	-12	33	26	7.7
9 yrs		EDM	701	155	176	331	8	680	977	15.9
5 yrs		BOS	217	44	66	110	39	74	361	12.2
2 yrs		PHI	100	8	17	25	-1	85	80	10.0
2 yrs		STL	63	2	6	8	-18	41	42	4.8
1 yr		NYR	12	4	2	6	6	11	25	16.0
Career			1093	213	267	480	34	891	1485	14.3

PLAYOFFS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1979-80	21	BOS	10	2	3	5		7
1982-83	24	BOS	17	3	1	4		18
1983-84	25	BOS	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.0
1985-86	27	EDM	10	4	4	8	6	11	17	23.5
1986-87	28	EDM	21	1	9	10	1	16	35	2.9
1987-88	29	EDM	19	0	1	1	0	31	12	0.0
1988-89	30	EDM	7	0	1	1	1	8	10	0.0
1989-90	31	EDM	22	2	6	8	6	29	21	9.5
1990-91	32	EDM	18	3	3	6	-3	20	24	12.5
1991-92	33	EDM	16	3	0	3	4	28	27	11.1
1993-94	35	NYR	23	1	4	5	0	22	15	6.7
1994-95	36	PHI	15	1	4	5	-3	20	13	7.7
1995-96	37	STL	13	0	2	2	0	6	11	0.0
1996-97	38	STL	1	0	0	0	-1	2	0
Career			193	20	38	58	11	218	187	8.0

NOTABLE

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We can’t have a discussion about MacTavish as a player, coach or manager without recognition of the life-altering event that landed him in Edmonton. MacTavish was signed as a free agent after five years with the Boston Bruins by GM Glen Sather after serving a year in prison for vehicular homicide in the death of 26-year-old Kim Radley in Massachusetts in 1984. Radley died of injuries four days after a multi-car wreck that was caused when her vehicle was struck by a car driven by MacTavish, who was under the influence of alcohol. You can read a more thorough account here.

MacTavish served his time and made peace with the parents of Radley, Ron and Hazel Foote, in a face-to-face meeting upon his first return to Boston as a member of the Oilers. It was in that first meeting that Ron and Hazel Foote expressed their willingness to forgive and that MacTavish expressed his remorse to them face-to-face. That doesn’t change what happened, but it does lend context. MacTavish has visited the Footes more than once – I witnessed one of those visits during a morning skate in Boston.

“I was real apprehensive about doing it,” MacTavish told the New York Daily News. “Sure I was nervous. But I knew it was something I had to do. I wanted to do it . . . it was definitely a turning point. It alleviated some of my guilt, obviously. I can`t say enough about them. They were unbelievable. Just unreal people. They`re a real religious family, and I think their attitude toward it was it being an act of God rather than my irresponsibility.”

THE STORY

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MacTavish scored 23 goals in this first season with the Oilers, then had 20 in his second on the way to winning his first Cup in 1987. He had a career-high 52 points in 1988-89. MacTavish would score 20-or-more goals four times with the Oilers, but his bread and butter was as a stifling defensive forward, a penalty killer and a guy who dominated on the dot. MacTavish claimed his fourth Cup ring in 1994 with the New York Rangers after being dealt for Todd Marchant at the trade deadline. That New York team, of course, was basically a reunion of former Oilers on a roster that included Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe, Esa Tikkanen and Jeff Beukeboom.

It didn’t take MacTavish long after his retirement at the conclusion of the 1996-1997 season to return to Edmonton. After two seasons as an assistant coach with the Rangers, MacTavish rejoined the Oilers as an assistant under Lowe for the 1999-2000 season. He took over as head coach for the 2000-01 campaign when Lowe replaced Sather as GM. MacTavish’s high-water mark in eight seasons as coach came in 2005-06, when the Oilers reached the 2006 Cup final, losing in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Relieved of his duties by GM Steve Tambellini in April of 2009, MacTavish returned to the Oilers and was later named Tambellini’s replacement as GM in April 2013. As the Oilers approached 10 straight years out of the playoffs, MacTavish was replaced as GM by Pete Chiarelli before the 2015-16 season. He remains with the Oilers as vice-president of hockey operations. It’s been a long and winding road for MacTavish, who sits fourth in franchise record books for shorthanded goals (29), seventh in game-winning goals (25) and eighth in games played (701) since he arrived, but it’s one that lands him on my Top 100 list as a player.

This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.

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